{{short description|Geologic formation in New Mexico, United States}} {{Infobox rockunit | name = Travesser Formation | image = Steamboat Butte New Mexico.jpg | caption = Steamboat Butte, showing tilted teds of Travesser Formation in its lower half | type = [[Formation (stratigraphy)|Formation]] | age = {{Geological range|late Triassic}} | period = late Triassic | prilithology = [[Siltstone]], [[sandstone]] | otherlithology = [[Conglomerate (geology)|Conglomerate]] | namedfor = Travesser Creek | namedby = Baldwin and Muelberger | year_ts = 1959 | region = [[New Mexico]] | country = [[United States]] | coordinates = {{coord|36.93|N|103.48|W|display=inline}} | unitof = [[Dockum Group]] | subunits = | underlies = [[Sloan Canyon Formation]] | overlies = [[Baldy Hill Formation]] | thickness = {{convert|550|feet|meters}} | extent = | area = | map = {{Location map+ | United States#New Mexico | relief = 1 | width = 250 | float = center | places = {{Location map~ | United States#New Mexico | lat_deg = 36.93 | lon_deg = -103.48 | mark = Lightgreen pog.svg | marksize = 12 }} }} | map_caption = }}
The '''Travesser Formation''' is a [[Formation (geology)|geologic formation]] in northeastern [[New Mexico]], southeastern [[Colorado]], westernmost [[Oklahoma]], and northwestern [[Texas]],<ref name="baldwin-muehlberger-1959">{{cite journal |last1=Baldwin |first1=Brewster |last2=Muehlberger |first2=W.R. |year=1959 |title=Geologic studies of Union County, New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin |volume=63-2 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/downloads/63/Bulletin63_nc.pdf |accessdate=27 April 2021}}</ref> particularly in the Dry Cimarron valley.<ref name="lucas-etal-1987">{{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=S.G. |author1-link=Spencer G. Lucas |last2=Hunt |first2=A.P. |last3=Hayden |first3=S.N. |year=1987 |title=The Triassic System in the Dry Cimarron Valley, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Guidebook |volume=38 |pages=97-117 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/38/38_p0097_p0117.pdf |accessdate=17 September 2020}}</ref> It preserves [[fossils]] dating back to the [[late Triassic]] [[Period (geology)|period]].<ref name="baldwin-muehlberger-1959"/>
==Description== The formation is mostly reddish-brown [[clay]]-rich [[siltstone]] and fine-grained [[sandstone]], with sandstone beds up to {{convert|20|feet|meters}} thick. The formation also contains [[conglomerate (geology)|conglomerate]] lenses up to {{convert|20|feet|meters}}. The total thickness of the formation is {{convert|550|feet|meters}}. The formation [[Unconformity (geology)|unconformably]] overlies the [[Baldy Hill Formation]] and underlies the [[Sloan Canyon Formation]]<ref name="baldwin-muehlberger-1959"/> or locally the [[Exeter Sandstone]].<ref name="zeigler-etal-2019">{{cite journal |last1=Ziegler |first1=Kate E. |last2=Ramos |first2=Frank C. |last3=Zimmerer |first3=Matthew J. |title=Geology of Northeastern New Mexico, union and Colfax Counties, New Mexico: A Geologic Summary |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=2019 |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=47-54 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/70/70_p0047_p0054.pdf |accessdate=1 September 2020}}</ref>
The formation is usually assigned to the [[Dockum Group]].<ref name="baldwin-muehlberger-1959"/><ref name="zeigler-etal-2019"/> The proposal of [[Spencer G. Lucas]] and his collaborators to abandon the Dockum Group, possibly in favor of the [[Chinle Group]], is highly controversial.<ref name="lehman-1994">{{cite journal |last1=Lehman |first1=T.M. |year=1994 |title=The saga of the Dockum Group and the case of the Texas/New Mexico boundary fault |journal=New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources Bulletin |volume=150 |pages=37-51 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/downloads/150/B150.pdf |accessdate=1 September 2020}}</ref>
==Fossils== A fossil [[phytosaur]] skull and [[metoposaurid]]s have been found in the formation.<ref name="lucas-etal-1987"/>
==History of investigation== The formation was first named by Baldwin and Muelberger in 1959.<ref name="baldwin-muehlberger-1959"/> Lucas ''et al.'' rejected the assignment of the formation to the [[Dockum Group]] and adjusted the lower contact.<ref name="lucas-etal-1987"/>
==See also== {{Portal|Earth sciences|Paleontology}} * [[List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Mexico]] * [[Paleontology in New Mexico]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
[[Category:Triassic formations of New Mexico]] [[Category:Sandstone formations of the United States]] [[Category:Conglomerate formations of the United States]] [[Category:Siltstone formations of the United States]]