{{Short description|Geologic formation in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona, US}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox rockunit | name = Bliss Formation | image = Timber mountain.jpg | caption = Bliss Formation forms the dark band at the very base of the massive cliffs of Timber Mountain, New Mexico, USA. | type = Formation | age = {{fossilrange|late Cambrian|early Ordovician}} | period = Ordovician | prilithology = Sandstone | otherlithology = Conglomerate, limestone, dolomite | namedfor = Fort Bliss | namedby = G.B. Richardson | year_ts = 1904 | region = Texas, New Mexico, Arizona | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|31.835|N|106.485|W|display=inline}} | unitof = | subunits = | underlies = El Paso Formation | overlies = Precambrian basement | thickness = {{convert|100|meters|feet}} | extent = | area = | map = {{Location map+ | United States#New Mexico | relief = 1 | width = 250 | float = center | places = {{Location map~ | United States#New Mexico | lat_deg = 31.835 | lon_deg = -106.485 | mark = Green pog.svg | marksize = 12 }} }} | map_caption = }}
The '''Bliss Formation''' is a geologic formation that is exposed in southern New Mexico, west Texas, and southeastern Arizona. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Cambrian to early Ordovician periods.{{sfn|Richardson|1904}}{{sfn|Mack|2004}}
==Description== The formation consists of ledge-forming brown to maroon medium- to coarse-grained sandstone; thinner beds of very fine-grained glauconitic sandstone;{{sfn|Paige|1916}} and fine-grained sandstone interbedded with limestone or dolomite. A conglomerate bed is often present at the base and there are rare beds of oolitic ironstone. The formation lies unconformably on Precambrian basement rock except in the Florida Mountains, where it overlies Cambrian syenite and granite. The formation fills paleovalleys in the basement rock, and in some locations (such as the central Franklin Mountains and the west-central Florida Mountains) it is absent. It grades into the overlying El Paso Formation, with the contact placed either at the top of uppermost red or brown sandstone bed of the Bliss Formation or the base of the carbonate cliff characteristic of the El Paso Formation.{{sfn|Mack|2004|p=36}}
The formation straddles the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary, with the lower beds containing fossils of Trempealeauan age and the upper beds containing fossils of Skullrockian age.{{sfn|Taylor|Repetski|1995}}
The formation is interpreted as marine sediments deposited on a passive continental margin during a marine transgression advancing to the northeast.{{sfn|Mack|2004|pp=40-42}}
==Fossils== The formation is locally bioturbated and contains fossils of the brachiopods ''Obolus'', ''Lingulella'', and ''Lingulepis acuminata''.{{sfn|Richardson|1904}} However, the formation has few macroscopic fossils useful for biostratigraphy. The best dated section is in the Flordillo Canyon in the central Caballo Mountains, which contains trilobite and conodont fossils that have helped determine its age.{{sfn|Taylor|Repetski|1995}} The lower beds are very scarce in fossils and difficult to date across the exposure area.{{sfn|Mack|2004|p=37}}
==History of investigation== The formation was first named by G.B. Richardson in 1904 for exposures in the Franklin Mountains.{{sfn|Richardson|1904}}
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Mack |first1=Greg H. |year=2004 |title=The late Cambro-Ordovician Bliss and lower Ordovician El Paso Formations, southwestern New Mexico and west Texas |editor1-last=Mack |editor1-first=G.H. |editor2-last=Giles |editor2-first=K.A. |encyclopedia=The geology of New Mexico. A geologic history: New Mexico Geological Society Special Volume 11 |pages=95–136 |isbn=9781585460106}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Paige |first1=Sidney |year=1916 |title=Silver City folio, New Mexico |encyclopedia=U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Atlas of the United States Folio |volume=GF-199}} * {{cite journal |last1=Richardson |first1=G.B. |author-link1=George Burr Richardson |year=1904 |title=Report of a reconnaissance in Trans-Pecos Texas north of the Texas and Pacific Railway |journal=University of Texas, Mineral Survey Bulletin |volume=9}} * {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Taylor |first1=John F. |last2=Repetski |first2=John E. |year=1995 |title=High-Resolution trilobite and conodont biostratigraphy across the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary in south-central New Mexico |encyclopedia=Ordovician Odyssey: Seventh International Symposium on the Ordovician System |publisher=Pacific Section, Society for Sedimentary Geology |volume=77 |pages=133–136 |editor1-last=Cooper |editor1-first=J.D. |editor2-last=Droser |editor2-first=M.L. |editor3-last=Finney |editor3-first=S.C.}}
Category:Ordovician formations of New Mexico Category:Ordovician geology of Texas Category:Ordovician southern paleotropical deposits Category:Sandstone formations of the United States Category:Conglomerate formations of the United States Category:Limestone formations of the United States Category:Dolomite formations of the United States