Sedimentology of Mesa Rica Sandstone in Tucumcari Basin, New Mexico

Abstract

The Mesa Rica Sandstone in the Tucumcari Basin of east-central New Mexico represents deposits from a lobate sand-rich delta complex. Log-probability curves of the grain-size distributions when compared to the work of Visher indicate environments ranging from distributary channels to marine wave deposits.The Mesa Rica delta prograded into the marine Tucumcari Basin from the north as shown by the south-trending to southwest-trending paleocurrent directions, and the decrease in mean grain size and thickness to the southeast, south, and southwest indicates a transition from predominantly fluvial to predominantly marine conditions. If the Mesa Rica Sandstone is correlative with the lower fluvial interval of the Dakota Sandstone north and northwest of the Tucumcari Basin as suggested by Scott, then the Dakota Sandstone represents the fluvial facies of the Mesa Rica marine delta complex.