Glorieta Sandstone

Glorieta Sandstone
Name	Glorieta Sandstone
Type	Formation
Age	Permian
Period	Permian
Primary lithology	Sandstone
Region	New Mexico
Country	United States

Glorieta Sandstone is a Permian sandstone formation in the southwestern United States noted for its eolian cross‑bedding, reservoir potential, and role in regional stratigraphy. It crops out in parts of New Mexico and adjacent states, has been studied by geologists from universities and agencies, and figures in literature on the Permian geology of North America and oil and gas exploration. Major research institutions and museums have curated collections and published maps and reports that include this formation.

Description and Lithology

The unit consists predominantly of well‑sorted, fine to medium grained quartzose sandstone described by workers at University of New Mexico, New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, U.S. Geological Survey, Colorado School of Mines, and Harvard University as having large scale planar and trough cross‑beds, with minor interbeds of siltstone and conglomerate mapped by field parties from Stanford University and University of Texas at Austin. Petrographic thin sections held at Smithsonian Institution and analyzed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveal framework grains dominated by monocrystalline quartz with subordinate feldspar and rock fragments documented by researchers at California Institute of Technology and Purdue University. Heavy mineral suites compared by teams from Arizona State University and University of California, Berkeley indicate zircon and tourmaline populations useful in provenance studies presented at meetings of the Geological Society of America and American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Sedimentologic descriptions published by authors affiliated with Texas A&M University, University of Arizona, University of Kansas, and Montana State University emphasize high porosity and secondary cementation by calcite and ferroan dolomite noted in core studies curated at New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Stratigraphy and Age

Regional correlation work by geochronologists from Princeton University, Yale University, and University of California, Los Angeles places the unit in the Leonardian–Guadalupian interval of the Permian, with biostratigraphic constraints provided by palynomorphs studied at Ohio State University and conodont comparisons housed at British Geological Survey. Sequence stratigraphic analyses presented by teams from Pennsylvania State University and Cornell University correlate the sandstone with marine units such as the Yeso Formation, the Lucero Sandstone (studied by researchers at New Mexico State University), and the Abo Formation as discussed in symposia of the Society for Sedimentary Geology. Isotopic and detrital zircon age spectra produced at Los Alamos National Laboratory and University of Colorado Boulder further refine depositional timing cited in publications from Iowa State University and University of Oklahoma.

Depositional Environment and Paleogeography

Interpretations by paleogeographers from University of Edinburgh, University of Cambridge, and University of Texas at El Paso reconstruct deposition in a broad Permian erg or coastal dune complex adjacent to shallow marine shelves studied by authors from University of Southampton and University of Western Australia. Paleoenvironmental models presented at conferences of the International Union of Geological Sciences and the American Geophysical Union integrate ichnological studies by teams at University of Nevada, Reno and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with trace fossils reported in museum collections at the Natural History Museum, London and Field Museum. Paleoclimatic inferences citing paleomagnetic data from Columbia University and sedimentary facies comparisons with Permian basins in Zambia and Australia were explored in collaborative work with University of Cape Town and University of Queensland.

Geographic Distribution and Notable Exposures

Exposures mapped by cartographers at National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and state geologic surveys show the unit present in the Jemez Mountains, the Sandia Mountains, and along the flanks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, with key sections accessible near the Pecos River, Glorieta Pass, and outcrops in Santa Fe County recorded in field guides by New Mexico Geological Society and Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. Classic measured sections have been described in guidebooks for trips organized by Geological Society of America Northeastern and Rocky Mountain sections and in atlases compiled by American Association of Petroleum Geologists and mapped in publications by Utah Geological Survey and Arizona Geological Survey.

Economic Importance and Uses

Work by petroleum geologists at ExxonMobil, Chevron, and BP and academic studies from University of Oklahoma and University of Texas at Austin assess reservoir potential for hydrocarbons, with porosity and permeability data archived at Energy Information Administration repositories and evaluated in reports to the U.S. Department of Energy. Quarrying and aggregate studies by consultants associated with National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association and state departments of transportation have assessed the sandstone for construction, road base, and dimension stone used in projects overseen by New Mexico Department of Transportation and municipal public works offices. Groundwater investigations by hydrologists from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and U.S. Forest Service document aquifer properties exploited for local supply near communities studied by Tucumcari and Las Vegas, New Mexico planners.

History of Study and Nomenclature

Early descriptions appeared in state survey bulletins and monographs authored by geologists at Colorado College, University of New Mexico faculty, and consultants contracted by the Santa Fe Railway; subsequent formal naming and revision were undertaken by staff at New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources and documented in proceedings of the Society of Economic Geologists and memorial volumes honoring stratigraphers from Stanford University and University of Chicago. Major syntheses and reinterpretations have been published by researchers affiliated with Tulane University, Indiana University, University of Michigan, and Duke University and presented at joint meetings of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Geological Society of America.

Category:Permian geology