Second-day road log, from Tucumcari to Mesa Redonda, Pyramid Mountain, Ragland, and Blackwater Draw, New Mexico
— Spencer G. Lucas, Adrian P. Hunt, Andrew B. Heckert, Barry S. Kues, and Virginia T. McLemore

Summary:

Today's trip begins by examining Mesozoic strata exposed around erosional outliers of the northern edge of the Llano Estacado in Quay County, New Mexico. STOP l at Mesa Redonda is at the type section of the Redonda Formation, the youngest Upper Triassic strata beneath the Llano Estacado. Here, we discuss the base of the Redonda Fonnation, a possible regional unconformity, and the depositional environment of the formation.

STOP 2 is at Pyramid Mountain, where, in September 1853, Jules Marcou undertook the first detailed scientific observations made by a trained geologist in New Mexico. Here, we examine the Triassic-Cretaceous section. STOP 3 at Ragland affords an excellent exposure of the Neogene Ogallala Formation. STOPS 4 and 5 are at the Blackwater Draw Museum and Blackwater Locality No. I, respectively. Here, we examine the type Clovis locality, its stratigraphy, deposition and dating.


Full-text (3.93 MB PDF)


Recommended Citation:

  1. Lucas, Spencer G.; Hunt, Adrian P.; Heckert, Andrew B.; Kues, Barry S.; McLemore, Virginia T., 2001, Second-day road log, from Tucumcari to Mesa Redonda, Pyramid Mountain, Ragland, and Blackwater Draw, New Mexico, in: Geology of the Llano Estacado, Lucas, Spencer G.; Ulmer-Scholle, Dana S., New Mexico Geological Society, Guidebook, 52nd Field Conference, pp. 25-39. https://doi.org/10.56577/FFC-52.25

[see guidebook]