Stratigraphy, correlation, depositional setting, and geophysical characteristics of the Oligocene Snowshoe Mountain Tuff and Creede Formation in two cored boreholes

GSA Special Papers
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Abstract

Core descriptions and geophysical logs from two boreholes (CCM-1 and CCM-2) in the Oligocene Snowshoe Mountain Tuff and Creede Formation, south-central Colorado, are used to interpret sedimentary and volcanic facies associations and their physical properties. The seven facies association include a mixed sequence of intracaldera ash-flow tuffs and breccias, alluvial and lake margin deposits, and tuffaceous lake beds. These deposits represent volcanic units related to caldera collapse and emplacement of the Snowshoe Mountain Tuff, and sediments and pyroclastic material deposited in the newly formed caldera basin, Early sedimentation is interpreted to have been rapid, and to have occurred in volcaniclastic fan environments at CCM-1 and in a variery of volcaniclastic fan, braided stream shallow lacustrine, and mudflat environments at CCM-2. After an initial period of lake-level rise, suspension settling, turbidite, and debris-flow sedimentation occurred in lacustrine slope and basin environments below wave base. Carbonate sedimentation was initially sporadic, but more continuous in the latter part of the recorded lake history (after the H fallout tuff). Sublacustrine-fan deposition occurred at CCM-1 after a pronounced lake-level fall and subsequent rise that preceded the H tuff. Variations in density, neutron, gamma-ray, sonic, and electrical properties of deposits penetrated oin the two holes reflect variations in lithology, porosity, and alteration. Trends in the geophysical properties of the lacustrine strata are linked to downhole changes in authigenic mineralology and a decrease in porosity interpreted to have resulted primarily from diagenesis. Lithological and geophysical characteristics provide a basis for correlation of the cores; however, mineralogical methods of correlation are hampered by the degree of diagenesis and alteration.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Stratigraphy, correlation, depositional setting, and geophysical characteristics of the Oligocene Snowshoe Mountain Tuff and Creede Formation in two cored boreholes
Series title GSA Special Papers
DOI 10.1130/0-8137-2346-9.159
Volume 346
Year Published 2000
Language English
Publisher Geological Society of America
Description 20 p.
Larger Work Type Article
Larger Work Subtype Journal Article
Larger Work Title GSA Special Papers
First page 159
Last page 178
Country United States
State Colorado
Other Geospatial Creede Formation;Oligocene Snowshoe Mountain Tuff
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