Research about Chama Basin

USGS1987

Surface to subsurface cross sections showing correlation of the Dakota Sandstone, Burro Canyon (?) Formation, and upper part of the Morrison Formation in the Chama-El Vado area, Chama Basin, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico

This report shows the correlation of the Dakota Sandstone, Burro Canyon(?) Formation, and the upper part of the Morrison Formation in the Chama basin from E1 Cerro dome, just west of Chama, to El Vado Reservoir. Criteria needed to recognize these formations both at the outcrop and in the subsurface is also included.

New Mexico↗

USGS1983

Isopach and structure contour maps of the Burro Canyon(?) Formation in the Chama-El Vado Area, Chama Basin, New Mexico

In the Chama Basin a wequence of conglomerate, sandstone, and red, gray-green, and pale-purple mudstone occurs stratigraphically between the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation and Upper Cretaceous Dakota Sandstone. This stratigraphic interval has been called the Burro Canyon Formation by several workers (Craig and others, 1959; Smith and others, 1961; Saucier, 1974). Although similarities in lithology and stratigraphic position exist between this unit and the Burro Canyon Formation in Colorado, no direct correlation has been made between the two. For this reason the unit in the Chama Basin is called the Burro Canyon(?) Formation.

New Mexico↗