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Filling the Delaware Basin: Hydrologic and Climatic Controls on the Upper Permian Castile Formation Varved Evaporite

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The Permian of Northern Pangea

Abstract

The Upper Permian (Ochoan) Castile Formation in the Delaware basin of western Texas and southeastern New Mexico is recognized for three exceptional attributes: as the classic example of a “deep-water” marine evaporite (King 1947), for its remarkably clear and laterally persistent annual laminations (varves: Anderson et al. 1972), and for its continuous, 200 000-year annual record of climatic variability (Anderson 1982, 1984). This chapter examines the lateral and vertical distribution of beds of varved limestone, varved anhydrite, and varved halite and interprets these changes in terms of basin hydrology and the important role that climate played in creating the stratigraphy of an evaporite. Earlier studies of the Castile provided sedimentological evidence for subaqueous deposition of the laminated evaporite (Anderson and Kirkland 1966; Anderson et al. 1972; Dean et al. 1975). This chapter describes progressive changes in geochemistry, petrology, and stratification that were the result of the basin becoming filled with sediment and that indicate an initially “deep” evaporite basin.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, University of New Mexico, 87131, Albuquerque, New Mexico, NM, USA

    Roger Y. Anderson

  2. US Geological Survey, 80225, Denver, Colorado, USA

    Walter E. Dean

Authors
  1. Roger Y. Anderson
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  2. Walter E. Dean
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Southern Methodist University, 75275, Dallas, Texas, USA

    Peter A. Scholle  & Dana S. Ulmer-Scholle  & 

  2. Panstwowy Institute of Geology, ul. Rakowiecka 4, 00975, Warsaw, Poland

    Tadeusz M. Peryt

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Anderson, R.Y., Dean, W.E. (1995). Filling the Delaware Basin: Hydrologic and Climatic Controls on the Upper Permian Castile Formation Varved Evaporite. In: Scholle, P.A., Peryt, T.M., Ulmer-Scholle, D.S. (eds) The Permian of Northern Pangea. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78590-0_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78590-0_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78592-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78590-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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