Abstract

Applications of sequence stratigraphic concepts have enjoyed a decade of utilization, notwithstanding the fact that the defining work of Mitchum et al. (1977) was somewhat earlier. However, important outcrop sections, such as the Permian Wolfcampian-Leonardian rocks of the Sierra Diablo, have become available for detailed study only recently. Working in Apache Canyon, Starcher (1992) (Wolfcampian, Hueco Fm.) and Fitchen (1994) (Victorio Peak-Bone Spring formations), have made remarkable progress in establishing a sequence stratigraphic framework for that area.

Apache Canyon offers a cross-sectional (shelf-to-basin) view of these formational units. Strike sections, however, which are beautifully exposed along the Sierra Diablo frontal margin, are more difficult to understand. This is possibly due, in part, to the more basinward position of many of the sections, wherein unconformities recognized on the shelf might have merged basinward into conformities.

This paper is a summary of earlier reports on the stratigraphy and sedimentation (Wilde, 1962 and 1983) modified by new insights from Apache Canyon. An initial attempt is made herein to recognize King’s (1965) three divisions of the Hueco Formation along the frontal margin of the range. These divisions were utilized by Starcher (1992) in Apache Canyon to great advantage.

A synthesis of the stratigraphy and sedimentation along the Sierra Diablo frontal margin is necessary to complete the lower Permian depositional history of the area. This, however, will require rigorous efforts of a detailed doctoral dissertation, such as that of Fitchen (1994) on the Leonardian in Apache Canyon. The musings in this paper are an attempt to encourage rather than define such efforts.

Again, as in earlier papers, Křiž lens, which is interpreted as a submarine slide block, is discussed and compared to subsurface examples. By attempting to understand such depositional processes, and by placing them in the proper time-stratigraphic framework through the use of biostratigraphic markers, the prospector can make better application of tools such as 3-D seismic, for locating new oil and gas deposits.