![Orogrande Map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Orogrande_Map.png)
The Orogrande Basin is a
geologic province
A geologic province is a spatial entity with common geologic attributes. A province may include a single dominant structural element such as a basin or a fold belt, or a number of contiguous related elements. Adjoining provinces may be simila ...
in southern
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 ...
and western
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. It includes
Doña Ana,
Sierra,
Socorro,
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
, and
Otero Counties in New Mexico and
El Paso County, Texas
El Paso County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population was 865,657, making it the ninth-most populous county in the state of Texas. Its seat is the city of El Paso, the sixth-most populous ...
. The province takes its name from the community of
Orogrande, New Mexico.
Geology
The province is named for the Orogrande Basin, which was a shallow marine basin during the
Carboniferous
The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carbonifero ...
.
[ This basin was one of several basins that opened along the southwestern margin of the North American craton due to crustal stress from the ]Ouachita Orogeny
The Ouachita orogeny was a mountain-building event that resulted in the folding and faulting of strata currently exposed in the Ouachita Mountains. The more extensive Ouachita system extends from the current range in Arkansas and Oklahoma south ...
. At this time, this area was very close to the equator. Up to of 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 ...
s and 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 ...
s were deposited. These included sediments from a Carboniferous mountain range, the Pedernal Uplift, located to the east.
A narrow shelf, the Sacramento Shelf, was located between the basin and mountain range, and formations in this area from the Carboniferous are notable for their algal mounds. This steep shelf margin gave way further west to a gently-inclined ramp, the Robledo Ramp. The Gobbler Formation is typical of middle Pennsylvanian deposition in the basin.[ The Orogrande Basin was centered on the present-day ]Tularosa Basin
The Tularosa Basin is a graben basin in the Basin and Range Province and within the Chihuahuan Desert, east of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and West Texas, in the Southwestern United States.
Geography
The Tularosa Basin is located prim ...
.
References
{{Coord, 32.4, -106.1, format=dms, display=title, region:US-CO_scale:500000
Geologic provinces of Texas
Geology of New Mexico
Sedimentary basins of North America