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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 47 (1963)

Issue: 2. (February)

First Page: 356

Last Page: 356

Title: Early Vadose Silt in Townsend Mound (Reef), New Mexico: ABSTRACT

Author(s): Robert J. Dunham

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

Vugs, fractures, interstices, and other voids in the Townsend carbonate mound (reef) are floored with internal sediment composed of well sorted calcite silt. Internal sedimentation predates precipitation of blocky cement, and post-dates both precipitation of early drusy cement and early internal erosion. The crystal silt differs from associated marine sediment in its scarcity of clay-size particles, sand-size particles, and recognizable skeletal debris.

The age relationships and texture of crystal silt seem best explained by sedimentation inside pre-existing crumbly rock in the vadose zone during early emergence. If the explanation is valid, similar internal sediment might be a valuable clue to previously unrecognized subaerial stages in other carbonate mounds.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists