Usage:
Reef Trail Member of Bell Canyon Formation of Delaware Mountain Group (NM*,TX*)
Geologic age:
Middle Permian (latest Guadalupian)*
Type section, locality, area and/or origin of name:
Type section (composite): in northeasternmost Guadalupe Mountains National Park, beginning on small escarpment less than 0.5 mi northeast of McKittrick Canyon Visitors Center, and continuing to top of hill (5180 ft elevation), [mid-point approx. Lat. 31 deg. 58 min. 51 sec. N., Long. 104 deg. 44 min. 44 sec. W.], Independence Spring 7.5-min quadrangle, Culberson Co., western TX (Wilde and others, 1999; see Lambert and others, 2010).
Reference section: McKittrick Canyon, about 200 m southeast of type section, from Lat. 31.9796 deg. N., Long. 104.7446 deg. W. to Lat. 31.9802 deg. N., Long. 104.7443 deg. W. (WGS 1984 datum), Independence Spring 7.5-min quadrangle, eastern edge Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Culberson Co., western TX, [mid-point approx. Lat. 31 deg. 58 min. 47 sec. N., Long. 104 deg. 44 min. 39 sec. W.] (Lambert and others, 2010).
Named from nearby Geology Reef Trail at the Guadalupe National Park Visitors Center, McKittrick Canyon, Culberson Co., western TX (Wilde and others, 1999).
AAPG geologic province:
Permian basin*
For more information, please contact Nancy Stamm, Geologic Names Committee Secretary.
Asterisk (*) indicates published by U.S. Geological Survey authors.
"No current usage" (†) implies that a name has been abandoned or has fallen into disuse. Former usage and, if known, replacement name given in parentheses ( ).
Slash (/) indicates name conflicts with nomenclatural guidelines (CSN, 1933; ACSN, 1961, 1970; NACSN, 1983, 2005, 2021). May be explained within brackets ([ ]).