Abstract
The Hasparos Embayment contains Neogene-aged deposits that overlie the Permian-aged San Andres Formation. The Hasparos Embayment consists of thousands of subsidence sinkholes, concentrated in two tracts that are overlain with deposits provisionally considered to be part of the Ogallala Formation. The two Ogallala-covered karst fields are divided north and south by the Hasparos Canyon. The northern karst field includes 12,400 hectares, whereas the southern tract includes 6,900 hectares. Intrastratal karst is a form of hypogene speleogenesis, in which karst develops in rocks buried by younger deposits after deposition of the younger rocks. Thus during the temperate, late Pleistocene epoch, Lake Estancia, northwest of the Hasparos Embayment, discharged to the east-southeast and recharged groundwater in the Yeso (gypsum) and San Andres Formation (limestone). The groundwater migrated through a saddle in the Lincoln County Porphyry Belt deposits into the Hasparos Embayment gypsum/limestone deposits of the Yeso and San Andres Formations. Dissolution of the carbonates created intrastratal-type karst topography within the overlying much younger Ogallala sediments.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5038/9781967518012.1016
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Hasparos Embayment – An Example of Intrastratal Hypogenic Speleogenesis
The Hasparos Embayment contains Neogene-aged deposits that overlie the Permian-aged San Andres Formation. The Hasparos Embayment consists of thousands of subsidence sinkholes, concentrated in two tracts that are overlain with deposits provisionally considered to be part of the Ogallala Formation. The two Ogallala-covered karst fields are divided north and south by the Hasparos Canyon. The northern karst field includes 12,400 hectares, whereas the southern tract includes 6,900 hectares. Intrastratal karst is a form of hypogene speleogenesis, in which karst develops in rocks buried by younger deposits after deposition of the younger rocks. Thus during the temperate, late Pleistocene epoch, Lake Estancia, northwest of the Hasparos Embayment, discharged to the east-southeast and recharged groundwater in the Yeso (gypsum) and San Andres Formation (limestone). The groundwater migrated through a saddle in the Lincoln County Porphyry Belt deposits into the Hasparos Embayment gypsum/limestone deposits of the Yeso and San Andres Formations. Dissolution of the carbonates created intrastratal-type karst topography within the overlying much younger Ogallala sediments.