High Resolution Investigation Of Lateral Continuity And Depositional Processes In The Juana Lopez Member Of The Mancos Shale, New Mexico

Muddy, thin-bedded, and heterolithic formations comprise a significant proportion of the world’s sedimentary rock and fine-grained clastic sediments represent the gross lithology in ancient sea basins, such as that of the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway. In this study, an analysis of the thin-bedded heterolithic Juana Lopez Member of the Mancos Shale will shed light on the depositional processes which formed the Juana Lopez, as well as the lateral continuity in beds resulting from each process. The data used in this study was gathered from observations of an outcrop through three measured sections. The distance covered by these sections totals approximately 500m, and when correlated with measured sections by Wiercigroch (2018), this distance increases to approximately 5.8km. The depositional environment for the sections measured within this study was determined through facies analysis; suggesting an environment dominated by wave enhanced sediment gravity flows (WESGF’s) and hypopycnal plumes with significant influences from turbidity currents, storm surges, and oceanic currents.