Circular 122—Structure of Glorieta Sandstone in northwest Chaves County, New Mexico

By R. L. Borton, 1972, 25 pp., 3 tables, 1 fig., 1 appendix, 2 sheets.

The report, in preliminary form, was presented as a paper at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the New Mexico Geological Society in Santa Fe, April 25, 1969. The report is part of a study of the geology and ground-water resources of an area of approximately 2,300 mi² in northwest Chaves County, New Mexico. The investigation was sponsored by the New Mexico State Engineer Office and the U.S. Geological Survey. Includes a comprehensive bibliography. Construction of a structure map of the top of the Glorieta Sandstone of Lower Permian age shows the formation dipping generally east to southeast at about 70 ft per mile. The altitude of the top of the Glorieta declines from 4,400 ft in the west-central part of the area to 1,100 ft in the southeast corner where the Glorieta is overlain by about 2,700 ft of younger Permian and Triassic rocks. The eastern portion of the area is characterized by gentle undulations and minor changes in strike; a fault of small displacement parallels the northernmost of two east-west diabase dikes. The western part of the area is deformed by two northeast-trending faulted anticlines with apparent displacements of as much as 200 ft, and by two large collapse features coincident with major drainages.