Provenance evolution of Upper Paleozoic sandstones of North-Central New Mexico

Pennsylvanian-Permian sandstones of north-central New Mexico display subtle changes in detrital modes with age that can be correlated with the area's Ancestral Rocky Mountain development. The sandstones are lithic-poor, and compositional change is chiefly recorded by the type and amount of feldspar. Taos Trough sandstones associated with the first Ancestral Rocky Mountain tectonic pulse are arkosic. Subsequent decrease in tectonic activity resulted in deposition of the slightly more quartzose Porvenir Formation. Rejuvenation of source areas resulted in deposition of the second clastic wedge and an increase in feldspar, culminating in deposition of the Sangre de Cristo Formation. Sangre de Cristo sandstones are the closest in composition to the source rocks and are the richest in feldspar, corresponding with the greater extent and intensity of the second tectonic pulse.; Upper Paleozoic strata exposed in the Sandia-Manzanita-Manzano and Jemez-Nacimiento Mountains record the spread of Ancestral Rocky Mountain deformation to the south. In the Sandia-Manzanita-Manzano Mountains, the Madera Formation records the beginning of Ancestral Rocky Mountain deformation and a change to a granitic source area, with increased feldspar, decreased P/F and increased untwinned/twinned potassium-feldspar (Ku/Kt). (No data are currently available for the Madera in the Jemez-Nacimiento area). Continued deformation resulted in deposition of the Abo Formation, which contains more feldspar than either the Madera or the Sandia.; Sangre de Cristo-Abo deposition was followed by decreasing tectonic activity, diminution of source areas, and deposition of the quartzose Yeso and Glorieta Formations, which have low P/F and high Ku/Kt.