High-resolution sequence

stratigraphy of the Upper

Ordovician Montoya Group,
southern New Mexico and
western Texas: Outcrop analog
of an unconventional chert
and carbonate reservoir
Michael C. Pope

ABSTRACT
The Upper Ordovician Montoya Group crops out in southern New
Mexico and westernmost Texas and records predominantly subtidal deposition on a gently dipping carbonate ramp that was subsequently almost entirely dolomitized. The Montoya Group is a
third-order composite sequence composed of six regionally correlative, shallowing-upward, third-order depositional sequences
(M0M5). Sequence M0 has sandstone at its base that is overlain
by skeletal packstone-grainstone. Sequence M0 occurs only
locally and was likely deposited in a topographic low formed during regional development of the unconformity following El Paso
Group deposition. Sequence M1, marking the initial widespread
transgression over the Ellenburger unconformity, consists of
sandstone updip that passes downramp into skeletal packstone.
The highstand systems tract (HST) of M1 consists of a prograding
skeletal grainstone that was subaerially exposed upramp.
Sequence M2, which contains the second-order maximum flooding surface, has abundant subtidal cherty carbonate at its base,
which shallows upward into a widespread, prograding coral packstone-grainstone in the HST. Sequence M3 also contains abundant
downramp chert that passes upramp into an aggrading crinoidal
shoal and farther upramp into peritidal mudstone. Sequence M4
records an extensive basinward shift in facies as peritidal burrowed and cryptalgalaminated mudstone prograded over subtidal

Copyright 2014. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Manuscript received October 24, 2012; provisional acceptance February 06, 2013; revised manuscript
received July 11, 2013; final acceptance October 15, 2013.
DOI: 10.1306/10151312177

AAPG Bulletin, v. 98, no. 8 (August 2014), pp. 15771597

1577

AUTHOR

Michael C. Pope Department of Geology

and Geophysics, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas 778433115;
mcpope@geos.tamu.edu
Mike Pope earned a B.S. degree in earth and
space science from the University of
California in Los Angeles (1985), an M.S.
degree in geology from the University of
Montana (1989), and a Ph.D. in geology from
the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University (1995). He was a postdoctoral
researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and taught for 10 years at
Washington State University before moving
to Texas A&M University in 2009. He teaches
courses in stratigraphy, carbonate
depositional systems, sequence and seismic
stratigraphy analysis, and field camp. His
current research projects include
stratigraphic and sedimentologic studies of
Ordovician siliciclastic rocks (Eureka
Quartzite, St. Peter Sandstones, and
equivalents), Mesozoic and Cenozoic
carbonates in Libya and Saudi Arabia, Eagle
Ford Group rocks of west Texas, and the
Smackover Formation in Alabama.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Supported for this research was provided by

ACS Petroleum Research Fund 35837-G8.
White Sands Missile Range geologist Bob
Myers was very helpful in accessing sections
in the San Andres range. Jessica Steffen, Dan
Hunter, Bryn Clark, Luke LeMond, Steve
Turpin, and John Bengelsdorf all provided
invaluable field assistance. Jessica Steffen
initiated many useful discussions about the
Montoya Group chert. Dave Thomas, Huabao
Liu, Doug Kenaley, Pak Wong, Joel Collins,
and Jim Weber provided lively discussions
and debate about Montoya Group
stratigraphy, and some disagreed with my
interpretations; any remaining errors are
solely mine. Kate Giles provided many
interesting and useful discussions about the
New Mexico stratigraphy. Insightful reviews
by Brian Coffey, Maya Elrick, and Steve
Ruppel greatly improved this manuscript. This
article was approved for public release by
White Sands Missile Range; distribution is

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unlimited. Operations Security review was

completed on August 19, 2002.
The AAPG Editor thanks the following
reviewers for their work on this paper:
Brian P. Coffey, Maya Elrick, and Stephen
C. Ruppel.

carbonate. Sequence M5 is only locally developed downramp and

consists of crinoidal grainstone with abundant evidence of subaerial exposure. A regional unconformity separates the Montoya
Group from the Silurian Fusselman Dolostone or younger units.
Parasequences (meter-scale cycles) recording low- to moderateamplitude relative sea level fluctuations are ubiquituous features
at individual outcrops but are difficult to correlate regionally.
The abundance of syn- or early depositional chert in the subtidal facies indicates that the Montoya Group was deposited
within a region of strong regional upwelling along southern
Laurentia. This early formed chert was the reservoir facies in a
successful Upper Ordovician gas play in Ward and Reeves
Counties, Texas.

INTRODUCTION
Chert reservoirs commonly are difficult to characterize (Rogers
and Longman, 2001) into a single depositional model, with reservoirs occurring in primary depositional settings and in diagenetic
settings along major unconformities (so-called chat reservoirs).
A gas reservoir was discovered in cherty carbonate (Aleman
Formation) of the Upper Ordovician Montoya Group in west
Texas (Thomas and Liu, 2003). This play was developed using
horizontal technology by Mobil, and the first horizontal well was
drilled and completed in 1999.
Interbedded marine carbonate and chert are common lithofacies
in Upper Ordovcian units of southern Laurentia, occuring within
the Simpson Group in southern Oklahoma and northeastern
Texas, the Maravillas Formation of south-central Texas, and the
Montoya Group of western Texas and eastern New Mexico (Pope,
2004a, b). These interbedded carbonate and chert units interfinger
with calcareous turbidites in the Maravillas Formation (McBride,
1969, 1970, 1989) and with crinoid grainstones in the Montoya
and Simpson Groups (Galvin, 1983; Brown and Sentfle, 1997;
Denison, 1997; OBrien and Derby, 1997; Pope, 2004b), indicating
that they formed in shallow to deep subtidal environments. A depositional model for many of these Upper Ordovician chert-rich carbonate rocks suggested that they formed along the southern
margin of Laurentia during upwelling that provided the phosphate
in these rocks and nutrients for the numerous sponges that provided
the abundant sponge spicules that form many of the chert beds
(Pope and Steffen, 2003; Pope, 2004a, b). This article provides a
detailed outcrop-based sequence-stratigraphic analysis of the
Upper Ordovician Montoya Group in southern New Mexico and
western Texas to better understand Montoya Group deposition
and provide an analog for the subsurface reservoir in west Texas.
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Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

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GEOLOGIC SETTING
The Upper Ordovician Montoya Group (as much as
180 m [590 ft] thick) of southeastern New Mexico
and western Texas was deposited during a transition
from Early and Middle Ordovician global greenhouse
conditions to Late Ordovician global glacial conditions that reached their acme during the very latest
Ordovician Hirnantian Age (Frakes et al., 1992;
Brenchley et al., 1994, 2003; Pope and Read, 1998;
Poussart et al., 1999; Finnegan et al., 2011). The
Upper Ordovician Montoya Group was deposited
within 30 of the paleoequator on a mature passive
margin along the southern margin of Laurentia (Mac
Niocaill et al., 1997; Scotese, 1997). High-frequency,
moderate-amplitude (2030 m [6698 ft], every
20100 k.y.) sea level fluctuations are recorded in
the Upper Ordovician Lexington Limestone in
Kentucky (Pope and Read, 1997a, b; 1998), and
an influx of cool oceanic waters occurred over much
of equatorial Laurentia during the Late Ordovician
(Brookfield, 1988; Patzkowsky and Holland, 1993;
Holland and Patzkowsky, 1997; Pope and Read,
1998; Kolata et al., 2001).
The Montoya Group outcrops in mountain ranges
throughout southern New Mexico and westernmost
Texas (Figure 1). These mountain ranges were produced by Cenozoic basin-and-range extension and
commonly trend north-northwesterly. Forty-two full
and partial sections (Figure 1) were measured at the
bed-by-bed scale for this study.
The biostratigraphic framework (Figure 2) for the
Montoya Group outcrops is provided by numerous
workers using a variety of fossils (Flower, 1956,
1961, 1969; Hill, 1959; Howe, 1959; Lemone, 1969;
Sweet, 1979). These studies indicate that the age of
the Montoya Group is Late Ordovician (Chatfieldian
to Cincinnatian), and that the latest Ordovician
(Hirnantian) is missing in this area. These and previous stratigraphic studies of the Montoya Group
(Kelley and Silver, 1952; Pray, 1958; Howe, 1959;
Pratt and Jones, 1961; Kottlowski, 1963; Hayes,
1975; Measures 1985a, b) produced the gross
regional lithostratigraphy (Figure 2) that remains in
use today. The duration of Montoya Group deposition (Chatfieldian to Cincinnatian) was 67 m.y.
(Bergstrm et al., 2008).

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Figure 1. Map showing locations of mountain ranges where

the Upper Ordovician Montoya Group outcrops in southern
New Mexico and westernmost Texas (modified from Pope,
2004a). Cross section line BB, from the northern San Andres
Range to the Franklin Mountains and to the Hueco Mountains,
is shown in Figure 6 (A) (northern half), (B) (southern half),
and (C) (complete, simplified diagram). The location of the measured sections (from the north to the south) are SM = Sheep
Mountain; SW = Sweetwater Canyon; MA = Markinson
Canyon; WM = Workman Canyon; LM = Lost Man Canyon;
MY = Mayberry Canyon; SA = San Andres Canyon; AS = Ash
Canyon; BP = Bear Peak Canyon; BCN = Bishops Cap North;
BCS = Bishops Cap South; AN = Anthony's Nose; NFC = North
Franklin Mountains C; NFD = North Franklin Mountains D;
NFE = North Franklin Mountains E; NFF = North Franklin
Mountains F; NFG = North Franklin Mountains G; NFH = North
Franklin Mountains H; MCN = McKelligon Canyon North; EF =
East Franklin Mountains; FRT = Franklin Radio Tower; SFB =
South Franklin Mountains B; SFA = South Franklin Mountains
A; SF = South Franklins; PLC = Pole Line Canyon in Huecos
Range. Nakaye Mountain in the Caballos Range is labeled NM.

The Montoya Group is subdivided into three

distinct formations (Figure 2) given in ascending
order: Upham, Aleman, and Cutter. Almost all of
the Montoya Group outcrops are extensively dolomitized with limestone occurring locally only in the
Upham Dolomite and basal Aleman Formation.
Upper Ordovician Montoya Group strata of southern
New Mexico and western Texas formed a gently
sloping carbonate ramp (sensu Ahr, 1973; Read,
1985) because shallow- to deep-water facies pass
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Figure 2. Stratigraphic chart for the Montoya Group with age

constraints from Bergstrm et al. (2008) and Gradstein et al.
(2012). Chat = Chatfieldian Stage; Eden = Edenian Stage;
May = Maysvillian Stage; Rich = Richmondian Stage; Hirnant =
Hirnantian Stage; Gamach = Gamachian Stage; Sand =
Sandbian Stage; Cyn = Canyon; and Ss = sandstone. P indicates
the location of abundant (15 wt. %) phosphate. The gray shading in the Aleman Formation indicates abundant chert (average
10%40% by volume). The Aleman Formation contains the
main reservoir facies in the subsurface Montoya Group in the
Permian Basin of west Texas.

laterally into one another (Figure 3) without evidence

for a substantial change in depositional slope (Pope,
2004a, b).
GENERALIZED FACIES DESCRIPTION OF
THE MONTOYA GROUP
A brief outline of the facies in the Montoya Group is
given below and shown graphically in the ramp cross
sections in Figure 3. More detailed descriptions of the
facies of the Montoya Group are outlined elsewhere
(Pope and Steffen, 2003; Pope, 2004a, b).

grains that only occurs updip on the ramp (Table 1).

The Cable Canyon Sandstone was interpreted as a
sand-wave complex deposited in an open-marine subtidal environment during the transgression over the
Lower Ordovician El Paso Group (Bruno and
Chafetz, 1988). The well-rounded nature of the siliciclastic particles suggests that many of these grains
were previously deposited as sand dunes or were
reworked multiple times in a fluvial or marine setting.
The Cable Canyon Sandstone is interpreted to
have formed during the initial transgression on the
unconformity developed on the El Paso Group. The
source of the sand was likely exposed Precambrian
basement and older Paleozoic siliciclastics of the
transcontinental arch in northern New Mexico or
areas immediately to the north.
Upham Dolomite
Where the Cable Canyon Sandstone is thin or absent,
the basal unit of the Montoya Group is burrowed
skeletal wackestone-packstone (Table 1) of the
Upham Dolomite (1342 m [43138 ft] thick) that
disconformably overlies the Lower Ordovician El
Paso Group. The base of the Upham Dolomite commonly is rich in quartz sand (as much as 30% by volume), but the sand content decreases within a few
tens of centimeters of the basal contact. Phosphate
also occurs within the Upham Dolomite as a replacement of bryozoans and small pellets and as coatings
along hardgrounds. Coarse-grained crinoidal grainstone beds commonly occur in the upper part of the
Upham Dolomite (Table 1).
The burrowed skeletal wackestone-packstone of
the Upham Dolomite records subtidal carbonate deposition on an open-marine carbonate ramp. The phosphate in this unit was likely brought into this
depositional setting by upwelling currents that transported phosphate-rich waters onto the shallow
carbonate ramp (Pope and Steffen, 2003).

Cable Canyon Sandstone

Aleman Formation
The initial Montoya Group deposit, the Cable
Canyon Sandstone (016 m [052 ft] thick)
is a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic unit of burrowed
to cross-bedded coarse sandstone or granule conglomerate containing abundant carbonate skeletal
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The Aleman Formation (1685 m [52279 ft] thick)

is a complex subtidal carbonate unit whose chert
abundance is quite variable, ranging from 0% to
70%, and averaging between 20% and 40%. The

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

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Figure 3. Depositional profiles showing the relationships of Montoya Group facies along depositional dip. The upper figure during the
composite third-order HST (= middle and upper Aleman Formation to Cutter Formation), the lower figure during the composite thirdorder TST (= Cable Canyon Sandstone through lower Aleman Formation). Ms = mudstone; Ws = wackestone; Ps = packstone; Gs =
grainstone.

Aleman Formation can commonly be subdivided into

upper and lower cherty units that are separated by a
widespread medial packstone-grainstone marker unit.
The depositional environments represented by the
Aleman Formation range from shallow, high-energy
shoals to deep-water settings, below the storm
wave base.
Even-Bedded Laminated Calcisiltite or Mudstone and
Spiculitic Chert
Even-bedded laminated calcisiltite and spiculitic
chert (Table 1) is the basal unit of the Aleman
Formation in the north-central part of the field area
occurring primarily within an approximately east
west trend that includes the Cooks Range, Silver

City, Nakaye Mountain, and southern San Andres

Range localities.
The even-bedded calcisiltite or lime mudstone
interbedded with spiculitic chert is interpreted to represent deposition in deep subtidal waters because it
contains no mechanically produced laminations. The
calcisiltite or lime mudstone represents deposition
below the storm wave base on this ramp, whereas
the spiculitic chert formed as the disarticulated
sponge spicules moved downslope on the ramp by
bed-load processes and accumulated in beds. The rare
hummocky beds (e.g., Cooks Range, southern San
Andres Range) within this facies indicate that the
storm wave base rarely impinged upon the sea floor
during deposition of this facies.
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1582

Table 1. Depositional Facies of the Montoya Group, Southern New Mexico and Western Texas
Rock Type

Fossils

Other Grains

Chert Type and

Abundance

Sedimentary
Structures

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

Depositional
Environment

Stratigraphic and
Geographic Distribution

Open-marine
sand-wave
complex or beach
Open-marine
shallow carbonate
shelf

Initial deposit of
Montoya, base of
sequences M0 and M1
Most of Upham
Dolomite upper part of
sequence M1
Upper part of Upham
Dolomite (sequence M1)
and top of Cutter Formation (sequence M5)
Aleman Formation, basal
part of sequences M2
and M3

Crinoids, gastropods

None

Skolithos burrows,
local cross-bedding

Phosphate as pellets,
hardground coatings,
replacement of fossils

Rare (<5 vol.%)

as replacement
of fossils

Massive bedding,
burrows

Skeletal grainstone

Crinoids, corals, brachiopods,

bryozoans, gastropods,
stromatoporoids,
Receptaularid algae
Crinoids

Phosphate replacing
fossils

Rare

Locally cross-bedded
or massive

High-energy
skeletal shoals

Spiculitic calcisiltite

Sponge spicules

Rare phosphate
replacing spicules

Abundant, even beds

of sponge spicules

Cherty skeletal
wackestonepackstone
Massive cherty
breccia

Brachiopods, bryozoans

None

Open-marine deep
ramp with local
storm and
turbidite beds
Open-marine
midramp

Brachiopods

None

Common as nodules
and as replacement of
burrows and fossils
Common as angular
clasts

Rare hummocky or
planar laminations in
calcisiltite; rare crossbedded spiculite
Massive bedding, rare
graded beds
Possible water-escape
structures

Skeletal packstonegrainstone

Crinoids, corals,
stromatoporoids

Phosphate as pellets,
and replacement of
fossils

Rare, replaces corals

Cross-bedding, upright
and overturned
corals

Debris flows or
seismically
shaken beds
Open-marine highenergy shoal

Skeletal packstone
and lime
mudstone
Burrowed
mudstone
Laminated
dolomudstone or
fenestral
dolomudstone

Bryozoans, brachiopods,
gastropods

None

None

Massive bedding,
biosturbated

Open-marine ramp

Ostracods, gastropods

None

None

Abundant burrows

None

Intraclasts of mudstone

Rare chert after

evaporites

Cryptalgalaminites,
mudcracks, teepee
structures, fenestrae,
intraclast

Lagoon, or lowenergy ramp

Inner-ramp tidal
flats

Coarse sandstone
to granule
conglomerate
Skeletal wackestone
to packstone

Aleman Formation,
middle part of
sequences M2 and M3
Throughout the Aleman
Formation; sequences
M2 and M3
Is a marker horizon in
middle of Aleman
Formation, separates
sequences 2 and 3
As thin flooding events
within the Cutter
Formation
Cutter Formation,
sequence M4
Cutter Formation,
sequences 3 and 4

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Figure 5. Photograph of chert breccia, Aleman Formation,

Caballos Range, New Mexico. The chert in this photograph is
light colored, whereas the dark material is carbonate mudstone
or skeletal wackestone. The chert in this outcrop is identical with
the nodular chert except for the angular characteristic of its
external morphology. This facies is interpreted to have formed
through violent shaking on the sea floor (e.g., tectonism, debris
flow, etc.) after formation of the silica but prior to lithification,
as it occurs within bedding.

Figure 4. Photograph of skeletal wackestone-packstone with

smooth chert nodules (30% by volume), upper Aleman
Formation, northern Franklin Mountains, Texas.

Skeletal Wackestone to Packstone with Irregular,

Discontinuous Bedded to Nodular Chert
Fragmental to whole skeletal wackestone to packstone containing irregular and discontinuously
bedded chert (Table 1) up to a few meters wide and
a few centimeters thick grades laterally and vertically
into fragmental and whole skeletal wackestone-packstone with nodular bedded chert (Figure 4). This
facies occurs within both the lower and upper
Aleman Formation, in front of the grainstone shoal
complex and above the interbedded calcisiltite or
mudstone and spiculitic chert (Figure 3). The abundance of chert in this facies ranges from 5% to 60%.
The chert nodules range from a few to tens of centimeters in diameter. The chert margins vary from
smooth to sharp and irregular. Some chert nodules

contain carbonate within their centers, giving them a

hollow appearance (see also descriptions by
Howe, 1959).
These discontinuously bedded to nodular bedded
cherty skeletal carbonate facies formed on an openmarine ramp. The lack of bedding and nodular
appearance of carbonate and chert suggests that this
facies was intensely bioturbated, similar to nodular
bedded subtidal carbonate from other Ordovician carbonate ramps (e.g., Harris and Sheehan, 1996, 1997;
Pope and Read, 1997a; Holland and Patzkowsky,
2012). The variety of chert abundance and morphologies reflects both original depositional features and
subsequent early diagenetic silica enrichment, prior
to or coeval with bioturbation.
Massive Cherty Breccia
Massive cherty breccia (Table 1) occurs rarely within
the Aleman Formation (Figure 5). The massive cherty
breccia ranges from matrix to clast supported and
comprises angular fragments of chert, carbonate, and
cherty carbonate in a muddy carbonate matrix. The
three-dimensional geometry of these units is unclear,
but they do not crosscut bedding and appear to be lensoidal units tens to hundreds of meters wide and a few
meters thick.
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Figure 6. (A) Detailed measured sections of Montoya Group, San Andres Range to northern Franklin Mountains (measured sections from
SM to NFC) and its interpreted sequence stratigraphy. The symbols and colors are from Figure 3; the colors represent facies types along the
dip profiles. Red lines mark the composite third-order sequence boundaries, whereas blue-gray lines delineate the highfrequency third-order sequence boundaries. The section is hung on the M3M4 sequence boundary. (B) Detailed measured sections of
Montoya Group, northern Franklin Mountains to the Hueco Mountains (measured sections NFD to PLC). Same conventions as (A).
(C) Generalized composite third-order sequence stratigraphy of Montoya Group along cross section BB. The composite third-order sequence
is composed of up to six high-frequency third-order sequences (M0M5). High-frequency third-order sequences M1M4 are regionally
correlative, whereas sequences M0 and M5 are only locally developed or preserved. See Figure 1 for definitions of abbreviated names.

The massive cherty breccia in the Aleman

Formation formed early on the sea floor because it
does not crosscut bedding and it contains chert clasts.
These breccias likely formed by gravitational instabilities such as downslope slumping, water escape,
or tectonic shaking (e.g., Grimm and Orange, 1997)
after the chert was lithified on the sea floor.
Skeletal Packstone-Grainstone
Skeletal packstone-grainstone with an open-marine
biota and colonial coral bafflestone (Table 1) was
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deposited basinward of burrowed mudstone or peritidal facies (Figure 3) and occurs as a widespread
marker unit in the middle of the Aleman Formation
(Figure 6). The small amount of chert in this facies
occurs most commonly as a replacement of colonial
corals.
The skeletal packstone-grainstone and coral bafflestone is interpreted to represent a widespread highenergy skeletal shoal or coral bioherm. Cross-bedding
in the skeletal packstone-grainstone indicates highenergy currents during deposition of this unit.

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

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Figure 6. Continued.

Cutter Formation
The Cutter Formation is the uppermost unit of the
Montoya Group, and its thickness ranges from 0 to

60 m (0 to 1976 ft) in the study area. The Cutter

Formation consists of three facies: (1) skeletal packstone
interbedded with lime mudstone, (2) bioturbated dolomudstone, and (3) laminated or fenestral dolomudstone.
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Skeletal Packstone Interbedded with Mudstone

The Cutter Formation contains occasional thin (<5 m
[<16 ft] thick), burrowed skeletal packstone beds
interbedded with dolomudstone (Table 1). These
packstone beds contain abundant bryozoans, brachiopods, and crinoids.
Burrowed Dolomudstone
Most of the Cutter Formation consists of brown, burrowed, or massive dolomudstone with gastropods and
ostracods. This burrowed dolomudstone is interpreted
to represent shallow sudtidal deposition in a restricted
environment because of its restricted fauna. This
facies formed landward of skeletal shoals or passed
directly into more basinward shallow subtidal rocks
(Figure 6).
Laminated Dolomudstone and Massive Fenestral
Dolomudstone
Light-colored laminated dolomudstone and massive
fenestral dolomudstone occur as thin, discontinuous
units within the burrowed dolomudstone. The laminated dolomudstone contains abundant mudcracks,
small burrows, and rare intraclasts.
The laminations in this facies were likely
produced by microbial mats and are interpreted as
cryptalgalaminites. The fenestrae in the dolomudstone formed as gas structures within shallow
well-oxygenated mudflats. The laminated dolomudstone formed on semiarid tidal flats, whereas the fenestral dolomudstone formed on more humid tidal flats
(Read and Grover, 1977; Grover and Read, 1978).

SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY
The sequence-stratigraphic terminology in this article
follows the hierarchy set forward by Weber et al.
(1995) and Sarg et al. (1999) for deciphering depositional units. The measured sections were correlated
onto four regional cross sections (Figure 1) by
directly walking sequence boundaries between sections in closely spaced sections, correlating parasequence stacking patterns and unconformities
between farther spaced sections (as outlined in
Harris et al., 1999), and integrating the available biostratigraphy. Although the following discussion of
1586

sequence stratigraphy is based on all of the cross sections, it relies most heavily on line BB (Figure 6A,
6B) because this line contains the most closely spaced
data across the entire ramp, and it provides the most
detailed dip profile. This is considered a dip profile
because the siiliciclastics decrease to the south, the
amount of cherty subtidal facies increases to the
south, tidal flats prograde from north to south, and
the unconformities downcut farther to the north.
A generalized outline of the composite third-order
sequence stratigraphy of the BB cross section is
provided in Figure 6C.
Composite Third-Order Sequence
The length of time of deposition of the Upper
Ordovician Montoya Group (67 m.y.) suggests that
this unit is a composite third-order sequence (sensu
Weber et al., 1995; Sarg et al., 1999). The sequence
is bounded by regional unconformities, and internally, its regional facies stacking pattern indicates a
widespread transgression followed by a regression
(Figure 6C).
The Montoya Group was deposited on an irregular unconformity surface that records a prolonged
(about 30 m.y. duration) period of erosion or nondeposition that developed between the El Paso Group
and the Montoya Group. The character of this unconformity is quite variable regionally. In the Franklin
Mountains of westernmost Texas and southern New
Mexico, the unconformity is a pronounced karstic
surface with as much as 20 m (66 ft) relief beneath
which an extensive paleocave system is well developed (Lucia, 1988). In the Mud Spring Mountains,
the contact is a karst surface where sandstone has
infilled voids between blocks of the El Paso Group
(Figure 7A) that were subaerially exposed prior to
Montoya Group deposition. Elsewhere, the El Paso
Group and Montoya Group contact is sharp with little
or no relief (Figure 7B). However, the contact is generally easy to identify in the field because it is commonly marked by a sandy bioturbated carbonate of
the lower Upham Dolomite, commonly containing
rip-up clasts of the underlying El Paso Group, occurring above well-laminated dolostone of the El Paso
Group. A lowstand systems tract is not discernible
in the study area.

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

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Figure 8. Photograph of composite third-order maximum

flooding zone (MFZ) in basal Aleman Formation, Cooks Range,
New Mexico. The lower part of the figure is crinoidal grainstone
that formed at the top of the Upham Dolomite that is overlain by
interbedded spiculitic chert and lime mudstone of the basal
Aleman Formation. Hammer in foreground for scale is 30 cm
(12 in.) in length.

Figure 7. (A) Photograph of karsted El Paso Group (light colored) and Cable Canyon Sandstone, basal Montoya Group (dark
colored), Mud Spring Mountains, New Mexico. (B) Photograph
of sharp surface between the underlying Lower Ordovician El
Paso Group and the overlying Upper Ordovician Upham
Dolomite, southern Franklin Mountains, Texas. The Upham
Dolomite is a burrow-mottled skeletal wackestone-packstone.

Updip, the lower part of the composite thirdorder transgressive systems tract (TST) consists of
the carbonate-cemented, burrowed, coarse Cable
Canyon granule sandstone that passes conformably

basinward and upward into massive, bioturbated skeletal wackestone-packstone of the Upham Dolomite
and the basal part of the Aleman Formation.
The base of the Aleman Formation is a very sharp
transition in the field between mostly noncherty rocks
below (Upham Dolomite) and cherty rocks (Aleman
Formation) above (Figures 6, 8). A third-order maximum flooding surface (MFS) is not recognized in
these deep-water facies; instead, a maximum flooding
zone (MFZ) characterized by an approximately
1020-m (3366-ft)-thick interval of dark-gray calcisiltite or lime mudstone interbedded with dark,
evenly bedded spiculitic chert deposited immediately
above skeletal packstone-grainstone (Figure 8).
Above this zone, facies generally shallow upward
from deep subtidal carbonate into shallow subtidal
POPE

1587

sequences with likely average durations of 12 m.y.

by dividing the duration (67 m.y.) by the number
of sequences (4 to 6). The Montoya Group highfrequency third-order sequences are numbered
sequentially from the base M0M5 as outlined on
line BB (Figure 6A, B).
Sequence M0

Figure 9. Photograph of irregular karsted surface atop the

Cutter Formation unconformably overlain by the Silurian
Fusselman Dolostone, Arrow Canyon, San Andres Range, New
Mexico.

or peritidal carbonate. The Montoya Group

composite third-order highstand systems tract (HST)
consists of interbedded carbonate and chert of the
Aleman Formation that passes upramp into massive,
burrowed peritidal carbonate and cryptalgalaminite
or fenestral dolomudstone of the progradational
Cutter Formation. The Cutter Formation records shallow subtidal and peritidal deposition that occurred
upramp from a skeletal shoal during Aleman deposition and then prograded across the Montoya Group
ramp during a long-term relative sea level fall.
The Montoya Group is everywhere unconformably overlain by younger Paleozoic rocks. In southern
New Mexico and western Texas, the Montoya Group
is unconformably overlain by the Lower to middle
Silurian Fusselman Dolostone, but to the north,
the Montoya Group is unconformably overlain by the
Middle Devonian Percha Shale or younger units. This
unconformity varies from a karstic surface with as
much as a few meters relief, to a low-angle angular
unconformity, to a sharp surface (Figure 9), with little
or no evidence of an unconformity. Karst sinkholes,
as much as 5 m (16 ft) across and a few meters deep,
containing Fusselman Dolostone clasts, occur in dolomitic Montoya Group rocks in the Franklin Mountains.
High-Frequency Third-Order Sequences
The Montoya Group composite third-order sequence
is composed of six high-frequency third-order
1588

Sequence M0 (Figure 6A) is the lowest sequence of

the Montoya Group and occurs only in topographic
lows that developed on the El Paso Group karst surface in the far northern part of the field area. The
basal unit of this sequence is a coarse, carbonatecemented sandstone formed during the initial TST
that grades upward into bioturbated skeletal wackestone and packstone of the HST. The MFZ of this
sequence is poorly defined, likely occurring low
within the skeletal wackestone-to-packstone succession. The sequence boundary between sequences
M0 and M1 is a sharp surface directly overlain by
another, much more widespread, carbonate-cemented
bioturbated sandstone.
Sequence M1
Sequence M1 consists of the transgressive Cable
Canyon Sandstone in the north grading upward and
basinward into burrow-mottled skeletal wackestone to
packstone of the Upham Dolomite (Figure 6A, B).
Sequence M1 ranges in thickness from less than
10 m (33 ft) to greater than 40 m (131 ft), with the
thickest accumulation near the middle of the field
area. The Cable Canyon Sandstone is overlain and
grades laterally into skeletal wackestone and packstone of the Upham Dolomite. The MFZ in this zone
likely occurs low in the skeletal wackestone or packstone above the Cable Canyon Sandstone. The skeletal wackestone and packstone of the basal HST are
capped by the uppermost unit of sequence M1 that
is a cross-bedded crinoid grainstone at or near the
top of the HST. Small karstic voids filled with cherty,
sandstone-rich carbonate occurring at the top of the
skeletal grainstone in the Mud Spring Mountains
likely formed from short-lived subaerial exposure.
Elsewhere, the boundary between sequences M1 and

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

AUG

M2 is a sharp transgressive surface without clear evidence for subaerial exposure.

Sequence M2
The TST of sequence M2 (Figure 6A, B) consists of
laterally discontinuous skeletal packstone above the
uppermost Upham Dolomite grainstone grading
upward into interbedded calcisiltite and spiculitic chert
or cherty mudstone within the MFZ. The MFZ of M2
coincides with the composite third-order MFZ. The
lower HST consists of interbedded calcisiltite or mudstone and spiculitic chert that grades upward into skeletal wackestone or packstone with nodular chert. The
upper HST of sequence M2 is characterized by a pronounced progradation of skeletal grainstone with a
more open-marine biota. This skeletal grainstone commonly is cross-bedded and contains abundant corals.
Sequence M2 ranges from 20 to 40 m (66 to 131 ft)
thick, with thickest accumulations to the north and
within central areas (Pope, 2004a), likely caused by
increased accommodation space created by syndepositional faulting. The sequence boundary between
sequences M2 and M3 commonly is a subtidal surface
picked as the turnaround from high-energy, crossbedded grainstone below to a deeper water succession
of burrowed skeletal packstone above, without any
evidence of exposure.
Sequence M3
The TST of sequence M3 downdip (Figure 6B) consists of a thin skeletal packstone overlain by a regionally developed hardground (Figure 10) that is sharply
overlain by interbedded calcisiltite or mudstone and
spiculitic chert deposited in a deeper ramp setting.
Updip, it is difficult to determine the sequence boundary between sequences M2 and M3 because facies
changes in the peritidal and shallow subtidal facies are
not easy to correlate (Figure 6A). The peritidal facies
are separated from open-marine cherty carbonates by
a skeletal grainstone shoal or coral bafflestone that
aggrades during the early HST then progrades during
the late HST (Figure 6). South of the grainstone shoal,
the MFZ commonly is marked by a widespread marine
hardground above a thin unit of skeletal packstone and

AUG

Figure 10. Photograph of hardground (arrows) marking the

MFS of sequence M3, northern Franklin Mountains, Texas. The
hardground truncates several burrows below and is encrusted
by iron and phosphate.

grainstone; north of the grainstone shoal, the MFZ

occurs within widespread peritidal facies. The HST of
sequence M3 south of the aggrading grainstone
shoal or bafflestone is marked by bioturbated skeletal
wackestone-packstone interbedded with calcisiltite
and lime mudstone. To the north of the grainstone shoal
or bafflestone, the HST of sequence M3 consists
wholly of peritidal carbonates containing little or no
chert. The sequence boundary between sequences M3
and M4 in the south is the base of a pronounced basinward shift of peritidal facies (Figure 6B). In northern
exposures, this surface is more difficult to pick because
it occurs within a more monotonous succession of shallow subtidal or peritidal carbonate mudstone. Sequence
M3 is eroded in the far northern part of the field area
(Figure 6A) and is locally greater than 40 m (131 ft)
thick to the south (Figure 6B).
Sequence M4
The TST of sequence M4 in the south (Figure 6B)
consists of a thin unit of open-marine burrowed skeletal packstone. The MFZ of sequence M4 is poorly
defined, likely occurring low in the burrowed skeletal
packstone. The HST of sequence M4 is characterized
by bioturbated skeletal packestone capped by laminited and fenestral dolomudstone of the Cutter
Formation. Sequence M4 records a pronounced
basinward shift in facies as peritidal carbonate, burrowed and fenestral dolomudstone, or mudcracked
POPE

1589

cryptalgalaminites, which prior to this time only

occurred landward of the coral-rich skeletal
grainstone-packstone that prograded south and southwest across the entire carbonate ramp at least 100 km
(62 mi). The sequence boundary between sequences
M4 and M5 is a pronounced flooding surface that is
only locally developed, such as at section FRT
(Franklin Radio Tower) (Figure 6B). Sequence M4
commonly is eroded in the northern part of the field
area and is greater than 40 m (131 ft) thick in the
south-central part of the field area (Figure 6B).
Sequence M5
In some downramp settings (northern Franklin
Mountains, Hueco Mountains, Big Hatchet
Mountains, Florida Mountains), the Montoya Group
contains another depositional sequencesequence
M5 (see Figure 6). The TST of sequence M5 consists
of a thin basal skeletal packstone. The MFZ for this
sequence is marked as the transition from subtidal
skeletal packstone to overlying peritidal facies. The
HST of this sequence consists of bioturbated skeletal
wackestone and cryptalgal laminites, similar to those
in the HST of sequence M4. Additionally, several
thick, coarse, skeletal grainstone units in the northern
Franklin Mountains and Hueco Mountains
(Figure 6B) may be a part of sequence M5. However,
the lack of age constraints on the skeletal grainstone
unit also allows this unit to be part of the overlying
Lowermiddle Silurian Fusselman Dolostone.

The lower part of the Montoya Group is predominantly a subtidal ramp composed of few subtidal,
shallowing-upward parasequences. Sequence M1
(Upham Dolomite) is locally composed of two parasequences, each approximately 510 m (1633 ft)
thick (Figure 11). The lower parasequence commonly
has a quartzose sand base that grades upward into
skeletal wackestone that is capped by skeletal packstone or grainstone (Figure 11). The upper parasequence commonly has a skeletal wackestone base
and a skeletal grainstone cap. The subtidal parasequences in the Aleman Formation (sequences M2
and M3) commonly are chert-rich, fine-grained, calcisiltite or skeletal wackestone-packstone bases with
chert-poor coarser grained skeletal packstonegrainstone caps (Figure 11).
Peritidal parasequences in sequences M3 and
M4 (Cutter Formation) have thick basal units of bioturbated mudstone overlain by thin caps of cryptalgalaminite or fenestral mudstone (Figure 11).
These peritidal parasequences may also have a
thin transgressive unit of coarse skeletal packstone
with an open-marine biota that indicates an incursion of open-marine conditions within this predominantly restricted shallow subtidal or peritidal
unit that grades upward into the bioturbated
mudstone.

DISCUSSION
Depositional Setting

Fourth- to Fifth-Order Parasequences

Meter-scale (110 m [3.333 ft] thick) shallowingupward parasequences in the Montoya Group are discernible at individual outcrops (Figure 11), but they
do not appear to correlate regionally. Subtidal parasequences occur in the composite third-order TST and
HST basinward of the skeletal grainstone shoal
(Figures 6, 11). Subtidal parasequences commonly
have chert-rich skeletal wackestone or mudstone
bases that shallow upward into noncherty skeletal
packstone or grainstone caps. The subtidal parasequences have an upward increase in skeletal grains
and a concomitant decrease in chert abundance, and
they are bounded by sharp flooding surfaces.
1590

Montoya Group facies record predominantly subtidal

carbonate deposition on a gently dipping ramp
(Measures, 1985a, b; Pope and Steffen, 2003; Pope,
2004a, b) because no pronounced break in slope,
marked by a well-established reef system, and downslope breccias or conglomerates are discernable
within the study area. The ramp sloped gently to the
south because the sandstone and peritidal facies were
originally restricted to the north, and most of
the deeper water cherty carbonate predominates to
the south (Figures 3, 6). During the sea level rise that
deposited the Cable Canyon Sandstone, Upham
Dolomite and lower Aleman Formation marine sandstone passed basinward into bioturbated skeletal

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

AUG

Figure 11. Typical parasequences of

the Montoya Group; measured section
locations are in Figure 1. The parasequence boundaries are marked by horizontal black lines, and the colors and
symbols are from Figure 3. The Upham
Dolomite shallow subtidal parasequences have sandstone-rich bases and
skeletal-rich caps. The Aleman
Formation deep subtidal parasequences
are predominantly subtidal with calcisilt
and mudstone with abundant chert in
the bases with skeletal packstone with
much lesser chert in the caps. Cutter
Formation peritidal and shallow subtidal
parasequences may locally have skeletal
packstone bases, but predominantly,
they have burrowed mudstone bases
with cryptalalminite or fenestral mudstone caps.

carbonate that graded seaward into chert-rich carbonate (Figure 3). During the initial sea level fall that
deposited the middle Aleman Formation skeletal
grainstone marker (top of sequence M2), the upper
Aleman Formation (sequence M3) peritidal carbonate
developed landward of bioturbated mudstone that
passed downramp into a skeletal shoal containing
corals, then into chert-rich subtidal carbonate
(Figures 3, 6). During deposition of the uppermost
Cutter Formation, little evidence exists for a skeletal
shoal, and bioturbated mudstone apparently passed
directly into offshore skeletal packstone interbedded
with mudstone (Figure 6B).
Montoya Group deposition is interpreted to have
formed on a thermohaline stratified ramp (e.g.,
James, 1997). The tidal flats and lagoons on the

Montoya Group ramp contain sedimentary structures

(cryptalgalaminites, evaporites, fenestrae, and abundant burrrows) and a variety of skeletal fossils, especially corals and receptacularid algae (LeMone,
1988), which indicate that shallow waters on this
ramp were warm. Shoal deposits separating the peritidal from subtidal environments (Figures 3, 6) are predominantly crinoid grainstone, but they also contain
some corals, indicating shallow subtidal waters were
warm. However, the reduction of biota and proliferation of brachiopods and siliceous sponges, in conjunction with an increase in the phosphate content in
the deeper subtidal facies, suggests the deeper subtidal waters were much cooler. Cool-water carbonates
are a common feature of Upper Ordovician rocks
throughout the United States mid-continent and
POPE

1591

AUG

Appalachian Basin (e.g., Brookfield, 1988;

Patzkowsky and Holland, 1993, 1996, 1999; Lavoie,
1995; Holland and Patzkowsky, 1996; Pope and
Read, 1997a). Similarities between the Montoya
Group brachiopod fauna (Howe, 1959) and United
States mid-continent brachiopod faunas (Holland,
1993; Patzkowsky and Holland, 1993; Holland and
Patzkowsky, 1996) also suggest that the subtidal sediments of the Montoya Group were deposited in cool
waters (Pope, 2004a). The cool-water carbonates,
which commonly have little or no reservoir potential
because of early cementation, were not the reservoir
target in the subsurface of west Texas; instead, the
coeval or early diagenetic porous chert that formed
within the cool-water carbonates is the reservoir
within the subsurface Montoya Group (Thomas and
Liu, 2003).
The abundance of chert and phosphate in the subtidal facies of the Montoya Group indicates that equatorial upwelling occurred over a broad region along
the southern margin of Laurentia (Pope and Steffen,
2003; Pope, 2004a). This chert commonly is primary
(spiculitic) or formed during very early diagenesis
prior to compaction (Pope, 2004 a, b). The porosity
in this chert provides the bulk of the reservoir for
the Montoya Group gas play in west Texas (Thomas
and Liu, 2003) and is similar to cherty reservoirs in
the Devonian Thirtyone Formation of the southern
Permian Basin in Texas (Ruppel and Hovorka,
1995). Locally significant amounts of chert replacing
evaporites occur updip in the peritidal facies on the
Montoya Group ramp (e.g., Geeslin and Chafetz,
1982); however, the bulk of the subtidal chert in the
Montoya Group is early diagenetic associated with
in-situ remobilization of dissolved sponge spicules
or silica brought onto the ramp during upwelling.
Sequence Stratigraphy
The composite third-order sequence of the Montoya
Group is correlative throughout southern New
Mexico and western Texas and is directly correlated
with Upper Ordovician sequences throughout North
America (Pope, 2004b). The high-frequencey thirdorder sequences likely were produced by long-term
(13 m.y. duration) relative rises and falls of sea level
that affected much of Laurentia (Pope et al., 2001).
1592

Parasequences (meter-scale cycles) in the Montoya

Group are locally developed, but they are not regionally
correlative (Figure 12). The lack of laterally continuous
outcrops makes correlating the parasequences great
distances (a few to tens of kilometers) difficult. The
rounded nodules of chert with carbonate interiors are a
distinctive chert facies (see discussion of hollow chert
in text; Howe, 1959; Pope, 2004a) whose origin is
unknown. The cherty facies of sequences M2 and M3
are analogous to the reservoir in the subsurface, and at
this scale, they appear to be well-connected units. It is
less clear if the well-cemented skeletal grainstonepackstone unit at the top of sequence M2 or the base
of sequence M3 would be a barrier to flow. Although
individual parasequences are difficult to trace regionally, the facies relationships within the sequences that
are correlative over short distances (Figure 12), at the
scale of most drilling patterns (20-, 40-, or 80-ac
[8-, 16, or 32-ha] spacing), suggest that exploiting this
ramp-type chert reservoir may be fairly straightforward
in local areas. Thus, Montoya Group parasequences in
the TSTs commonly are thinner and finer grained and
contain more chert, whereas parasequences in the
HSTs are thicker and have more skeletal grains and less
chert, except in sequence M4 which is predominantly
peritidal facies.
Broad carbonate ramps that formed during global
greenhouse conditions were only subjected to smallscale sea level fluctuations (<10 m [<33 ft]), and
autocyclic processes were likely important in parasequence formation (Kozar et al., 1990; Wright, 1992;
Goldhammer et al., 1993; Read, 1998). Carbonate
parasequences formed under such conditions likely
will show well-developed peritidal successions with
extensive tidal-flat caps, relatively minor disconformities cap parasequences, and intercalation of shallowwater and deep-water facies is rare (Koerschner and
Read, 1989; Borer and Harris, 1991; Wright, 1992).
Cryptalgalaminites and fenestral mudstone are tidalflat facies in the Montoya Group that track higher frequency (fourth- and fifth-order) sea level fluctuations
in the composite third-order HST but may also record
autocyclic processes.
At the other extreme, parasequences that form
during times of continental glaciation as in the
Pleistocene and the PennsylvanianEarly Permian
are subjected to large (>50100 m [>164330 ft])

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

AUG

AUG

Figure 12. Seven closely spaced measured sections in the northern end of the Franklin Mountains (also in Figure 6A, B) demonstrate
the lateral continuity of facies, and third-order sequences are easy to correlate across these closely spaced sections; however, parasequences are very difficult to trace regionally between the sections. See Figure 1 for definitions of abbreviated names.

high-frequency sea level fluctuations (Heckel,

1980, 1983, 1985; Wright, 1992; Read, 1998).
Parasequences formed under these conditions show
only limited tidal-flat caps on parasequences;
parasequence-capping disconformities are developed
over much of the shallow ramp; and on the outer ramp,
intercalation of deeper water and shallow-water
facies occurs within individual parasequences.
Parasequences with this type of facies architecture
and distribution do not occur in the Montoya Group.
The Upper Ordovician rocks of Kentucky and
Virginia showed a transition in development of parasequences from wholly peritidal parasequences in the
lower Upper Ordovician to parasequences with intercalated subtidal and peritidal facies in the upper

Upper Ordovician (Pope and Read, 1998). This transition in parasequence development, along with faunal
and geochemical data (Elrick et al., 2013), is interpreted as evidence for the onset of widespread
moderate-amplitude (>15 m [>49 ft], possibly as
much as 30 m [98 ft]) glacioeustasy that persisted until
the end of the Ordovician (Pope and Read, 1997a,
1998). The juxtaposition of open-marine subtidal
facies in shallow subtidal to peritidal parasequences
of the composite third-order HST (Figure 12, Cutter
Formation) indicates that some moderate-amplitude
eustatic sea level fluctuations were recorded in the
Montoya Group. Additionally, facies changes within
subtidal parasequences (Figure 12, Aleman
Formation) indicate relative sea level changes from
POPE

1593

below the storm wave base to possibly within the

tidal range, suggesting moderate-amplitude (>10-m
[>33-ft]) relative sea level changes. Thus, the facies
distribution within the parasequences of the Montoya
Group also indicates that they were deposited during
a transitional climate moving toward Late Ordovician
global icehouse climate conditions (Frakes et al.,
1992; Brenchley et al., 1994, 2003).
Tectonic Control on Facies and Sequence
Development
Isopachs of the third-order sequences and the distribution of distinctive facies (e.g., sandstone, basinal
limestone, and chert) in these sequences suggest that
a pre-existing or active structural feature influenced
the deposition of the Cable Canyon Sandstone and
sequences M0, M2, and M3 (Pope, 2004a).
Sequence M0 only occurs in limited exposures of
the San Andres Mountains and Sacramento
Mountains, within a topographic low area on the El
Paso karst surface or possibly within an incised valley. The Cable Canyon Sandstone thickens to the
south within the San Andres Mountains and westward toward the Cooks Range (Figure 6A).
However, south of the present position of the
Cenozoic Organ Mountain intrusion, the Cable
Canyon Sandstone thins greatly or is absent
(Figure 6A). Deep-water calcisiltite interbedded with
spiculitic chert of the lower Aleman Formation only
occurs in the southern San Andres Mountains,
Nakaye Mountain, Cooks Range, Lone Mountain,
and Silver City. Associated with these deep-water
units are thin beds of chert breccia and thick
spiculitic-rich (as much as 70% by volume) beds interpreted to have formed during slumping or deep water.
The distribution of these facies is delineated by
an approximately eastwest area that stretches from
the Organ Mountains to south of the Cooks Range
and Silver City. The facies distributions suggest that
the area north of the eastwest line was downdropped
relative to the southern block prior to or during initial
deposition of the Montoya Group and was subsequently reactivated in a normal sense during the
deposition of the Montoya Group. Immediately south
of the area with deep- water sediments is a thick interval of peritidal facies (sections BCN and BCS of
1594

Figure 6A) surrounded by slightly deeper burrowed

dolomudstone interbedded with thin peritidal units.
The abundance of peritidal facies in this area suggests
that this southern area was uplifted and stayed high
until the deposition of the Montoya Group was complete. The deep-water facies occur within a structural
feature defined by modern faults (Cather and
Harrison, 2002), suggesting that the faults that bound
this depression were long-lived structural lineaments
that were later reactivated. These subtle tectonic
structures may greatly influence the stratigraphy of
ramps and may make delineating and developing a
reservoir play in this setting much more difficult.

CONCLUSIONS
The Upper Ordovician Montoya Group of southern
New Mexico and west Texas records deposition on
a gently dipping carbonate ramp. The abundance of
primary and early diagenetic spiculitic chert on this
ramp, as well as 25 wt. % phosphate, indicates that
the ramp formed in a regional area of upwelling along
the southern margin of Laurentia. The chert is the
main reservoir facies in the Montoya Group petroleum system of nearby west Texas.
The Montoya Group is a composite third-order
sequence containing parts of six third-order depositional sequences (M0M5). Sequence M0 was only
locally preserved in a topographic low on the unconformity that developed following Lower Ordovician
El Paso Group deposition. Sequences M1 through
M4 are widespread regionally correlative rock successions. Sequence M5 was only deposited downramp as
relative sea level fell. Parasequences within the
Montoya Group indicate small- to moderateamplitude, high-frequency relative sea level fluctuations, are not regionally correlative, and likely formed
during a transition to Late Ordovician icehouse climate conditions. The correlation of high-frequency
third-order sequences and facies of the Montoya
Group over short distances (less than 3 km [1.8 mi]),
well within the spacing of most conventional welldrilling patterns, suggests that exploiting this ramptype chert reservoir may be fairly straightforward in
local areas. However, subtle tectonic structures may
greatly influence the stratigraphy of these types of

Sequence Stratigraphy Montoya Group, New Mexico and Texas

AUG

ramps, and these may make delineating and developing a reservoir play in this setting much more difficult.

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