High-frequency carbonate/siliciclastic reciprocal sedimentation within the Upper San Andres depositional sequence (Permian, Guadalupian), Last Chance Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico
- Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (USA)
The upper San Andres Formation and Cherry Canyon Sandstone Tongue in Last Chance Canyon form a third-order depositional sequence comprising at least 12 smaller scale, time-bounded depositional units. The intertidal through toe-of-slope facies associations, volumetric proportions of carbonate/siliciclastic sedimentation, and depositional topography change progressively throughout the sequence. These variations reflect the controls that produce the landward-stepping, vertically stacked, and seaward-stepping arrangements of units constituting the sequence. In Last Chance Canyon many of the small-scale depositional units have stratal geometries and carbonate/siliciclastic relationships that are analogous to third-order sequences. The oldest depositional unit is a point-sourced turbidite lobe that onlaps the underlying sequence boundary. Carbonate-rich slope sandstones form the next two units, which also onlap the sequence boundary. These three landward-stepping to vertically stacked units compose the transgressive systems tract (TST). Units within the TST record a progressive decrease in sedimentation rate, depositional energy, and siliciclastic content that reflects the sequence-scale transition from toe-of-slope siliciclastic turbidites to an increasingly carbonate-dominated ramp. Within each of the two youngest units, a basal sandstone hemicycle is overlain by a mounded fusulinid-rich carbonate hemicycle. The maximum flooding surface caps the TST and is overlain by the most carbonate-rich interval of the sequence. From basal to upper slope, the facies in this unit are laminated mudstones and wackestones, crinoid-bryozoan bafflestone bioherms, brachiopod-sponge reefs, and fusulinid mounds. Seaward-stepping units compose the middle highstand systems tract (HST).
- OSTI ID:
- 6637795
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-900605-; CODEN: AABUD
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 74:5; Conference: Annual convention and exposition of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Francisco, CA (USA), 3-6 Jun 1990; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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