Taphonomy of the Lower Permian Cardillo Quarry, Chama Basin, North-Central New Mexico
- ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Andrew B. Heckert Ph.D., Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- Appalachian State University (ASU )
- Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
Abstract: The Lower Permian Cardillo quarry is located near Arroyo del Agua, in the Chama Basin in north-central New
Mexico. The quarry is stratigraphically high in the El Cobre Canyon Formation of the Cutler Group, which is Wolfcampian in
age. During excavations in 1979, 1980 and 2002-2004, the remains of the labyrinthodont amphibian Eryops, the diadectamorph
Diadectes, a captorhinid reptile, a varanopseid pelycosaur, and the pelycosaurs Sphenacodon and Ophiacodon were recovered
from the Cardillo quarry. Taphonomic analysis reveals that this locality is an attritional fossil assemblage. The bones lie within
a series of three distinct, pedogenically modified conglomerates that also include calcrete nodules, chert, quartzite and other
siliceous pebbles. The skeletal material is mostly disarticulated, though two partially articulated pelycosaur skeletons were
recovered from overbank sediments above the uppermost conglomerate. Isolated skeletal elements and bone fragments are in
various stages of weathering and abrasion. The assemblage was not hydraulically sorted because all three Voorhies groups are
well represented. The Cardillo quarry assemblage was formed by a series of crevasse splays that incorporated bones, bone fragments
and basement clasts (siliceous pebbles). Thus, it is a classic example of a time-averaged vertebrate fossil assemblage.
Taphonomy of the Lower Permian Cardillo Quarry, Chama Basin, North-Central New Mexico
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Zeigler, K.E., Lucas, S.G., Heckert, A.B., Henrici, A.C., and Berman, D.S. (2005), Taphonomy of the Lower Permian Cardillo quarry, Chama Basin, north-central New Mexico: New Mexico Geological Society Guidebook 56, p. 297-301. Archived in NCDOCKS with permission of the editor. Version of record may be obtained from the New Mexico Geological Society at: http://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/56/
- Language: English
- Date: 2005