Bone Spring Formation

The formation consists of dark gray deep marine limestone interbedded with shale and sandstone[1] interpreted as turbidites.[2] The total thickness is about 1,000 meters (3,300 ft). The base of the formation is largely concealed in the subsurface, and the formation is overlain by the Cutoff Shale.[1] The formation grades laterally into the Victorio Peak Formation.[3]

The formation contains fossils of the brachiopods Productus leonardensis, Marginifera cristobalensis, Pugnoides texanus, P. bidentatus, Composita mexicana, and Peritochia erebus; the ammonites Paracelites elegans, Agathiceras texanum, and Perrinites.[4]

The formation was first designated the Bone Springs Limestone by Blanchard and Davis in 1929.[5] It has subsequently been demoted to membership as the Bone Canyon Member of the Leonard Formation,[6] renamed the Bone Spring Limestone,[7] and most recently redesigned the Bone Spring Formation.[1] The Cutoff Shale was removed as a separate formation in 1964.[8]

The sandstones of the Bone Spring Formation are important petroleum reservoirs with estimated reserves in 1997 of 300,000–375,000 bbl.[9][10] The formation lies deep in the subsurface in the Delaware Basin, where its shale facies is known as the Avalon Shale.[11]

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Mexico
• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Texas

• Blanchard, W. Grant, Jr.; Davis, Morgan J. (1929). "Permian Stratigraphy and Structure of Parts of Southeastern New Mexico and Southwestern Texas". AAPG Bulletin. 13. doi:10.1306/3D93286E-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D.
• Hayes, Philip Thayer (1964). "Geology of the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. 446. doi:10.3133/pp446.
• King, Philip B.; King, Robert E. (1929). "Stratigraphy of Outcropping Carboniferous and Permian Rocks of Trans-Pecos Texas". AAPG Bulletin. 13. doi:10.1306/3D93286B-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D.
• King, P. B. (31 August 1934). "Permian stratigraphy of trans-Pecos Texas". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 45 (4): 697–798. doi:10.1130/GSAB-45-697.
• Kues, B.S.; Giles, K.A. (2004). "The late Paleozoic Ancestral Rocky Mountain system in New Mexico". In Mack, G.H.; Giles, K.A. (eds.). The geology of New Mexico. A geologic history: New Mexico Geological Society Special Volume 11. pp. 95–136. ISBN 9781585460106.
• Mazzullo, S. J. (1995). "Permian Stratigraphy and Facies, Permian Basin (Texas—New Mexico) and Adjoining Areas in the Midcontinent United States". The Permian of Northern Pangea: 41–60. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-78590-0_3.
• Montgomery, Scott L. (1997). "Permian Bone Spring Formation: Sandstone Play  in the Delaware Basin, Part II-Basin". AAPG Bulletin. 81. doi:10.1306/3B05BB0A-172A-11D7-8645000102C1865D.
• Schwartz, Kenneth; Starr, Allison; Meier, Holly; Stolte, Natasha (2018). "Review of the First Bone Spring Hybrid Play in the Delaware Basin, West Texas and Southeast New Mexico". Proceedings of the 6th Unconventional Resources Technology Conference. doi:10.15530/urtec-2018-2901606.
• Sellards, E.H. (1933). "The pre-Paleozoic and Paleozoic systems in Texas, Part 1". In Sellards, E.H.; Adkins, W.S.; Plummer, F.B (eds.). The geology of Texas. 1. University of Texas. pp. 15–238.
• Stolz, Dustin J.; Franseen, Evan K.; Goldstein, Robert H. (2015). "Character of the Avalon Shale (Bone Spring Formation) of the Delaware Basin, West Texas and Southeast New Mexico: Effect of Carbonate-rich Sediment Gravity Flows". Proceedings of the 3rd Unconventional Resources Technology Conference. doi:10.15530/urtec-2015-2154681.