page_title: Ritito Conglomerate
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Ritito Conglomerate / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: This image depicts a slot canyon eroded into the Ritito Conglomerate, an Oligocene formation found near Abiquiu, New Mexico, and identified in older sources as the lower Abiquiu Formation. The image has been adjusted slightly for exposure and contrast to bring out more of the shadowed area.
context_page_description: The Ritito Conglomerate is a geologic formation in northern New Mexico dating to the Oligocene epoch.
context_section_description: The formation is composed of orange-pink to reddish-brown arkosic conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone with muscovite. The matrix is gray to tan except near Abiquiu, where it has a distinct red-brown color. Clasts are angular to well-rounded and are mostly of pebble size, but range from granules to boulders. The clasts are 44% Proterozoic quartzite, with 25% granite, 13% metavolcanic rock, 10% quartz, 5% schist, and 3% gneiss, with traces of chert and Phanerozoic sandstone. Some of the clasts have been identified as reddish-brown quartzite from the Cerro Colorado area or quartzite of the Ortega Formation. Imbrication indicates deposition in a meandering southward-flowing river system. 
  The formation crops out in a broad area between the northern Jemez Mountains, the southeastern flank of the Tusas Mountains, and the eastern flank of the Nacimiento Mountains. Maximum thickness is 210 meters (690 ft).
  The formation rests unconformably on the El Rito Formation and has a gradational contact with the overlying Abiquiu Formation. The transition zone is characterized by chert beds assigned informally to the Pedernal chert. These are interpreted as calcic paleosols replaced by silica, possibly in a hydrothermal setting.
caption: Slot canyon eroded in the Ritito Conglomerate west of Abiquiu, New Mexico
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