Structural Configuration of the Early Cretaceous Cordilleran Foreland‐Basin System and Sevier Thrust Belt, Utah and Colorado

2002 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 697-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian S. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Structural Configuration ◽  
Cordilleran Foreland ◽  
Basin System

scholarly journals Mesoproterozoic−Early Cretaceous provenance and paleogeographic evolution of the Northern Rocky Mountains: Insights from the detrital zircon record of the Bridger Range, Montana, USA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chance B. Ronemus ◽  
Devon A. Orme ◽  
Saré Campbell ◽  
Sophie R. Black ◽  
John Cook
Keyword(s):  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Sediment Sources ◽  
Middle Cambrian ◽  
Sediment Dispersal ◽  
Northern Rocky Mountains ◽  
Basin System

The Bridger Range of southwest Montana, USA, preserves one of the most temporally extensive sedimentary sections in North America, with strata ranging from Mesoproterozoic to Cretaceous in age. This study presents new detrital zircon geochronologic data from eight samples collected across this mountain range. Multidimensional scaling and non-negative matrix factorization statistical analyses are used to quantitatively unmix potential sediment sources from these and 54 samples compiled from previous studies on regional correlative strata. We interpret these sources based on reference data from preserved strata with detrital zircon signatures likely representative of ancient sediment sources. We link these sources to their sinks along sediment dispersal pathways interpreted using available paleogeographic constraints. Our results show that Mesoproterozoic strata in southwest Montana contain detritus derived from the nearby craton exposed along the southern margin of the fault-bounded Helena Embayment. Middle Cambrian strata were dominated by the recycling of local sources eroded during the development of the Great Unconformity. In Devonian−Pennsylvanian time, provenance in southwest Montana shifted to more distal sources along the northeastern to southeastern margins of Laurentia, but more western basins received detritus from outboard sources along a tectonically complicated margin. By the Late Jurassic, provenance in the developing retroarc foreland basin system was dominated by Cordilleran magmatic arcs and fold-thrust belt sources to the west. Eastward propagation of the fold-thrust belt caused recycling of Paleozoic and Jurassic detritus into the foreland basin to dominate by the Early Cretaceous.

scholarly journals Cenozoic sedimentation and exhumation of the foreland basin system preserved in the Precordillera thrust belt (31-32°S), southern central Andes, Argentina

Tectonics ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (9) ◽  
pp. 1659-1680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariya Levina ◽  
Brian K. Horton ◽  
Facundo Fuentes ◽  
Daniel F. Stockli
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Central Andes ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
Basin System

Evolution of the Cordilleran foreland basin system in northwestern Montana, U.S.A.

2010 ◽  
Vol 123 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 507-533 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Fuentes ◽  
P. G. DeCelles ◽  
K. N. Constenius ◽  
G. E. Gehrels
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Northwestern Montana ◽  
Cordilleran Foreland ◽  
Basin System

FLEXURAL PARTITIONING OF THE LATE ALBIAN-CENOMANIAN CORDILLERAN FORELAND-BASIN SYSTEM, UTAH, WYOMING, AND COLORADO

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jared Timothy Wink ◽  
◽  
Wrik Chatterjee ◽  
Sutton Chiorini ◽  
Lyndsey Farrar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Cordilleran Foreland ◽  
Basin System

scholarly journals Zircon (U-Th)/(He-Pb) double-dating constraints on the interplay between thrust deformation and foreland basin architecture, Sevier foreland basin, Utah

Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
E.J. Pujols ◽  
D.F. Stockli
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Sediment Provenance ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Magmatic Arc ◽  
Book Cliffs ◽  
Time Estimates ◽  
Stratal Architecture ◽  
Cordilleran Foreland

The Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin strata exposed in the Book Cliffs of eastern Utah and western Colorado have motivated important concepts linking thrust belt deformation and foreland basin evolution largely on the basis of sequence stratigraphy, stratal architecture, and sediment provenance evolution. However, these methods and approaches generally cannot provide critical insights into the temporal or causal linkages between foreland basin architecture and thrust belt deformation. This is in part due to discrepancies in age resolution and lack of evidence with which to directly couple sediment supply and basin-fill evolution to thrust belt unroofing. New detrital zircon (DZ) geothermochronometric data from Upper Cretaceous proximal to distal foreland basin strata in the Book Cliffs provide new quantitative insights into sediment origin and dispersal in relation to thrust belt deformation and exhu­mation. Detailed DZ U-Pb and (U-Th)/He double dating reveals that the Book Cliffs foredeep detritus was mainly delivered by transverse routing systems from two major sources: (1) Neoproterozoic and Lower Paleozoic strata from the central Utah Sevier thrust belt, and (2) Permian–Jurassic and synorogenic Cretaceous strata recycled from the frontal part of the thrust belt. A dramatic increase in Sierran magmatic arc and Yavapai-Mazatzal DZ U-Pb ages, as well as Paleozoic DZ He ages, in the deeper marine portions of the foreland basin points to axial fluvial and littoral sediment input from the Sierran magmatic arc and Mogollon highland sources. Both transverse and axial transport sys­tems acted contemporaneously during eastward propagation of the Late Cretaceous thrust belt. DZ He depositional lag time estimates reveal three distinct exhumation pulses in the Sevier thrust belt in the Cenomanian and Campanian. The exhumation pulses correlate with shifts in sediment prove­nance, dispersal style, and progradation rates in the foreland basin. These new data support conceptual models that temporally and causally link accelerated exhumation and unroofing in the thrust belt to increases in sediment supply and rapid clastic progradation in the foreland basin.

scholarly journals Faulty foundations: Early breakup of the southern Utah Cordilleran foreland basin

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela A. Enriquez St. Pierre ◽  
Cari L. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Foreland Basin ◽  
River System ◽  
Thrust Belt ◽  
Marine Strata ◽  
Straight Cliffs Formation ◽  
Average Grain Size ◽  
Straight Cliffs ◽  
Cordilleran Foreland ◽  
Thickness Variations

Anomalous features of Upper Cretaceous strata in southern Utah challenge existing tectonic and depositional models of the Cordilleran foreland basin. Extreme thickness variations, net to gross changes, and facies distributions of nonmarine to marginal marine strata of the Turonian−early Campanian Straight Cliffs Formation are documented across the Southwestern High Plateaus. Contrary to most traditional models of foreland basin architecture, regional correlations demonstrate abrupt stepwise thickening, with a punctuated increase in average grain size of key intervals from west to east, i.e., proximal to distal relative to the fold-thrust belt. Except in the most proximal sections, fluvial drainage systems were oriented predominantly subparallel to the fold-thrust belt. Combined, these results suggest that modern plateau-bounding faults may have had topographic expressions as early as Cenomanian time, and influenced the position of the main axial river system by creating northeast-trending paleotopography and sub-basins. Laramide-style tectonism (e.g., basement-involved faults) is already cited as a driver for sub-basin development in latest Cretaceous−Cenozoic time, but new data presented here suggest that this part of the foredeep was “broken” into distinct sub-basins from its earliest stages. We suggest that flexural foundering of the lithosphere may have caused early stage normal faulting in the foredeep. Regional implications of these new data indicate that both detachment-style and basement-involved structures were simultaneously active in southern Utah earlier than previously recognized. These structures were likely influenced by inherited Proterozoic basement heterogeneities along the edge of the Colorado Plateau. This interpretation suggests that tectonic models for the region should be reevaluated and has broader implications for understanding variability and geodynamics of foreland basin evolution.

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