Buda Limestone
Cretaceous formations in Texas and New Mexico
title: "Buda Limestone" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["limestone-formations-of-the-united-states", "cretaceous-formations-of-new-mexico", "cretaceous-geology-of-texas"] description: "Cretaceous formations in Texas and New Mexico" topic_path: "science/earth-science" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buda_Limestone" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Cretaceous formations in Texas and New Mexico ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox rockunit"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Buda Limestone |
| type | Geological formation |
| age | Late Cretaceous |
| | period | Cenomanian | | prilithology | Limestone | | namedfor | Buda, Texas | | namedby | T.W. Vaughan | | year_ts | 1900 | | region | North America | | country | United States | | coordinates | | | unitof | Washita Group | | underlies | Eagle Ford Group, Woodbine Formation, Boquillas Formation | | overlies | Del Rio Formation and Grayson Formation | | thickness | 100 feet | | map | {{Location map+ | United States#Texas | | relief | 1 | | width | 250 | | float | center | | lat_deg | 30.0849 | | lon_deg | -97.8507 | | mark | Lightgreen pog.svg | | marksize | 12 | ::
| name = Buda Limestone | image = | caption = | type = Geological formation | age = Late Cretaceous
| period = Cenomanian | prilithology = Limestone | otherlithology = | namedfor = Buda, Texas | namedby = T.W. Vaughan | year_ts = 1900 | region = North America | country = United States | coordinates = | unitof = Washita Group | subunits = | underlies = Eagle Ford Group, Woodbine Formation, Boquillas Formation | overlies = Del Rio Formation and Grayson Formation | thickness = 100 feet | extent = | area = | map = {{Location map+ | United States#Texas | relief = 1 | width = 250 | float = center | places = | lat_deg = 30.0849 | lon_deg = -97.8507 | mark = Lightgreen pog.svg | marksize = 12 | map_caption = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Austin_Chalk_stratigraphic_column_in_Texas.png" caption="Buda Limestone [[stratigraphic column]] in Texas"] ::
The Buda Limestone is a geological formation in the High Plains and Trans-Pecos regions of West Texas and in southern New Mexico, whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Pterosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
Description
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Terlingua_stratigraphic_column.png" caption="Terlingua stratigraphic column – Buda Limestone"] ::
The Buda Limestone is a dense white to yellow sparry limestone with numerous calcite veins that weathers to yellowish or pinkish due to its iron content. In far western Texas, the formation overlies the Del Rio Formation and is in turn overlain by the Eagle Ford Group. The total thickness is about 100 feet. In trans-Pecos Texas, the formation rests on the Grayson Formation and is overlain by the Boquillas Formation.
In the Big Bend National Park area, the formation is divided into three informal members. The lowest is 25 feet of hard microgranular grayish-white limestone that breaks with a conchoidal fracture. The middle member is about 30 feet of an argillaceous or marly nodular grayish-white limestone. The upper member is up to 60 feet of limestone similar to the lower member.
Fossils
Foraminifera are poorly preserved, but may include Globigerina. Gastropods, a few Gryphaea oysters, and the bivalve Alectryonia carinata has also been found in the formation. Abundant bivalve fossils are found in the formation east of Big Bend National Park.
Exposures in Hays County, Texas have yielded fossil remains of Pterodactyloidea, Ornithocheiroidea and Ornithocheiridae.
Type locality for Graptocarcinus texanus Roemer, 1887(Decapoda: Brachyura).
Economic resources
The Buda Limestone is an important petroleum reservoir that has been exploited for decades via conventional vertical drilling. It is now being exploited using techniques such as horizontal and underbalanced drilling. While the vertical wells relied on the porosity of the formation (up to 6%), the horizontal wells exploit a system of natural vertical fractures in the formation.
History of investigation
The formation was originally named the Shoal Creek Limestone, but this name was preempted, and the formation was renamed the Buda Limestone by T.W. Vaughan in 1900. By 1935, the formation had been included in the Washita Group.
References
References
- (1900). "Reconnaissance in the Rio Grande coal fields of Texas, including a report on igneous rocks from the San Carlos coal field by C.E. Lord". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin.
- (1976). "Geology of Cerro de Cristo Rey uplift, Chihuahua and New Mexico". New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir.
- Barrett, P.M., Butler, R.J., Edwards, N.P., & Milner, A.R. Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas. p61-107. in Flugsaurier: Pterosaur papers in honour of Peter Wellnhofer. 2008. Hone, D.W.E., and Buffetaut, E. (eds). Zitteliana B, 28. 264pp.[http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12007/1/zitteliana_2008_b28_05.pdf]
- Saribudak, Mustafa. (September 2016). "Geophysical mapping of Mount Bonnell fault of Balcones fault zone and its implications on Trinity-Edwards Aquifer interconnection, central Texas, USA". [[Society of Exploration Geophysicists]].
- (1949). "Stratigraphy and Petrology of the Buck Hill Quadrangle, Texas". Geological Society of America Bulletin.
- (1977). "Geologic atlas of Texas". University of Texas-Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology.
- Roemer, F.A.. (1887). "Graptocarcinus texanus, ein Brachyure aus der Kreide von Texas". Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie, und Paläontologie.
- (12 April 2016). "Rejuvenating the Buda Limestone Reservoir in Texas by Using Crude Oil and Nitrogen Injection in Underbalanced Regime: Case History". All Days.
- (2018). "Characterizing the Natural Fracture System of the Buda Formation, South Texas". Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions.
- (1938). "Lexicon of geologic names of the United States (including Alaska)". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::