This is a preliminary report on incomplete surface and subsurface studies in Eddy County and adjacent areas. Results so far are as follows.

The Yates sand has been traced from subsurface into the surface outcrop, and the top of the Yates mapped from Carlsbad to McKittrick Canyon.

The subdivision of the Whitehorse-Capitan is simplified, making it more suitable for daily use by subsurface (and also field) geologists. From top downward it is subdivided into Carlsbad, Yates, Seven Rivers, Queen. This involves redefinition of the Carlsbad.

The gradation of Whitehorse into Capitan disposes of the untenable theory that the Whitehorse is Triassic. Yates sand passes beneath beds containing Permian (Guadalupian) fossils.

Even the youngest Carlsbad grades laterally into massive Capitan limestone, and all the Capitan limestone grades into the upper 800 feet of the

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Delaware Mountain sandstone. The Lower Castile formation is younger than the Capitan, which it overlaps.

In the vicinity of Carlsbad the Rustler rests directly on the Carlsbad limestone. Evidence of the Pleistocene age of the Pierce Canyon beds is presented.

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