Late Cretaceous strata of the San Juan Basin consist cyclically interstratified non-marine, nearshore marine, and offshore marine clastic sediments which were deposited both during marine transgressions and regressions. Thickness of the transgressive and regressive parts of these cyclic sequences varies, permitting subdivision into two types of cycles: symmetrical and asymmetrical. In symmetrical cycles the thickness of transgressive and regressive parts are nearly equal; in asymmetrical cycles the transgressive sandstone is thin or absent.

The Hosta-Point Lookout wedge is an example of a symmetrical cycle. At its base the transgressive marine Hosta Sandstone overlies non-marine strata of the Crevasse Canyon Formation. The Hosta Sandstone grades upward into the offshore marine Satan Shale. The Satan Shale marks the mid-point of the cycle and the maximum marine inundation; it grades upward into the regressive marine Point Lookout Sandstone. The Point Lookout is overlain by the non-marine Menefee Formation. Southwestward, toward the former shoreline, the Satan Shale pinches out and the transgressive and regressive sandstones merge into a single massive sandstone, which is also called the Point Lookout Sandstone. Still farther southwestward this massive sandstone grades into non-marine strata of the Crevasse Canyon and Mene ee formations.

The Mulatto-Dalton cycle is asymmetrical for it lacks a basal transgressive sandstone. Instead, the offshore Mulatto Shale directly overlies the non-marine Dilco Coal with only scattered marine sand lenses at the contact. The Mulatto Shale grades southwestward (toward the former shoreline) and upward into the regressive marine Dalton Sandstone which in turn grades southwestward into, and is overlain by, non-marine deposits of the Crevasse Canyon Formation.

Petrography is closely related to the sandstone depositional environments as follows.

Table

These petrographic properties may be used to identify and correlate units in problem areas.

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