Vieja Group, including Bracks Rhyolite, Chambers and Colmena Tuffs and Gill Breccia (TXOGEOv;0)

State	Texas
Name	Vieja Group, including Bracks Rhyolite, Chambers and Colmena Tuffs and Gill Breccia
Geologic age	Eocene to Oligocene
Lithologic constituents	Major Igneous > Volcanic > Felsic-volcanic > Rhyolite (Pyroclastic-tuff) Minor Sedimentary > Clastic > Conglomerate (Bed) Igneous > Volcanic > Felsic-volcanic (Pyroclastic-tuff) Sedimentary > Clastic > Sandstone (Bed)
Comments	Brachs Rhyolite--sl. porphyritic with rhombic anothoclase phenocrysts up to 3 mm in diameter; matrix alkalic feldspar, quartz, and mafic minerals; dk reddish-brown to grayish olive; thickness as much as 360 ft. K-Ar ages 36.5+-1.2 m.y., 36.8 m.y. Chambers Tuff--fine grained, crystal-vitric tuff, mod. to well bedded, pale red, grayish-pink, grayish green, pale purple, and grayish orange pink; a persistent layer of coarse sandst. in southern area (of Marfa Sheet, 1979) with some conglo 130 ft above base; thickness 105-750 ft. contains Oligocene vertebrate fossils. Colmena Tuff-- fine-grained, thin bedded tuffaceous sandst. and limestone-and-sandstone conglomerate; some nonmarine limest., silty claystone, and glassy flow-rock, pale red to white; mostly tuffaceous sandst. and limest. on south , mostly conglo. on north; includes Jeff Conglomerate which is not separately mapped; thickness as much as 450 ft. contains Eocene vertebrate fossils. Gill Breccia (Eocene) consists of flow breccias of three types: a) med-gray fragments in grayish-red matrix, b) variegated mottled fragments in dk-greenish-gray to orange-pink matrix, c) brecciated to massive lt-olive-green to greenish-gray fine-grained rock. Thickness about 360 ft. K-Ar age on volcanic rock from Gill Breccia 40.0+-2.0 Ma.
Stratigraphic units	Jeff Conglomerate
References	Bureau of Economic Geology, 1979, Marfa Sheet, Geologic Atlas of Texas: Bureau of Economic Geology and The University of Texas at Austin, scale 1:250,000. Bureau of Economic Geology, 1992, Geologic Map of Texas: University of Texas at Austin, Virgil E. Barnes, project supervisor, Hartmann, B.M. and Scranton, D.F., cartography, scale 1:500,000.
NGMDB product	NGMDB product page for 68390
Counties	Culberson - Jeff Davis - Presidio

State

Texas

Name

Vieja Group, including Bracks Rhyolite, Chambers and Colmena Tuffs and Gill Breccia

Geologic age

Eocene to Oligocene

Lithologic constituents

Major

Igneous > Volcanic > Felsic-volcanic > Rhyolite (Pyroclastic-tuff)

Minor

Sedimentary > Clastic > Conglomerate (Bed)

Igneous > Volcanic > Felsic-volcanic (Pyroclastic-tuff)

Sedimentary > Clastic > Sandstone (Bed)

Comments

Brachs Rhyolite--sl. porphyritic with rhombic anothoclase phenocrysts up to 3 mm in diameter; matrix alkalic feldspar, quartz, and mafic minerals; dk reddish-brown to grayish olive; thickness as much as 360 ft. K-Ar ages 36.5+-1.2 m.y., 36.8 m.y. Chambers Tuff--fine grained, crystal-vitric tuff, mod. to well bedded, pale red, grayish-pink, grayish green, pale purple, and grayish orange pink; a persistent layer of coarse sandst. in southern area (of Marfa Sheet, 1979) with some conglo 130 ft above base; thickness 105-750 ft. contains Oligocene vertebrate fossils. Colmena Tuff-- fine-grained, thin bedded tuffaceous sandst. and limestone-and-sandstone conglomerate; some nonmarine limest., silty claystone, and glassy flow-rock, pale red to white; mostly tuffaceous sandst. and limest. on south , mostly conglo. on north; includes Jeff Conglomerate which is not separately mapped; thickness as much as 450 ft. contains Eocene vertebrate fossils. Gill Breccia (Eocene) consists of flow breccias of three types: a) med-gray fragments in grayish-red matrix, b) variegated mottled fragments in dk-greenish-gray to orange-pink matrix, c) brecciated to massive lt-olive-green to greenish-gray fine-grained rock. Thickness about 360 ft. K-Ar age on volcanic rock from Gill Breccia 40.0+-2.0 Ma.

Stratigraphic units

Jeff Conglomerate

References

Bureau of Economic Geology, 1979, Marfa Sheet, Geologic Atlas of Texas: Bureau of Economic Geology and The University of Texas at Austin, scale 1:250,000.

Bureau of Economic Geology, 1992, Geologic Map of Texas: University of Texas at Austin, Virgil E. Barnes, project supervisor, Hartmann, B.M. and Scranton, D.F., cartography, scale 1:500,000.

NGMDB product

NGMDB product page for 68390

Counties

Culberson - Jeff Davis - Presidio