Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367 – 384

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Cherty carbonate facies of the Montoya Group, southern New

Mexico and western Texas and its regional correlatives: a record of
Late Ordovician paleoceanography on southern Laurentia
Michael C. Pope *
Department of Geology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-2812, USA
Received 25 November 2002; accepted 23 February 2004

Abstract

The Upper Ordovician Montoya Group in southern New Mexico and westernmost Texas records predominantly subtidal
deposition on a gently dipping carbonate ramp that was subsequently nearly entirely dolomitized. The medial unit of the
Montoya Group, the Aleman Formation is unique because it contains abundant chert (10 – 70% by volume). The chert occurs as:
(1) thin continuous beds of sponge spicules within mudstone or calcisiltite; (2) discontinuous, lenses or nodules within skeletal
wackestones and packstones; or (3) as a replacement of skeletal grains and burrows. Coeval skeletal grainstones and muddy
peritidal facies contain little chert. Phosphate (up to 5 wt.%) occurs within the underlying Upham Formation and the Aleman
Formation as replacement of fossils and peloids. The abundance of chert and phosphate in these subtidal facies indicates they
formed within a region of strong upwelling. Regional correlation with Upper Ordovician cherty units along the periphery of
southern Laurentia and other low latitude continents suggests that upwelling was widespread and long-lived during the Late
Ordovician. The upwelling is interpreted to record vigorous oceanic circulation produced by the onset of glaciation on
Gondwana during this period. Late Ordovician relative sea-level curves around the periphery of Laurentia indicate correlative
third-order (1 – 3 my duration) fluctuations that may provide a means for high-resolution global correlations. However, the
mechanism(s) that produced these long-term fluctuations are unclear.
D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Upwelling; Glaciation; Chert; Phosphate; Eustasy

1. Introduction house conditions in which atmospheric pCO2 was an

Dropstones, diamictites, and striated pavements in
northern Africa record a Late Ordovician glacial event
(Crowell, 1999). This glaciation is enigmatic because
it formed during a prolonged period of global green-
* Fax: +1-509-335-5989.
E-mail address: mcpope@wsu.edu (M.C. Pope).
estimated 10 – 18 times greater than present (Berner,
1994). Glaciation was likely triggered by the migra-
tion of Gondwana across the South Pole (Crowley and
Baum, 1991, 1995), possibly in conjunction with a
global decrease in atmospheric temperature driven by
intense silicate weathering of Taconic orogenic high-
lands (Kump et al., 1999). A 3– 7x positive excur-
sion in both d13 C and d18 O stable isotopes of
carbonates, and a record of widespread sea-level

0031-0182/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.02.035
368 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384

Fig. 1. Late Ordovician global map modified from Scotese (1997). L = Laurentia, B = Baltica, S = Siberia, and C = China. Montoya Group
locality marked by black circle. The location of cherty carbonates is approximate, see references in Pope and Steffen (2003). Paleoceanographic
currents modified from Pope and Read (1998).

Fig. 2. Location map of Montoya Group outcrops in southern New Mexico and western Texas. Generalized Montoya Group sequence
stratigraphic cross-section (Fig. 5) occurs along B – BV.
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384 369

drawdown from three continents during the Hirnan-
tian Stage is interpreted as evidence for a short-lived,
possibly < 1 million-year-long glaciation (Brenchley
et al., 1994; Marshall et al., 1997). A longer glacial
event is indicated by Late Middle – Late Ordovician
glaciogenic sedimentary rocks in Africa (Barnes,
1986; Frakes et al., 1992; Theron, 1994; Crowell,
1999). However, the physical and paleontologic re-
cord for the duration of this glaciation is equivocal.
High-frequency, moderate amplitude (20 –30 m/20–
100 ky) sea-level fluctuations in the Upper Ordovician
Lexington Limestone of the Appalachian Basin were
interpreted to be indirect proxy evidence for a pro-
longed Ordovician glaciation (Pope and Read, 1997a,
1998). This paper discusses new sedimentologic and
stratigraphic data from the Upper Ordovician Mon-
toya Group of Texas and southern New Mexico and
their regional equivalents that indicate the southern
margin of Laurentia was the locus of intensive up-
welling. Enhanced thermohaline circulation caused by
the Gondwana glaciation is postulated to have pro-
duced this long-lived, widespread upwelling zone.
Long-term relative sea-level fluctuations recorded in
the Montoya Group are correlative with similar events
around Laurentia and may provide a means for high-
resolution stratigraphic correlation. The mechanism(s)
that produced these long-term relative sea-level fluc-
tuations are unclear.
2. Regional stratigraphic framework
Upper Ordovician Montoya Group strata in New
Mexico and western Texas are up to 180 m thick and
formed on a gently sloping carbonate ramp on the
Laurentian passive margin (Measures, 1985a,b; LeM-
one, 1988). Paleomagnetic reconstructions indicate
this passive margin (Fig. 1) was positioned between
5j and 20j south latitude, aligned approximately
east –west and faced the Panthalassic Ocean (Scotese,
1997; Mac Niocaill et al., 1997).
The Montoya Group outcrops in uplifted, block-
faulted mountain ranges throughout southern New
Mexico and westernmost Texas that are surrounded

Fig. 3. Stratigraphic chart of Montoya Group and its correlatives along the southern margin of Laurentia. Biostratigraphic references for each
area given in the text. Dark gray stippling indicates cherty carbonate units. P indicates units containing abundant phosphate. The duration of
upwelling around North America is indicated by the extent of cherty carbonate. The Turinian – Chatfieldian boundary occurs at f 454 based on
U – Pb dating of the Diecke bentonite in the US Midcontinent (Tucker et al., 1990), whereas the Ordovician – Silurian boundary is estimated at
442 Ma (Tucker and McKerrow, 1995).
370 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384

by flat-floored valleys (Fig. 2). These mountains were
produced by Cenozoic basin and range extension and
they trend north – northwesterly. Forty-two full and
partial outcrop measured sections (Fig. 2) and over
300 standard thin sections were used for analysis of
these rocks.
Extensive studies of the Montoya Group by strat-
igraphers and paleontologists (e.g. Kelley and Silver,
1952; Pray, 1958; Hill, 1959; Howe, 1959; Flower,
1961, 1969; Pratt and Jones, 1961; Kottlowski, 1963;
LeMone, 1969; Hayes, 1975; Sweet, 1979) produced
the gross regional lithostratigraphy (Fig. 3) that
remains in use today. These studies indicate that the
Montoya Group was deposited during the Cincinna-
tian Series (Late Ordovician) and that the latest
Ordovician Hirnantian Stage was a time of erosion
or non-deposition in this area (Fig. 3).
The Montoya Group in southern New Mexico and
westernmost Texas is subdivided into three formations
(Fig. 3) given in ascending order, Upham, Aleman,
and Cutter. All of these units are extensively dolomi-
tized with limestone occurring locally only in the
Upham and basal Aleman. The Upham Formation
(Fig. 4) conformably overlies a basal, thin (up to 16 m
thick), calcareous-cemented sandstone and gravel
conglomerate (Cable Canyon Sandstone) that rests
unconformably above the Lower Ordovician El Paso
Group. The Upham Formation typically is a light to
dark colored, bioturbated wackestone to grainstone
approximately 13 – 42 m thick. This unit has a grada-
tional contact with the underlying sandstone or lies
disconformably on the El Paso Group. The Aleman
Formation (16 – 85 m thick) conformably overlies the
Upham Formation and generally consists of a lower,

Fig. 4. Cross-section diagrams showing the distribution of facies across the Montoya Group carbonate ramp during the second-order TST and
HST. During the TST siliciclastics of the inner part of the ramp are progressively overlain by mid-ramp burrowed skeletal packstone or
grainstone then deep ramp interbedded calcisiltite or mudstone and spiculitic chert. The HST is a shallowing-upward succession characterized
by the initial deep ramp calcisiltite and mudstone interbedded with spiculitic chert grading upward into mid-ramp skeletal wackestone and
packstone then skeletal packstone and grainstone. Burrowed skeletal wackestone and mudstone, laminated mudstone and fenestral mudstone
were deposited updip, behind the skeletal grainstone and packstone.
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384 371

intercalated dark brown-gray, thin-bedded carbonate
and chert unit that grades up into nodular, cherty
dolostone (Fig. 4). The Cutter Formation (30 – 60 m
thick), composed of light colored, fine-grained dolo-
mite with little chert, is the uppermost unit of the
Montoya Group (Fig. 4). A regional unconformity
separates the Montoya Group from the overlying
Silurian Fusselman Dolomite or younger units.
3. Generalized sequence stratigraphy
The Montoya Group measured sections were ana-
lyzed using sequence stratigraphic principles outlined
in Harris et al. (1999). The Montoya Group was
deposited on a carbonate ramp (sensu Ahr, 1973)
because shallow to deep water facies pass laterally
into one another (Fig. 4) without evidence for a
substantial change in depositional slope (Read, 1985).
A generalized outline of the Montoya Group
sequence stratigraphy (Fig. 5) is presented here to
facilitate the following discussions of: (1) the region-
al stratigraphic position and distribution of cherty
facies on this ramp; and (2) the correlative third-order
(1– 3 my) sea-level changes recorded in these units.
The sequence stratigraphic terminology in this paper
follows the hierarchy of Weber et al. (1995) for
naming sequence stratigraphic depositional units.
The generalized sequence stratigraphic framework
of the Montoya Group sequence relies on Line B –
BV (Fig. 2). This generalized sequence stratigraphic
analysis indicates the Montoya Group is a single
second-order (8 – 10 my duration) transgressive to
regressive supersequence composed of six regionally
correlative third-order (1 –3 my duration) sequences
(Pope et al., 2001). The third-order sequences are
numbered sequentially upward (0 –5) from the base.
Sequences 0 and 1 have quartz, sandy bases that are
overlain by subtidal, mid- to shallow-ramp biotur-
bated skeletal wackestone/packstone. Updip, these
sequences are capped by high-energy skeletal grain-
stone. Sequence 2 has chert-rich, deep ramp carbon-
ate at its base and its upper part is marked by
progradation of a high-energy shallow ramp skeletal
grainstone with abundant colonial corals. Muddy
peritidal carbonates were deposited behind the skel-
etal shoal. Sequence 3 is comprised of an aggrada-
tional stack of skeletal packstone with colonial corals
that separates muddy inner ramp peritidal facies from
deeper ramp cherty carbonates. Sequence 4 is marked
by a pronounced basinward shift of peritidal facies
into the basin. Sequence 5 is only preserved in

Fig. 5. Generalized sequence stratigraphy along Line B – BV from Fig. 2. The second-order systems tracts are separated by a regional maximum
flooding zone of cherty carbonate (Pope et al., 2001). The cherty carbonates of the Aleman Formation occur within third-order sequences 2 and 3.
372 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384

downdip locations and is comprised of coarse skel-

etal grainstone.

4. Cherty facies of the Aleman Formation

The cherty facies of the Aleman Formation are

shown graphically in Fig. 4. The Aleman Formation
is a complex subtidal carbonate unit containing
abundant chert (10 – 70% by volume). The Aleman
Formation commonly is subdivided into upper and
lower cherty units that are separated by a widespread
medial packstone/grainstone marker unit (Fig. 5).
The depositional environments represented by the
Aleman Formation range from shallow, high-energy
shoals to deep-water settings, below storm wave base
(Fig. 4).

4.1. Even-bedded laminated calcisiltite or mudstone

and spiculitic chert

Even-bedded laminated calcisiltite and spiculitic

chert (Fig. 6A) is the basal unit of the Aleman
Formation. The calcisiltite generally is horizontally
laminated but locally shows small hummocky cross-
lamination. The chert is composed almost entirely
(>90%) of sponge spicules that were cemented by
later silica or carbonate. Locally the spiculitic chert
is interbedded with massive mudstone and this facies
is most common in the base of the lower part of the
upper Aleman above the medial packstone/grain-
stone marker. The even-bedded calcisiltite or mud-
stone commonly contains 1 –5 wt.% phosphate as
pellets, with rare phosphatic sponge spicules occur- Fig. 6. (A) Photo of even-bedded calcisiltite and spiculitic chert,
ring in the interbedded spiculitic chert. Locally lower Aleman Formation, Cooks Range, New Mexico. Ten-
within the even-bedded calcisiltite and spiculitic centimeter black scale bar in lower right center of photo. (B) Photo
chert are beds 1 – 3 m thick of cross-laminated of nodular chert in burrowed skeletal wackestone and packstone,
north Franklin Mountains, Texas. (C) Silicified brachiopods in
spiculite up to 3 m thick.
skeletal packstone, Caballos Mountains, New Mexico. Five-
The even bedded calcisiltite or mudstone inter- centimeter scale bar.
bedded with spiculitic chert is interpreted to repre-
sent deposition in deep waters commonly below
storm wave base. The calcisiltite and mudstone higher frequency climate or oceanographic changes
likely represent the background sedimentation on (e.g. Elrick et al., 1991). The abundance of sponge
this ramp, whereas the spiculitic chert formed as the spicules and absence of any other fauna, save small
disarticulated sponge spicules were redistributed by brachiopods, indicates this facies may have formed
storms or currents and accumulated. It is unclear in cool or oxygen-poor waters (for example, James,
what caused the alternation of carbonate and silica, 1997). The hummocky beds within this facies
the periods of abundant silica deposition may record indicate that storm wave base did sometimes im-
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384
pinge upon the seafloor during deposition of this
facies.
4.2. Skeletal wackestone to packstone with irregular,
discontinuous bedded to nodular chert
Skeletal wackestone to packstone containing irreg-
ular and discontinuously bedded chert up to a few
meters wide and a few cm thick on outcrop grades
laterally and vertically into skeletal wackestone/pack-
stone with nodular bedded chert (Fig. 6B). This facies
occurs within both the lower and upper Aleman
Formation, seaward of the grainstone shoal complex
and above the interbedded calcisiltite or mudstone and
spiculitic chert (Fig. 4). The abundance of chert in this
facies varies from 5– 60%. The chert nodules range
from a few cm’s to tens of cm’s 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
Howe, 1959). Primary laminations within the skeletal
wackestone/packstone are rare, but where they occur
with the chert, the laminations commonly are bent
around the nodules. The nodular chert occurs primarily
in skeletal wackestone to skeletal packstone. Sponge
spicules occur in many of the silicified nodules but
their abundance commonly is much less than in the
interbedded calcisiltite and spiculite facies. Phosphate
occurs throughout this facies as peloids, coatings on
hardgrounds and as a replacement of skeletal grains,
most commonly of bryozoans. Additionally, there are
many silicified burrows and fossils (Fig. 6C) within
the nodular cherty wackestone/packstone. Brachio-
pods are the main skeletal grains in this facies with
lesser amounts of bryozoan and crinoid fragments.
These cherty nodular carbonate facies formed on
an open marine ramp. The variety of chert abundance
and morphologies reflects both original depositional
features and subsequent early diagenetic silica enrich-
ment. The abundance of brachiopods and lack of other
warm-water organisms (corals, green algae) suggest
this facies formed in cool waters. The lack of bedding
and nodular appearance of chert suggests this facies
was intensely bioturbated. Deformed lamination sur-
rounding chert nodules, silicification of burrows and
unflattened skeletal fragments indicate that much of
the silica in this facies formed prior to burial and
compaction.
373
4.3. Skeletal packstone/grainstone
Skeletal packstone/grainstone including common
crinoids, bryozoans, brachiopods and rare rugose
corals and stromatoporoids is interbedded with thin
beds of colonial tabulate coral bafflestone comprises
widespread marker unit in the middle of the Aleman
Formation (Howe, 1959). This unit developed be-
tween upramp peritidal mudstone and downramp
subtidal carbonates with abundant chert (Fig. 5). This
facies commonly contains little silica, except where
the colonial corals commonly are replaced by chert.
Low-angle tangential cross-bedding locally is com-
mon within this facies. Hardground surfaces also are
common within this facies and these locally are
encrusted by phosphate.
The skeletal packstone/grainstone and coral baffle-
stone is interpreted to represent a high-energy skeletal
shoal or coral thicket. Widespread cross-bedding in
this unit indicates high-energy currents during depo-
sition of this unit. The abundance of corals in this
facies indicates that they were deposited in warm,
normal marine waters.
5. Types of chert in Montoya Group
The chert in the Montoya Group is divided into
three types: primary, early diagenetic and late diage-
netic. The nature of contacts between the chert and
carbonate within an individual bed varies greatly from
gradational to sharp. Many of the chert beds contain
small euhedral dolomite crystals formed after forma-
tion of the chert.
5.1. Primary depositional chert
Centimeter-thick beds of chert interbedded with
calcisiltite or mudstone and elongate discontinuous
chert lenses in calcisiltite or mudstone are considered
primary depositional because petrography and etching
of samples with HF reveals that they are composed
almost entirely of sponge spicules. Similarly, cross-
bedding in these spiculites indicate either storm re-
working or downslope current transportation of abun-
dant spicules. These chert beds formed from an
accumulation of sponge spicules on the seafloor, and
the lack of abundant storm features (i.e. graded
374 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384
bedding, hummocky cross stratification) suggests they
commonly formed below storm wave base.
5.2. Early diagenetic chert
Almost all the nodular and irregular chert nodules
in the Aleman Formation are considered early dia-
genetic because laminae in the carbonate sediment
are bent around the chert. Also, many whole, uncom-
pacted fossils and undeformed burrows in the Ale-
man Formation are silicified suggesting this chert
formed early on the sea floor, or immediately below
the sediment – water interface, prior to complete
lithification.
5.3. Late diagenetic chert
Late diagenetic chert commonly occurs in three
forms. (1) White to light gray nodules that cross-cut
bedding and occur primarily in tidal flat facies are
interpreted to be a replacement of evaporite nodules.
(2) Gray to white nodules within subtidal facies cross-
cut bedding of dark gray carbonate containing early
diagenetic chert (e.g. Geeslin and Chafetz, 1982)
occur primarily updip and are also interpreted to be
a replacement of evaporites. However, these evapor-
ites likely formed from burial brines during subse-
quent exposure of the Montoya carbonate platform.
(3) Elongate veins, or tabular beds that cross cut or
parallel bedding.
6. Regional correlations
The Montoya Group is regionally correlative with
Upper Ordovician cherty and phosphatic carbonates
of the southern Midcontinent and Appalachian Basin
(Fig. 3). These correlations are described here to
determine the paleoceanographic significance of these
units.
The Trenton Group (Upper Ordovician) and its
equivalents (Galena Group, Lexington Limestone) in
the Appalachian Basin and northern midcontinent are
shallow-water carbonates that were deposited in cool,
phosphate-rich waters (Brookfield, 1988; Lavoie,
1995; Patzkowsky and Holland, 1996; Pope and
Read, 1997a, 1998; Holland and Patzkowsky, 1997;
Kolata et al., 2001). These cool-water carbonates are
conformably overlain by Cincinnatian shaly cool-
water carbonates (Holland, 1993; Pope and Read,
1997b; Holland and Patzkowsky, 1997). As the Ap-
palachian Basin filled during the Cincinnatian, fine
siliciclastics prograded progressively farther to the
west and south as that basin was filled (Kolata et
al., 2001).
The Viola Group of Oklahoma has two parts, a
lower Trenton Group (Upper Ordovician) equivalent
that is unconformably overlain by Cincinnatian strata
(O’Brien and Derby, 1997). The Viola Group consists
of interbedded carbonate and chert deposited on a
steep ramp that includes contourites and turbidites
(Brown and Sentfle, 1997). The basal part of the Viola
Group is particularly siliceous (up to 70% chert),
including both biogenic (sponge spicules) and sec-
ondary silica (Galvin, 1983; Candelaria and Roux,
1997). The lower cherty carbonate of the Viola Group
is comprised of nodular-bedded skeletal wackestone/
packstone with light brown-gray chert nodules (Fig.
7). The nodular bedding was likely produced by a
combination of burrowing and uneven marine precip-
itation, followed by subsequent uneven compaction.
The chert is interpreted to be early diagenetic since
bedding in this facies is deformed around the chert.
Karst within the Viola Group in Oklahoma formed
prior to the Richmondian (Sykes et al., 1997) and may
be correlative to shallowing and progradation of
grainstone within the Aleman Formation. The top part
of carbonate part of the Viola Group is a crinoidal
grainstone (equivalent to Fernvale, Welling) that is
conformably overlain by the Richmondian Sylvan
Shale. This grainstone may be equivalent to the
grainstone that prograded near the top of Sequence
2 in the Montoya Group. Structural differentiation of
basins and uplifts segmented the southern Oklahoma
part of the Ouachita basin to produce distinctive
lithologies in each area (Denison, 1997). The basins
commonly are muddier and chert-rich, whereas the
uplifts are grain-rich, preferentially dolomitized, and
contain abundant hardgrounds, more karstic surfaces,
and less chert. Locally the Viola Group contains
sandstone beds such as First Wilcox Sand that were
shed off subtle highs in Arkansas and Oklahoma
during high-frequency sea-level falls (see O’Brien
and Derby, 1997; Denison, 1997). Organic-rich shale
and chert in the Big Fork Chert and Polk Creek Shale
units (Finney, 1986) occurs outboard of the Viola
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384
Fig. 7. Photo of nodular carbonate and light-colored chert in lower Viola Group, I-35, Ardmore County, Oklahoma. Ten-centimeter scale bar in
lower middle of photo.
Group cherty-carbonate facies and indicates this area
of the margin received abundant dissolved silica
throughout the Late Ordovician.
The Richmondian Sylvan Shale is a poorly ex-
posed unit that overlies the top of the Viola Group and
underlies the latest Ordovician (Gamachian – Hirnan-
tian) Keel Oolite. The Sylvan Shale records a single
shallowing-upward trend of graptolitic black shale
passing upward into unfossiliferous gray and green
shale (Finney, 1988). The water depths of the Sylvan
are unknown, but it is not entirely a deepwater unit,
rather it reflects muddying of the waters which poi-
soned the carbonate system shutting down the car-
bonate factory (Amsden, 1988). This scenario is
compatible with the onset of a gradual long-term
sea-level drop that begins in the Cincinnatian and
induced progradation of fine siliciclastics to the west
and south from the Appalachian Basin (Kolata et al.,
2001).
The Hirnantian Keel Oolite is part of a thin, locally
developed succession of iron and aragonitic ooids that
occur discontinuously in the US Midcontinent and
southern Canada (see Sharma and Dix, this volume).
These units formed during the sea-level drawdown
likely associated with the maximum extent of Late
Ordovician glaciation (Brenchley et al., 1994).
The Maravillas Formation in the Marathon Uplift
of south-central Texas consists of interbedded fine-
375
grained, organic-rich chert and carbonate deposited
in a deep subtidal setting (McBride, 1969, 1970,
1989). The Maravillas Formation was deposited
during the Late Ordovician (Goldman et al., 1995).
The lower part of the Maravillas Formation is a
succession, up to 130 m thick of interbedded thin to
thick beds of carbonate and chert (Fig. 8A). The
carbonate beds (5 cm to 2 m thick) are calcisiltite and
carbonate-clast conglomerate which commonly fine
upward (Fig. 8B). The carbonate units were deposited
by carbonate turbidity currents (McBride, 1969,
1970) whose presence suggests the Maravillas For-
mation was deposited in a tectonically active setting,
or below a break in the ramp slope, possibly on a
distally steepened ramp. The chert morphologies in
the Maravillas Formation are quite varied from even,
uniformly dark homogeneous beds to undulatory beds
and less common chert nodules. The Maravillas
Formation chert contains abundant sponge spicules,
phosphate and glauconite (McBride, 1969, 1989).
The chert of the Maravillas Formation is interpreted
to have formed during deposition and early diagene-
sis. The upper 20 – 30 m of the Maravillas Formation
consists of cherty shale or shale (McBride, 1969,
1970) that may be correlative with the Sylvan Shale
in Oklahoma. The Maravillas Formation was thrusted
northward to its present position during the Late
Paleozoic, indicating the Ordovician carbonate ramp
376 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384

Fig. 8. (A) Photo of interbedded carbonate and chert the Maravillas Formation along Texas State Highway 385, approximately 15 km south of
Marathon, Texas. Person for scale is approximately 1.7 m tall. (B) Close-up of normal graded carbonate conglomerate between black chert and
light gray lime mudstone in Maravillas Formation.

upon which it formed was much wider than its
current configuration.
Biostratigraphic correlation indicates the Montoya
Group, Maravillas Formation, and Viola Springs
Group formed a laterally continuous zone of cherty
carbonates across the southern Laurentia margin dur-
ing the Late Ordovician (Fig. 9). Similarly, Upper
Ordovician shelf carbonates in Sonora, Mexico pass
downramp into interbedded chert and carbonate then
into basinal chert and shale (Poole et al., 1995a,b),
suggesting this belt of cherty carbonates was contin-
uous from Oklahoma into northern Mexico. The
possibility of many hundreds of kilometers of Meso-
zoic left-lateral offset along this margin (Silver and
Anderson, 1974; Anderson and Silver, 1979) does not
negate the correlation, just its relative position.
Upper Ordovician cherty carbonates are not re-
stricted to southern Laurentia, but also occur discon-
tinuously in the North American Cordillera from the
Great Basin to northern Canada and Alaska (Figs. 1
and 9). In these areas, interbedded chert and grapto-
litic shale were deposited in deep water seaward of
cherty carbonates that pass upramp into peritidal
carbonates (Ross, 1976; Miller, 1975, 1976).
Coeval interbedded chert and shale or cherty shale
units were also deposited in low-latitude settings on
Baltica, Siberia, New Zealand and Australia (Fig. 1).
The shale in these units commonly is organic-rich,
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384 377

Fig. 9. Map showing evidence for late Middle to Late Ordovician upwelling around the US. Upwelling is marked in the Appalachian Basin by
cool-water carbonates (Brookfield, 1988; Patzkowsky and Holland, 1993; Lavoie, 1995; Pope and Read, 1997a, 1998) containing abundant
phosphate (up to 10 wt.%) along the Cincinnati Arch (Holland and Patzkowsky, 1997; Pope and Read, 1997a, b). The Sebree Trough funneled
cool, deep oceanic waters onto the US Midcontinent (Kolata et al., 2001). Warm water tidal flats only developed in the Late Ordovician, updip
along the western and northern limit of outcrops. Cherty carbonates described in this paper occur along the southern margin of Laurentia from
Oklahoma to Mexico. Chert-rich carbonate facies occur in the subsurface data from the Permian basin, Texas. Outboard of the cherty carbonates
are cherty shales. Cherty carbonates and cherty shale also occur in the southern Great Basin and Idaho.

and may contain abundant phosphate and numerous
graptolites. The chert in these units commonly occurs
as nodules containing radiolarians or sponge spicules.
Silicified nodules within the shaly units are interpreted
to have formed when sea-level was high (e.g. Loi and
Dabard, 2002), similar to the model for formation of
Aleman Formation chert nodules proposed below.
7. Discussion
7.1. Upwelling in the Late Ordovician
The abundance of stromatoporoids, corals, and
receptacularid algae (LeMone, 1969, 1988) in the
Upham Formation indicates that this unit was depos-
ited in warm oceanic waters. Similarly, the occurrence
of corals in the shallow subtidal facies of the Aleman
Formation indicates that these rocks also formed in
warm oceanic waters. However, the deeper subtidal
portions of the Aleman are dominated by siliceous
sponge spicules and brachiopods indicating this is a
heterozoan fauna (James, 1997). The brachiopods in
the Aleman Formation and deeper subtidal portions of
the Cutter Formation (Howe, 1959) contain many of
the genuses (Hebertella, Platystrophia, Rafinesquina)
interpreted to define a cool water biofacies in the
Appalachian Basin (Patzkowsky and Holland, 1999).
Additionally, the lack of ooids, peloids, hardgrounds
and calcareous algae in these rocks also may indicate
they formed in cooler oceanic waters (cf. Patzkowsky
and Holland, 1993; Pope and Read, 1997a,b). The
mudcracked and bioturbated dolomudsone with occa-
sional corals of the peritidal facies in the Cutter
Formation suggest the updip part of the Montoya
Group was deposited in warm oceanic waters. Thus,
378 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384
it appears the upper part of the Montoya Group may
have been deposited on a temperature-stratified ramp
with cool, deeper subtidal waters passing updip into
warm, shallow subtidal and peritidal waters. This
depositional model is very similar to one put forth
to explain the coeval juxtaposition of subtidal cool-
water and peritidal warm-water Late Ordovician car-
bonates in the US Midcontinent (Kolata et al., 2001)
and the Appalachian Basin (Pope and Read, 1998).
The abundance of spiculitic chert, early diagenetic
chert and phosphate (1 – 5 wt.%) in the Montoya
Group indicates these formed in an upwelling zone
(e.g., Parrish, 1998). Direct correlations and similar-
ities between the Montoya Group, Maravillas Forma-
tion, Viola Group and unnamed Upper Ordovician
units in Mexico indicates the upwelling zone was
widespread along the southern margin of Laurentia
(Fig. 9). Global sea-level was at, or near, its Paleozoic
maximum during the Late Ordovician and most of
North America was submerged and could not have
been a substantial source of silica. Thus, the silica and
phosphate in the Upper Ordovician cherty carbonates
of southern Laurentia were brought into this area by
upwelling of cool, deeper oceanic waters. Biostratig-
raphy (Fig. 3) suggests the upwelling lasted up to 10 –
12 my (454 – 442 Ma).
In modern oceans, coastal upwelling occurs pri-
marily along the western margins of low – middle
latitude continents where surface winds blowing par-
allel to the coast, and slightly offshore push surface
waters through Ekman transport perpendicular to the
shoreline. This offshore movement of water is bal-
anced through replacement from below by cool,
nutrient rich waters. These upwelling waters generally
come from the upper few hundred meters of the
ocean. These upwelling zones are characterized by
abundant phosphate, silica, and organic-rich shale
(Parrish, 1998). The appearance of widespread and
anomalously cherty and phosphatic carbonates in the
Late Ordovician of Laurentia indicates that strong
equatorial upwelling began during this period. Unlike
modern upwelling the distribution of cool water,
phosphate-, and silica-rich carbonates occurs on mar-
gins that were perpendicular to prevailing winds (Figs.
1 and 9), especially on the US Midcontinent, and
possibly along southern Laurentia.
Upper Ordovician bedded carbonate, chert, and
phosphate deposits of southern Laurentia and the
North American midcontinent are anomalous in the
Paleozoic because they represent the influx of cool
oceanic waters, with abundant silica and phosphate,
hundreds of kilometers onto the interior of this con-
tinent (Lavoie, 1995; Patzkowsky and Holland, 1996;
Pope and Read, 1998; Kolata et al., 2001). Interbed-
ded chert and shale commonly were deposited ocean-
ward of the cherty carbonates (e.g. Big Fork chert,
upper Maravillas Formation shaly chert, unnamed
units in Mexico). Graptolitic-rich shales may mark
the position of upwelling along the shelf margin (e.g.
Finney and Berry, 1997) and coeval cherty carbonates
inboard and graptolitic shale and chert outboard are
consistent with laterally extensive (up to a few hun-
dred kilometers wide) upwelling across the southern
Laurentia margin. The development of this upwelling
zone corresponds with a northward expansion of cool
water trilobite faunas (Shaw, 1991) and a pronounced
shift to cooler-water benthic faunas across eastern
North America (Patzkowsky and Holland, 1993).
Similarly, the abundance of silica-replaced fossils
and bedded chert throughout the Late Ordovician
(Kidder and Erwin, 2001; Pope and Steffen, 2003)
suggests a substantial global increase in upwelling
during this period. The abundance of Late Ordovician
cherty carbonate and cherty shale units and the dearth
of these units in the Middle Ordovician and during the
Early Silurian suggests a global climatic or oceano-
graphic origin for these deposits.
Glacially mixed oceans commonly are marked by
the development of widespread equatorial upwelling
zones, whereas greenhouse oceans generally lack
widespread upwelling zones (Hay, 1988). Similarly,
the occurrence and abundance of widespread phos-
phorites commonly indicates well-mixed oceans (e.g.
Berner, 1996). Thus, the coupled origination of geo-
graphically widespread equatorial or near-equatorial
upwelling and phosphogenesis in the Late Ordovician
may reflect the initiation of Gondwana glaciation. The
initiation of this upwelling in the Late Ordovician
corresponds with cool (13 – 19 jC) surface waters in
the Appalachian Basin (Railsback et al., 1990), and
the approximate initiation of glaciogenic deposits in
Africa (Theron, 1994). The presence of geographical-
ly widespread upwelling zones developed hundreds of
kilometers onto Laurentia over a 10 – 12 my period
also is in accord in accord with computer modeling,
which indicates that there was increased poleward
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384 379

heat flow during the Late Ordovician glaciation
(Poussart et al., 1999).
7.2. Relative sea-level record from North America
The Late Ordovician is a time of high sea-level
around North America following a global sea-level
low that occurred during the Middle Ordovician
(Schutter, 1992). The six, regionally correlative de-
positional sequences in the Montoya Group record
long-term (1– 3 my) changes in relative water-depth
in this area during the later Late Ordovician (Fig. 10).
The North American data indicates a long-term
(Chatfieldian – Hirnantian; 454 – 442 Ma) transgres-
sive to regressive sequence during the Late Ordovi-
cian containing 6– 12 superimposed sea-level rises
and falls each 1 –3 my apiece (Fig. 10). The Chat-
fieldian record is poorly resolved but it appears to
consist of two to five sea level rises and falls. The
Edenian rise and fall appears to be the longest
duration ( f 3 Ma) but may locally record at least
two separate events. There are two long-term sea
level rise and fall events in both the Maysvillian
and Richmondian and a single long-term rise and fall
recorded in the Hirnantian. A very detailed record of
multiple high-frequency high-amplitude fluctuations

Fig. 10. Correlation diagram of published late Middle to Late Ordovician sea-level, coastal onlap and water depth curves from the periphery of
North America. Maximum water depth, marked with a black circle, approximates the local maximum flooding surface in each study area. The
Montoya curve shows six third-order (1 – 3 my duration) relative sea-level rises and falls corresponding to the six depositional sequences. These
relative sea-level rises are roughly correlative with events from the Appalachian Basin (Holland and Patzkowsky, 1997; Pope and Read, 1998)
and Great Basin (Harris et al., 1996) suggesting there were four to seven third-order rises and falls in sea-level in the Late Ordovician. The
similarity of these curves suggests the rise and falls in relative sea-level were likely produced by glacio-eustatic fluctuations. The largest sea-
level fall in the Late Ordovician occurs during the Hirnantian indicating the maximum extent of Late Ordovician icesheets during this time.
Differences in the timing of maximum water depth in any individual location were likely produced by local variations in subsidence and
sediment supply.
380 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384
in the very latest Ordovician (Fig. 10) occurs on
Anticosti Island (Long, 1993).
The similarity in timing of these long-term events,
their duration, and distribution around Laurentia sug-
gests there is likely a long-term eustatic driver to these
relative sea-level fluctuations, but variations in subsi-
dence, sediment distribution or tectonics are likely
obscuring the true eustatic component of these curves.
For example, in the Appalachian Basin, the deepest
water facies in the Late Ordovician occurs during the
Chatfieldian (Diecchio and Broderson, 1994) or the
earliest Edenian (Holland and Patzkowsky, 1997;
Pope and Read, 1998). However, the deepest water
facies of the Montoya Group occur during the Mays-
villian (Fig. 10), whereas they occur in the Richmon-
dian in Great Basin rocks (Harris and Sheehan, 1996,
1997). Although, the absolute magnitude of these
long-term sea-level events is uncertain, it is clear
sea-level fell the farthest in the Hirnantian because
that lowstand led to widespread subaerial exposure of
Laurentia and elsewhere (cf. Brenchley et al., 1994),
probably during the maximum advance of Late Ordo-
vician icesheets.
The mechanism(s) creating these long-term relative
sea-level fluctuations around Laurentia during the
Late Ordovician is unclear. The duration of these
fluctuations, 1 –3 my each, is generally below the
accepted record of long-term changes in seafloor
spreading rates that may cause eustatic variations
(Pitman, 1978). Similarly, these fluctuations are much
longer than the short-term Milankovitch climate forc-
ing mechanisms, precession, obliquity and eccentric-
ity, that have frequencies of approximately 21– 23, 41,
and 100 or 400 ky, respectively. These fluctuations
may reflect long-term changes in ice volume, possibly
as a long-term (1.3 or 2.0 Ma) harmonic of eccentric-
ity (De Boer and Smith, 1994). However, if long-term
changes in ice volume are being recorded in the Late
Ordovician why is the record of short-term ice volume
changes, which should be represented by high-fre-
quency, high-amplitude depositional cycles be so
scarce? Moderate to high-amplitude, high-frequency
meter-scale cycles developed during the Chatfieldian
(Pope and Read, 1998) and the Hirnantian (Long,
1993), but unequivocable evidence for such cylicity in
the Cinncinnatian is not evident. Meter- and decame-
ter-scale depositional cycles are ubiquitous in the
Cincinnatian successions of the Appalachian Basin
(e.g. Holland, 1993; Jennette and Pryor, 1993; Pope
and Read, 1997b; Brett and Algeo, 2001). However,
determining the magnitude and duration of sea-level
fluctuations that produced this cyclicity is controver-
sial (cf. Jennette and Pryor, 1993; Holland et al., 1997
for contrasting views).
Alternatively, the nearly synchronous long-term
Late Ordovician fluctuations delineated here may be
recording nonlinear oscillations that are not directly
related to any eustatic forcing mechanisms (e.g. Gaf-
fin, 1992). More detailed sequence stratigraphic
records through Late Ordovician successions are nec-
essary to determine the mechanism(s) that produced
these long-term relative sea-level fluctuations. Re-
gardless of the mechanism(s), these long-term relative
sea level fluctuations they may provide a means for
regional and global correlations that are below the
resolution of biostratigraphy.
8. Conclusions
The Late Ordovician glacial event was unique
because it formed during a time of elevated atmo-
spheric CO2. Determining the duration of this glacial
episode is essential to determining how glaciation
began, how waxing and waning of the glacial ice-
sheets affected coeval sedimentation, and how and
why this glaciation ceased. The abundance of cherty
carbonate and phosphate in the Montoya Group of
New Mexico and Texas indicates these rocks formed
in a widespread upwelling zone. The duration of this
upwelling and correlation with other Late Ordovician
upwelling zones around the periphery of Laurentia
suggest that Gondwana glaciation may have been
occurring throughout this period. The regionally cor-
relative third-order depositional sequences (1 –3 my
duration) in the Montoya Group refine a long-term
Late Ordovician relative sea-level curve.
Acknowledgements
This research supported by ACS-PRF #35837-G8.
Bob Myers, Range Geologist at White Sands Missile
Range provided invaluable help in accessing sections
in the San Andres range. Dan Hunter, Bryn Clark,
Luke LeMond, Steve Turpin and John Bengelsdorf all
 M.C. Pope / Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 210 (2004) 367–384
provided invaluable field assistance. Steven Holland
and Carlton Brett provided insightful comments on a
previous version of this manuscript. Jessica Steffen
initiated many useful discussions about the Montoya
Group and especially the significance of its chert.
Kate Giles provided access to a digital camera, advice
on logistics and acted as a sounding board for many of
the ideas in this paper. This paper was approved for
public release by White Sands Missile Range;
distribution unlimited. OPSEC review completed on
August 19, 2002.
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