GEOLOGY AND COAL RESOURCES OF THE TECHADO QUADRANGLE, CATRON AND CIBOLA COUNTIES, NEW MEXICO

The Techado quadrangle is located in west-central New Mexico along the eastern fringe of the Salt Lake coal field. Three formations crop out in the quadrangle. The lowermost unit is the Moreno Hill Formation of Late Cretaceous age. This is a sequence of sandstones, siltstones, claystones and coal beds deposited in meandering stream and coastal plain environments. The Moreno Hill Formation is unconformably overlain by the Eocene(?) Baca Formation. The Baca consists of coarse-grained, arkosic sandstones and conglomerates deposited by a braided stream system. Unconformably overlying the Moreno Hill and Baca Formations is the Miocene(?) Fence Lake Formation. This is a sequence of boulder conglomerates and lithic sandstones deposited in a braided stream environment. Coal occurs in both the Lower and Upper Members of the Moreno Hill Formation. Throughout most of the Techado quadrangle, the Lower Member is too deep to yield economically minable coal deposits. However, the extreme southwest corner Of the quadrangle may contain some minable coal. The Upper Member crops out throughout the Techado quadrangle but contains only thin, discontinuous coals. The poor coal development is a function of dynamic depositional environments characterized by strong fluvial influences and poor swamp development. Therefore, the Upper Member is not expected to contain minable coal deposits in the Techado region. However, to the north and northeast of the Techado quadrangle, depositional environments indicate that the coal resource potential is better