PRELIMINARY CHARACTERIZATION OF PERMIAN WORD FORMATION CLASTICS AND CARBONATES FROM THE NORTHWEST GLASS MOUNTAINS OF WEST TEXAS

P.B. King (1931) noted that the makeup of the Permian Word Formation shifts from siltstones and sandstones in the Del Norte Mountains to limestones and dolomite in the eastern Glass Mountains. The ‘Transitional Facies’ start with the appearance of the Willis Ranch Member on the west side of Gilliland Canyon and terminate where the upper three of King’s limestone members merge near Hess Canyon. This study evaluates Word Formation outcrops from the northwestern transitional facies. Deposition of the western transitional facies may have been influenced to a greater degree by shelf/slope processes than the better studied shelfal facies in Road and Hess Canyons to the southeast. This study applies microfacies analysis and fusulinid biostratigraphy to expand the known depositional character of the Word Formation.