Blackwater Draw Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Pleistocene | |
Type | Formation |
Overlies | Ogallala Formation |
Area | Over 100,000 km2 |
Thickness | 27 meters (89 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 33°35′38″N 101°50′28″W / 33.594°N 101.841°W |
Region | New Mexico Texas |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Blackwater Draw |
Named by | C.C. Reeves |
Year defined | 1976 |
The Blackwater Draw Formation is a geologic formation in the southern High Plains of eastern New Mexico and Texas.[1] The formation was deposited between 1.8 million (Ma) and 300,000 years ago, corresponding to the early to middle Pleistocene epoch.[2]
The formation is a very fine to fine red aeolian sandstone that rests on the resistant caprock calcrete of the Ogallala Formation. The formation is highly variable, but has a maximum thickness of 27 meters (89 ft).[2] The sediments generally are less coarse to the northeast, indicating that they had their source in the Pecos River valley.[3]
The formation is interpreted as loess deposition on a grassland.[2] Deposition was likely episodic, with peak deposition at times of more arid climate and soil formation during moister periods.[3][4]
The lower part of the formation contains an ash bed of the Toledo eruption in the Jemez Mountains[3] 1.61 million years ago (Ma). The formation also contains the 0.62 Ma Lava Creek B ash bed.[3] The upper part of the formation has an infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) age of 300 to 350 thousand years (ka), corresponding to the middle Pleistocene epoch.[2]
Rhizoliths are locally abundant in paleosol beds and show features characteristic of small plants such as grasses.[4]
The unit was first investigated by John C. Frye and A. Byron Leonard in 1957, who named it the "Cover Sands".[1] The unit was formally named the Blackwater Draw Formation by C.C. Reeves, Jr., in 1976.[5]