Ritito Conglomerate

The Ritito Conglomerate is a geologic formation in northern New Mexico dating to the Oligocene epoch.

[1] The formation is composed of orange-pink to reddish-brown arkosic conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone with muscovite.

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.

[4] The formation was named in 1958 by Fred Barker for exposures along Ritito Canyon, El Rito Creek (36°34′52″N 106°10′01″W / 36.581°N 106.167°W / 36.581; -106.167).

[5] Exposures further to the south were long described as the lower Abiquiu Formation, but Florian Maldonado and Shari Kelley reassigned these to the Ritito Conglomerate in 2009.

Slot canyon eroded in the Ritito Conglomerate west of Abiquiu, New Mexico