The Arroyo Penasco Group is a group of geological formations exposed in the Nacimiento, Jemez, Sandia, and Sangre de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. It preserves fossils characteristic of the late Mississippian.[1]

Arroyo Penasco Group
Stratigraphic range: Visean
Arroyo Penasco Group resting on Precambrian rock
TypeGroup
Sub-unitsEspiritu Santo Formation, Tererro Formation
UnderliesLog Springs Formation
OverliesPrecambrian basement
Thickness95 m at type section
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone
OtherSandstone
Location
Coordinates35°38′26″N 106°51′10″W / 35.6406°N 106.8529°W / 35.6406; -106.8529
RegionNew Mexico
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forArroyo Penasco (35°33′33″N 106°51′53″W / 35.5591955°N 106.8647114°W / 35.5591955; -106.8647114)
Named byA.K. Armstrong (1955)
Arroyo Penasco Group is located in New Mexico
Arroyo Penasco Group
Arroyo Penasco Group (New Mexico)

Arroyo Penasco outcrop map

Description

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The Arroyo Penasco Group consists of marine sedimentary formations, primarily massive limestone but with some sandstone. It is divided into the lower Espiritu Santo Formation and the upper Tererro Formation.

The lowermost part of the Espiritu Santo Formation is designated the Del Padre Member and is a transgressive siltstone, sandstone, and shale unit, which interfingers with the carbonate rocks of the upper Espiritu Santo Formation, recording the advance of the sea into the area. A similar sequence is seen in the Tererro Formation, whose base is a collapse breccia.[2]

The group rests everywhere on Precambrian basement that shows remarkably little relief, suggesting that the group was deposited on a peneplain. Its outcrops are spotty and its upper contact shows indications of well-developed karst topography, often filled in by the iron-rich sediments of the Log Springs Formation, indicating that it was heavily eroded before deposition of the Sandia Formation.[3]

The Espiritu Santo Formation has undergone dolomitization, dedolomitization, and calcitization of gypsum and the Macho Member (the lowest part of the Tererro Formation) has experienced dissolution and brecciation. Together with the presence of paleosilcretes in the Manuelitas Member, the middle part of the Tererro Formation, this suggests a history of at least four episodes of sea level fluctuation during the Mississippian in northern New Mexico. Diagenetic fabrics can be traced across the region, demonstrating that the group was deposited across an extensive surface of low relief.[4]

Fossils

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The fossil assemblage suggests an age of Osagean to Meramecian.[5]

Brachiopoda
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Eumetria verneuiliana Hall Penasco Canyon[6]
Eumetria vera Hall Penasco Canyon[6]
San Pedro Mountains[7]
Linoproductus ovatus Hall Penasco Canyon[6]
Composita aff. lewisensis Weller Penasco Canyon[6]
Spirifer Penasco Canyon[6]
San Pedro Mountains[7]
Tecolote Creek[8]
Mollusca
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Staparollus Penasco Canyon[6]
Leptodesma Penasco Canyon[6]
Bryozoa
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Fenestella Penasco Canyon[6]
Archimedes Penasco Canyon[6]
Foraminifera
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Endothyra Penasco Canyon[6]
San Pedro Mountains[7]
Lujan Canyon, Rincon Range[9]
Gallinas Canyon[9]
Tecolote Creek[8]
El Macho, Pecos River Canyon[8]
Plectogyra Penasco Canyon[6]
San Pedro Mountains[7]
Lujan Canyon, Rincon Range[9]
Gallinas Canyon[9]
Tecolote Creek[8]
El Macho, Pecos River Canyon[8]
Cnidaria
Genus Species Location Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Triplophyllites Lujan Canyon, Rincon Range[9]
Conularia Lujan Canyon, Rincon Range[9]
Tecolote Creek[8]

History of investigation

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The massive limestone beds of the Arroyo Penasco Group were originally included as the base of the Pennsylvanian Sandia Formation. The discovery of Endothyra and Plectogyra in 1951 showed that the beds were actually Mississippian in age, and they were split off as the Arroyo Penasco Formation.[10] The Arroyo Penasco was later found to correlate to the Espiritu Santo Formation and Tererro Formation in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and it was promoted to group rank.[2]

See also

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Footnotes

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References

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  • Armstrong, Augustus K (1955). "Preliminary Observations of the Mississippian System of Northern New Mexico" (PDF). Circulars of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. 39. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  • Armstrong, Augustus K (1967). "Biostratigraphy and Carbonate Facies of the Mississippian Arroyo Penasco Formation, North-Central New Mexico" (PDF). Memoirs of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. 20. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  • Armstrong, Augustus K; Mamet, Bernard L. (1974). "Biostratigraphy of the Arroyo Penasco Group, Lower Carboniferous (Mississsippian), north-central New Mexico" (PDF). Annual NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebooks. 25. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  • Ulmer, Dana S.; Laury, Robert L. (1984). "DIAGENESIS OF THE MISSISSIPPIAN ARROYO PEN ASCO GROUP, NORTH-CENTRAL NEW MEXICO" (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series. 35: 91–100. Retrieved 22 April 2020.