Page 231 - Carbonate Facies in Geologic History

218 Permo-Triassic Buildups and Late Triassic Ecologic Reefs

D Outcrops of Wolfcorrp, Leonard.Guadalupe.and Ochoa series (Permian) E:::::3 Basins
~ BoundaTies of provinces of Permian lime E2Z3 Deformed pre-Wolfcamp Paleozoic rocks

Fig. VIJI-l. Permian structural provinces in western Texas and adjoining part of New Mex-
ico. From King (1934 and 1942), courtesy of Geological Society of America and American
Association of Petroleum Geologists

normal fault. The eastern side of the fault is marked by spectacular cliffs,
hundreds of meters high which expose a slightly oblique section across the area of
facies change. Relief on the eastern side of the Guadalupe Mountain block mir-
rors the original depositional surface which is beautifully exposed particularly to
the south. Here one may walk the 25° slope of the old sea floor from basin to shelf,
trudging upward, following the beds for a vertical distance of almost 700 m. The
desert weathering conditions improve greatly the geologist's ability to trace beds
from aerial views and to understand the major stratigraphic relationships.
Outcrop work in the Guadalupe Mountains by P.B. King, N. D. Newell and asso-
ciates, P. Hayes, and R. J. Dunham was stimulated by knowledge of the relation-
ships of these beds to subsurface strata and offered an opportunity to project
facies models to the subsurface. No better example exists of cooperation between
government and industry in resource development than in the exploration of the
Delaware basin for oil and gas, salt, potash, and sulphur.