Sedimentological analysis of the Jurassic Morrison Formation in northeastern New Mexico

Totz, Samuel

Publication

Sedimentological analysis of the Jurassic Morrison Formation in northeastern New Mexico

Totz, Samuel

Date

2022-12-12

Abstract

The geoscience community has neglected exposures of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation in northeastern New Mexico compared to the vast completion of literature written about the Morrison Formation, further west, on the Colorado Plateau. This study uses methods such as lithofacies classification, surface mapping, and microscope analysis to compile an overview of the climatic and fluvial processes that influenced the deposition of the Morrison Formation in this understudied region. Results from this study were compared to published literature on the Morrison Formation from the Colorado Plateau, which identified similarities and differences in large-scale, global processes controlling deposition at outcrops in New Mexico from those on the Colorado Plateau. This study’s wide variety of documented results and conclusions, which creates a newfound understanding of the fluvial processes controlling the deposition of the Morrison Formation in northeastern New Mexico, will serve as a fundamental resource for subsequent studies.