The Beeman Formation is a

geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exp ...

in the

Sacramento Mountains The Sacramento Mountains are a mountain range in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, lying just east of Alamogordo in Otero County (small portions of the range lie in Lincoln County and Chaves County). From north to south, ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It preserves

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

dating back to the

Kasimovian The Kasimovian is a geochronology, geochronologic age (geology), age or chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic stage (stratigraphy), stage in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timescale. It is the third stage in the Penn ...

Age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

of the Pennsylvanian

Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

Description

The Beeman Formation consists of

cyclic Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in soc ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

and

argillaceous Clay minerals are hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates (e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4), sometimes with variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals, alkaline earths, and other cations found on or near some planetary surfaces. Clay minerals ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

with some

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

. The thickness is . The formation overlies the

Gobbler Formation The Gobbler Formation is a geologic formation in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Moscovian Age of the Pennsylvanian Period. Description The Gobbler Formation consists of a lower section of of qu ...

and is overlain by the

Holder Formation The Holder Formation is a geologic formation in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Pennsylvanian. Description The Holder Formation consists of limestone, red and gray calcareous shale, sandstone, ...

. The formation is interpreted as cyclic deposition on a

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

following rejuvenation of the Pedernal uplift of the

Ancestral Rocky Mountains The geology of the Rocky Mountains is that of a discontinuous series of mountain ranges with distinct geological origins. Collectively these make up the Rocky Mountains, a mountain system that stretches from Northern British Columbia through cen ...

Fossils

The unit contains middle to upper Missourian (Kasimovian)

fusulinid The Fusulinida is an extinct order within the Foraminifera in which the tests are traditionally considered to have been composed of microgranular calcite. Like all forams, they were single-celled organisms. In advanced forms the test wall was di ...

s and

conodont Conodonts (Greek ''kōnos'', "cone", + ''odont'', "tooth") are an extinct group of agnathan (jawless) vertebrates resembling eels, classified in the class Conodonta. For many years, they were known only from their tooth-like oral elements, which ...

s, including several species of the fusulinid '' Triticites'' and the conodont ''

Idiognathodus ''Idiognathodus'' is an extinct conodont genus in the family Idiognathodontidae. Use in stratigraphy The species ''Idiognathodus simulator'' made its first appearance during the Gzhelian, the youngest age of the Pennsylvanian (late Carbonife ...

symmetricus'', related species, and species of ''

Streptognathodus ''Streptognathodus'' is an extinct genus of conodonts from the Late Carboniferous to Early Permian. Use in stratigraphy Late Carboniferous The top of the Kasimovian stage is close to the first appearance of ''Streptognathodus zethus''. The ...

''. These species indicate that the Beeman Formation is entirely Kasimovian in age. The formation has a diverse coprofauna. The formation has also produced a

lacustrine A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

fauna from one of its shell beds, including the

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to arachn ...

'' Euproops danae''.

History of investigation

The unit was first named by Lloyd C. Pray in 1954 and a type section was designated in 1959.Pray, L.C., 1959, "Stratigraphic and structural features of the Sacramento Mountain Escarpment, New Mexico", IN Pray, L.C., leader, ''Guidebook for joint field conference in the Sacramento Mountains of Otero County, New Mexico'': Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Permian Basin Section, Field Trip Guidebook, Joint field conference of Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Permian Basin Section, and Roswell Geological Society, Alamogordo, NM, p. 86-130. Pray originally assigned the formation to the Magdalena Group, but the Magdalena Group has subsequently been abandoned.

References

{{Reflist Carboniferous formations of New Mexico Carboniferous southern paleotropical deposits

Description

Fossils

History of investigation

See also

References