• Source: Hart Mine Formation

The Hart Mine Formation is a geologic formation controversially defined from exposures in south-central New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Eocene epoch.




Description


The formation is mostly calcareous reddish-brown siltstone, which makes up 72% of the type section. The remainder is mostly conglomerate with only minor silty mudstone. The conglomerate is primarily Paleozoic limestone with lesser amounts of granite. Total thickness is estimated at 320 meters (1,050 ft). The formation lies disconformably on Crevasse Canyon Formation and grades above into the Spears Formation.
The formation provides evidence for a pulse of Laramide deformation in New Mexico 50 million years ago.




Fossils


The formation contains fossils of turtles, the lizard Glyptosaurus, the brontothere Telmatherium manteoceras, the rodent Reithroparamys huerfanensis, the insectivore Leptotomus parvus, the equid Orohippus pumilis, and the primate Notharctus tenebrosus, pointing to a Bridgerian age for the formation.




History of investigation


The formation was first defined by Spencer G. Lucas and Thomas E. Williamson in 1993 and named for the Hart Mine, an abandoned coal mine. The beds were formerly assigned to the Baca Formation but show differences in lithology and appear to have been deposited in a different sedimentary basin. However, the reassignment was disputed by Cather and collaborators, who argued that the lithological distinction is not great and the basin reconstruction was still speculative. Lucas responded in turn that the Hart Mine Formation has more abundant conglomerate than the Baca Formation and argued that this makes it lithologically distinct. However, the reassignment continues to be controversial.




See also



List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Mexico
Paleontology in New Mexico




Footnotes






References


Cather, S.M.; Chamberlin, R.M.; Ratté, J.C. (1994). "Tertiary stratigraphy and nomenclature for western New Mexico and eastern Arizona" (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series. 45: 259–266. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
Cather, S.M.; Zeigler, Kate E.; Mack, Greg H.; Kelley, Shari A. (2013). "Toward standardization of Phanerozoic stratigraphic nomenclature in New Mexico". New Mexico Geological Society Spring Meeting: 12. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.667.3513.
Lucas, Spencer G. (1997). "Middle Eocene (Bridgerian) mammals from the Hart Mine Formation, south-central New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. Vol. 11. pp. 65–72. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
Lucas, Spencer G. (2015). "Eocene fossil vertebrates of New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. Vol. 68. pp. 149–157. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
Lucas, Spencer G.; Williamson, Thomas E. (1993). "Eocene vertebrates and late Laramide stratigraphy of New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin. 2: 145–157. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
Sullivan, Robert M. (October 2019). "The taxonomy, chronostratigraphy and paleobiogeography of glyptosaurine lizards (Glyptosaurinae, Anguidae)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 18 (7): 747–763. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2019.05.006. S2CID 202174449.

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