Investigating Controls on Sedimentation Through Interpretation of the Syntectonic Cretaceous-Paleogene Sedimentary Record in the San Juan Basin (New Mexico, U.S.A.)

Abstract:

The Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary in the southwestern San Juan Basin is bracketed by the mudstone-dominated Cretaceous Kirtland Formation, the sandstone-dominated Paleocene Ojo Alamo Sandstone, and the mudstone-dominated Paleocene lower Nacimiento Formation. Geochemical trends of fluvial mudstones from these units indicate changing sedimentary source areas through time. While the Kirtland and Nacimiento Formations represent periods of high accommodation within the San Juan Basin, the Ojo Alamo Sandstone represents a period of low accommodation and general reworking and transport by southeast-flowing paleorivers. The Kirtland and Nacimiento Formations thin and fine away from their interpreted source area whereas the Ojo Alamo Sandstone thickens and fines away from the source area. Here we investigate the enigmatic sedimentary architecture of the Ojo Alamo Sandstone, geochemical evidence for a changing source area through this time period, and the complex relationships between sedimentation, source area, accommodation, and basin tectonic evolution. Incorporating new measured sections, petrographic analyses, geochemical trends, and stratigraphic relationships, we propose that the Ojo Alamo Sandstone represents an anomalous short period of low accommodation in the San Juan Basin during the early Laramide Orogeny and explore possible intra- and extra-basinal tectonic, climatic, and sedimentologic explanations as well as implications for understanding the evolution of the basin.