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Arroyo Penasco Group

Geologic formation in northern New Mexico, United States

Arroyo Penasco Group
Stratigraphic range: Visean PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Arroyo Penasco Group resting on Precambrian rock
Type	Group
Sub-units	Espiritu Santo Formation, Tererro Formation
Underlies	Log Springs Formation
Overlies	Precambrian basement
Thickness	95 m at type section
Lithology
Primary	Limestone
Other	Sandstone
Location
Coordinates	35°38′26″N 106°51′10″W / 35.6406°N 106.8529°W / 35.6406; -106.8529
Region	New Mexico
Country	United States
Type section
Named for	Arroyo Penasco (35°33′33″N 106°51′53″W / 35.5591955°N 106.8647114°W / 35.5591955; -106.8647114)
Named by	A.K. Armstrong (1955)
Arroyo Penasco Group (New Mexico) Arroyo Penasco outcrop map

The Arroyo Penasco Group is a groupofgeological 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]

Description[edit]

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]

• 
  Massive limestone beds of the Arroyo Penasco Group on the rim of Guadelupe Box
• 
  Closer view of massive limestone of the Arroyo Penasco Group at Guadelupe Box

Fossils[edit]

The fossil assemblage suggests an age of OsageantoMeramecian.^[5]

History of investigation[edit]

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[edit]

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Mexico
• Paleontology in New Mexico

Footnotes[edit]

References[edit]

• 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.