# Sandia Formation

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{{Short description|Geologic formation in New Mexico, United States}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name           = Sandia Formation
| image          = Sandia Formation.jpg
| caption        = Sandia Formation in the [Sandia Mountains](/source/Sandia_Mountains)
| type           = [Formation](/source/Formation_(stratigraphy))
| period         = Moscovian
| age            = {{Geological range|Bashkirian|Moscovian}}
| prilithology   = [Shale](/source/Shale)
| otherlithology = [Sandstone](/source/Sandstone)
| namedfor       = [Sandia Mountains](/source/Sandia_Mountains)
| namedby        = C.L. Herrick
| year_ts        = 1900
| region         = [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico)
| country        = {{USA}}
| coordinates    = {{coord|35|58|35|N|105|17|00|W|display=inline}}
| unitof         =
| subunits       =
| underlies      = [Madera Group](/source/Madera_Group)
| overlies       = [Osha Canyon Formation](/source/Osha_Canyon_Formation)
| thickness      = {{convert|1530|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| extent         =
| area           =
| map            = {{Location map+ | United States#New Mexico
| relief = 1
| width   = 250
| float   = center
| places  =
  {{Location map~ | United States#New Mexico
  | lat_deg = 35.976
  | lon_deg = -105.283
  | mark = Lightgreen pog.svg
  | marksize = 12
  }}
}}
| map_caption    =
}}

The '''Sandia Formation''' is a [geologic formation](/source/geologic_formation) in [New Mexico](/source/New_Mexico), United States. Its fossil assemblage is characteristic of the [early Pennsylvanian](/source/early_Pennsylvanian).{{sfn|Myers|1982|p=233}}

== Description ==
The Sandia Formation is mostly [shale](/source/shale) with some [sandstone](/source/sandstone) and [conglomerate](/source/Conglomerate_(geology)) but only minor [limestone](/source/limestone) beds, with the coarser sediments towards its base. Variations in thickness indicate deposition on an eroded [Precambrian](/source/Precambrian) surface.{{sfn|Myers|1982|p=233}} The formation reaches its maximum thickness of {{convert|1530|meters|feet|abbr=off}} in the northern [Sangre de Cristo Mountains](/source/Sangre_de_Cristo_Mountains), where its great inhomogeneity both laterally and vertically indicates a complex marine and nonmarine depositional environment.{{sfn|Baltz|Myers|1984}}{{sfn|Baltz|Myers|1999}} It is found in the [Sandia](/source/Sandia_Mountains), [Jemez](/source/Jemez_Mountains),{{sfn|DuChene|1974|p=161}} Sangre de Cristo,{{sfn|Baltz|Myers|1999}} and [Manzano Mountains](/source/Manzano_Mountains){{sfn|Myers|1982|p=233}} as well as the [Las Vegas](/source/Las_Vegas%2C_New_Mexico) Basin.{{sfn|Baltz|Myers|1999}}

The formation rests on [Precambrian](/source/Precambrian) [basement](/source/Basement_(geology)) rock in the Sandia Mountains, but is underlain by [Osha Canyon Formation](/source/Osha_Canyon_Formation) in the southern Jemez Mountains or by formations of the [Arroyo Penasco Group](/source/Arroyo_Penasco_Group) in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and elsewhere.{{sfn|DuChene|1974}} It transitions to the [Madera Group](/source/Madera_Group) in most locations, with the base of the Madera Group typically placed at the first massive limestone bed above the shales and sandstones of the Sandia Formation.

The Sandia Formation likely correlates with the [Pinkerton Trail Formation](/source/Pinkerton_Trail_Formation) of the [Colorado Plateau](/source/Colorado_Plateau).{{sfn|Huffman|Condon|1993}}

== Fossil content ==
Fossils found in the formation range from [Morrowan](/source/Morrowan) [brachiopod](/source/brachiopod)s at its base to [Atokan](/source/Atokan) [fusulinid](/source/fusulinid)s at its top, making it a lower to middle Pennsylvanian formation. The uppermost beds contain abundant fossils of the fusulinid ''[Fusulinella famula](/source/Fusulinella)''. However, the Morrowan section is missing in the Manzanos.{{sfn|Myers|1982|p=233}} The exposures at Priest Canyon in the southern Manzanos include  ''[Syringopora](/source/Syringopora)'' and the [demosponge](/source/demosponge) ''[Chaetetes](/source/Chaetetes)''.{{sfn|Lucas|Krainer|Vachard|2016}} The formation is bioturbated, with trace fossils of ''[Zoophycos](/source/Zoophycos)'', in the southern Nacimiento Mountains.{{sfn|DuChene|1974|p=161}}

== History of investigation ==
The formation was first named by C.L. Herrick in 1900 for exposures in the [Sandia Mountains](/source/Sandia_Mountains) of New Mexico.  Herrick included the entire sequence of clastic beds resting on the [Great Unconformity](/source/Great_Unconformity). Gordon identified the clastic beds between the [Kelly Limestone](/source/Kelly_Limestone) and [Madera Limestone](/source/Madera_Formation) in the [Magdalena Mountains](/source/Magdalena_Mountains) as Sandia Formation.{{sfn|DuChene|1974|p=161}}

In 1946, Wood and Northrop divided the Sandia Formation as then defined into a Lower Limestone Member and an Upper Clastic Member in the [Nacimiento Mountains](/source/Nacimiento_Mountains). Armstrong discovered in 1951 that the Lower Limestone Member included [Mississippian](/source/Mississippian_(geology)) beds, which he broke out into the [Arroyo Penasco Formation](/source/Arroyo_Penasco_Group), separated by a clastic sequence (the [Log Springs Formation](/source/Log_Springs_Formation)) from early Pennsylvanian beds. Armstrong also noted that the zone immediately above the Log Springs Formation was characterized by fossils of the early Pennsylvanian [brachiopod](/source/brachiopod) ''Schizophoria oklahomae'' and was separated from younger beds by an erosional discontinuity.{{sfn|Armstrong|1955|p=5}} These were broken out into the [Osha Canyon Formation](/source/Osha_Canyon_Formation) by H. DuChene in 1973{{sfn|DuChene|1974}}{{sfn|DuChene|Kues|Woodward|1977}}

== See also ==
* [List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Mexico](/source/List_of_fossiliferous_stratigraphic_units_in_New_Mexico)
* [Paleontology in New Mexico](/source/Paleontology_in_New_Mexico)

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Augustus K |title=Preliminary Observations of the Mississippian System of Northern New Mexico |journal=Circulars of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources |date=1955 |volume=39 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/circulars/downloads/39/Circular-39.pdf |access-date=21 May 2019}}
* {{cite journal |last1=DuChene |first1=H. |last2=Kues |first2=B. S. |last3=Woodward |first3=L. A.|date= 1977 |title=Osha Canyon Formation (Pennsylvanian), new Morrowan unit in north-central New Mexico|journal=American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin |volume=61 |pages=1513–1524}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Baltz |first1=Elmer H. |last2=Myers |first2=Donald A. |title=Porvenir Formation (New Name) and Other Revisions of Nomenclature of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Lower Permian Rocks, Southeastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico |journal=Geoological Survey Bulletin 1537-B |date=1984 |pages=14–19 |series=Contributions to stratigraphy |publisher=U.S. Geological Survey |url=https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1537b/report.pdf |access-date=11 May 2020}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Baltz |first1= E.H. |last2=Myers |first2=Donald A. |title=Stratigraphic framework of upper Paleozoic rocks, southeastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico. |journal=New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir Series |date=1999 |volume=48 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/memoirs/48/ |access-date=23 May 2019}}
* {{cite journal |last1=DuChene |first1=Harvey R. |title=Pennsylvanian Rocks of North-Central New Mexico. |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=1974 |volume=25 |pages=159–165 |citeseerx=10.1.1.578.7415 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Huffman |first1=A.C. Jr. |last2=Condon |first2=S.M. |year=1993 |title=Stratigraphy, structure, and paleogeography of Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks, San Juan basin and adjacent areas, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico |journal=U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin |volume=1808-O|pages=O1-O44 |doi=10.3133/b1808O|doi-access=free }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=Spencer G. |last2=Krainer |first2=Karl |last3=Vachard |first3=Daniel |title=The Pennsylvanian section at Priest Canyon, southern Manzano Mountains, New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=2016 |volume=67 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/67/67_p0275_p0301.pdf |access-date=11 June 2020}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Myers |first1=Donald A. |title=Stratigraphic Summary of Pennsylvanian and Lower Permian Rocks, Manzano Mountains, New Mexico. |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=1982 |volume=33 |pages=233–237 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/33/33_p0233_p0237.pdf |access-date=23 May 2019}}

Category:Carboniferous formations of New Mexico
Category:Carboniferous southern paleotropical deposits
Category:Shale formations of the United States
Category:Sandstone formations of the United States

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandia Formation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandia_Formation) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandia_Formation?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.