Menefee Formation

The Menefee Formation is a lower Campanian geologic formation found in Colorado and New Mexico, United States.

Menefee Formation
Stratigraphic range:
Menefee Formation in road cut at Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
TypeGeological formation
Unit ofMesaverde Group
Sub-unitsCleary Coal Member, Allison Member
UnderliesCliff House Sandstone
OverliesPoint Lookout Sandstone
Thickness500 m (1,600 ft)
Lithology
Primarysandstone, shale
Othercoal<
Location
Coordinates37°19′37″N 108°14′56″W
Region Colorado
 New Mexico
Country United States
Type section
Named forMenefee Mountain (37°19′37″N 108°14′56″W)
Named byA.J.Collier
Year defined1919
Menefee Formation is located in the United States
Menefee Formation
Menefee Formation (the United States)
Menefee Formation is located in Colorado
Menefee Formation
Menefee Formation (Colorado)
Menefee Formation in a road cut through a hogback ridge near Cuba, New Mexico

Description

The Menefee Formation consists of fluvial sandstone, shale, and coal. Based on ammonite biostratigraphy, the age of the Menefee Formation can be constrained to 84.2-79 million years (Ma), based on the presence of Baculites perplexus in the overlying Cliff House Sandstone, and ammonites from the late Santonian in the underlying Point Lookout Sandstone.[1]

Named members include a lower Cleary Coal Member and an upper Allison Member.[2]

The Mesaverde Group in the San Juan Basin records a marine regression-transgression sequence of the western margin of the Western Interior Seaway. The Menefee Formation was deposited at the peak of the regression as coastal river delta and swamp sediments, and includes numerous coal beds.[2][3]

The formation is exposed at Chaco Canyon National Park, where many of the coal beds have been burned to produce distinctive red cinder outcrops.[4]

San Juan Basin Upper Cretaceous stratigraphy

Fossils

The Menefee Formation includes fossils of turtles, fish and crocodiles and fragmentary evidence of hadrosaurs, ankylosaurs, and ceratopsian dinosaurs. Plant fossils include leaf impressions of palms, conifers, laurels, witchhazel, and camellia. The flora are suggestive of a moist subtropical environment.[5]

Vertebrate fauna

Several vertebrates have been recovered from the Menefee Formation, including intermediate remains of baenids, trionychids, and dromaeosaurids.[6]

Dinosaurs reported from the Menefee Formation
Genus Species Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Ankylosauria[7]

Indeterminate[7]
  • Allison Member[7]

Numerous partial osteoderms.[7]

Indeterminate Ankylosaur remains.[7]
Dynamoterror
Invictarx
Menefeeceratops
Ornatops
Dynamoterror[8]

D. dynastes[8]
  • Allison Member[8]

Frontals, fragmentary vertebral centra, fragments of dorsal ribs, metacarpal, supraacetabular crest of an ilium, unidentifiable fragments of long bones and phalanxes.[8]

A tyrannosaurid tyrannosaurine known from fragmentary remains.[8]

Hadrosauridae[7]

Indeterminate[7]
  • Allison Member[7]

A proximal femur, a distal metatarsal, jaw fragments, a radius, an ulna, caudal vertebrae and a distal tibia.[7]

Indeterminate hadrosaurid remains.[7]

Invictarx[9]

I. zephyri[9]
  • Allison Member[9]

Dorsal rib fragments, dorsal vertebrae, distal end of humerus, distal end of ulna, proximal ends of radii, incomplete metacarpal, and numerous incomplete and complete osteoderms.[9]

A nodosaurid, similar to Glyptodontopelta from the Ojo Alamo Formation.[9]

Menefeeceratops[10][6] M. sealeyi[10] A partial premaxilla, nearly complete postorbital horncore, squamosals, an incomplete parietal, jugal, predentary, dentary, a cervical vertebra, dorsal vertebrae, sacral vertebrae, dorsal ribs, ilium, radius, the proximal and distal portions of an ulna, metatarsal, femur, and the distal end of a fibula.[10][6] The oldest recognized centrosaurine ceratopsid.[10][6]
Ornatops[1]

O. incantatus[1]
  • Allison Member[1]

A partial premaxilla, postorbital, squamosal, quadrates, skull roof, braincase, partial dorsal vertebrae, dorsal rib, ossified tendons, scapula, proximal end of a humerus, ulna lacking the proximal end, radius lacking the proximal end, metacarpals, and incomplete pubis and ischium.[1]

The first brachylophosaurin reported from New Mexico and the southernmost occurrence of the clade.[1]

cf. Saurornitholestes[7]

cf. S. sp[7]
  • Allison Member[7]

A fragmentary tooth.[7]

A saurornitholestine dromaeosaurid represented by a single, isolated tooth.[7]

Tyrannosauridae[7]

Indeterminate[7]
  • Allison Member[7]

A scapula, metatarsal, shaft of anterior thoracic rib, postorbital and lateral tooth.[7]

Indeterminate tyrannosaurid remains.[7]

Crocodilians reported from the Menefee Formation
Genus Species Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Crocodylia[6]

Indeterminate[6]
  • Allison Member[6]
 A jaw fragment, teeth and scutes.[6] Indeterminate crocodylian remains.[6]
Brachychampsa
Deinosuchus
Brachychampsa[11]

B. sealeyi[11]

A partial skull, associated partial right mandible, partial ramus of the left mandible, and a nearly complete osteoderm.[11]

Mandible preserves bite marks which may have been inflicted by another alligatorioid.[11]

Deinosuchus[12]

D. sp[12]

[Six] osteoderms, caudal vertebrae, and a fragmentary tooth.[12]

One of the earliest occurrences of the genus on the Laramidian continent and all of North America.[12]

Turtles reported from the Menefee Formation
Genus Species Stratigraphic position Material Notes Images
Baenidae[7]

Indeterminate[7]
  • Allison Member[7]

Carapace fragments and plastron fragments.[7]

Indeterminate baenid remains.[7]

Testudines[6]

Indeterminate[6]
  • Allison Member[6]

A very fragmentary partial carapace and plastron.[6]

Indeterminate turtle remains.[6]

Trionychidae[7][6]

Indeterminate[7][6]

A nearly complete costal, carapace fragments and plastron fragments.[7][6]

Indeterminate trionychid remains.[7][6]

Economic geology

The Menefee Formation has been extensively mined for coal since the early 20th century.[13] The Monero field in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, was mined from the 1880s into the early 1920s to support the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, but while the coal is of good quality, the coal beds are relatively thin and the terrain is rugged. Remaining reserves are around 13.5 million tons, inadequate for economic exploitation in the 21st century.[14]

History of investigation

The Menefee Formation was first described by W.H.Holmes in 1877 during the Hayden Survey as the "Middle Coal Group" of the Mesaverde Formation.[15] A.J. Collier redesignated this unit in 1919 as the Menefee Formation and raised the Mesaverde Formation to group rank.[13]

See also

References
  1. McDonald et al. 2021.
  2. Lucas et al. 2005.
  3. Fillmore 2011.
  4. Scott, O'Sullivan & Weide 1984.
  5. National Park Service 2015.
  6. Williamson 1997.
  7. Hunt & Lucas 1993.
  8. McDonald, Wolfe & Dooley 2018.
  9. McDonald & Wolfe 2018.
  10. Dalma et al. 2021.
  11. Williamson 1996.
  12. Mohler, McDonald & Wolfe 2021.
  13. Collier 1919.
  14. Hoffman 1991.
  15. Holmes 1877.

Bibliography
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