Stratigraphy of Middle and Upper Jurassic Rocks of the San Juan Basin: Historical Perspective, Current Ideas, and Remaining Problems

The Middle Jurassic San Rafael Group and Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation of the San Juan basin consist of complexly interrelated conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, limestone, and gypsum. The San Rafael Group, consisting of the Entrada Sandstone, Wanakah Formation, Cow Springs Sandstone, and sandstone at Mesita, was deposited in eolian, sabkha, minor fluvial, and marine or possibly lacustrine environments. The Morrison Formation, consisting of the Salt Wash, Recapture, Westwater Canyon, and Brushy Basin Members, was deposited in widespread fluvial, lacustrine, and eolian environments. The presence of eolian rocks in both the San Rafael Group and Morrison Formation led to mapping and correlation problems in the southern half of the basin. The chief problem was that a widespread eolian facies of the Recapture Member of the Morrison was considered a part of the eolian Cow Springs Sandstone by earlier workers. Recent work in the southern and western parts of the basin shows that eolian beds of the two units can be distinguished by lateral relationships and sedimentologic features including sorting, sedimentary structures, and crossbed dip-vector resultants. Separation of the two units yields an improved understanding of depositional processes and paleoenvironmental distributions. Problems in this interval still exist in the southeastern part of the basin where the rela ionship of the San Rafael Group to the Recapture Member of the Morrison remains unclear.