Postglacial environmental change of a high-elevation forest, Sangre de Cristo Mountains of south-central Colorado

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Scott Anderson ◽  
Hanna R. Soltow ◽  
Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
South Central ◽  
Sangre De Cristo ◽  
High Elevation Forest

Effect of rock strength on exhumation and the thermochronologic record: The south-central Colorado example

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Kainz ◽  
Lon Abbott ◽  
Rebecca Flowers ◽  
James Metcalf
Keyword(s):  
Low Temperature ◽  
Sedimentary Rock ◽  
Rock Strength ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Sedimentary Basins ◽  
Crystalline Basement ◽  
Precambrian Basement ◽  
The West ◽  
South Central ◽  
Sangre De Cristo

<p>Past work has used the Southern Rocky Mountains (SRM) in the U.S. state of Colorado to illustrate the important role that rock strength plays in the histories recorded by the apatite fission track (AFT) and apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) low-temperature thermochronometers (Flowers & Ehlers, 2018). The SRM were initially raised during the Laramide Orogeny, ca. 70-45 Ma, but consensus exists that the region also experienced a later, post-Laramide exhumation event. Flowers & Ehlers (2018) pointed to the low erosion potential of the Precambrian crystalline basement rocks that crop out in most SRM ranges as a primary reason for the abundance of 55-70 Ma “Laramide” AFT and AHe dates in the region, compared to a paucity of younger dates that would presumably be produced through erosion triggered by the post-Laramide exhumation event. South-central Colorado offers a test of this hypothesis, due to lateral variations in rock erodibility provided by the presence here of both sedimentary and crystalline Laramide ranges and adjacent sedimentary basins. The combination of our ongoing AHe study with previous south-central Colorado AFT and AHe work reveals kilometer-scale post-Laramide (Oligo-Miocene) exhumation has occurred in areas that possess thick sedimentary rock sequences whereas exhumation has been negligible where crystalline basement comprises the land surface. </p><p>South-central Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains consist of an imbricate stack of thrust sheets composed of Permian sedimentary rock. About 30 km farther east stand the Wet Mountains, another Laramide range – but one composed of Precambrian basement rock. The Raton Basin, a SRM foreland basin filled with 2 km of synorogenic fill underlain by a thick sequence of marine shale, lies south and east of the two ranges. The Wet Mountains thus form a peninsula of strong crystalline rock surrounded by more erodible sedimentary rocks to the west, south, and east. </p><p>Our study and that of Landman (2018) records at least 2 km of erosion in the Raton Basin east and south of the Wet Mountains since 25 Ma. Lindsey et al (1986) obtained 24-15 Ma AFT dates from the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, demonstrating that kilometer-scale Oligo-Miocene exhumation occurred just west of the Wet Mountains. By contrast, Kelley and Chapin (2004) obtained only pre-Laramide AFT ages between 228-110 Ma for 17 samples of Precambrian basement from the crest of the Wet Mountains. A 32 Ma ash flow tuff unconformably overlies Precambrian basement on Greenhorn Mountain, the Wet Mountains’ highest and southernmost peak. Its presence reinforces the conclusion, based on the AFT dates, that Oligo-Miocene erosion of the Wet Mountain massif has been minimal simultaneous with kilometer-scale exhumation to the west, south, and east. These results illustrate the important role that rock strength plays in determining the dates recorded in low-temperature thermochronologic studies.</p>

­A new species of phytotelm breeding frog (Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Zootaxa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4779 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-354
Author(s):  
JODI J. L. ROWLEY ◽  
DUONG THI THUY LE ◽  
HUY DUC HOANG ◽  
TRUNG TIEN CAO ◽  
VINH QUANG DAU
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Dorsal Surface ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Evergreen Forest ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Central Vietnam ◽  
Hands And Feet ◽  
A New Species ◽  
High Elevation Forest

We describe a new species of phytotelm-breeding rhacophorid frog from central Vietnam. Gracixalus trieng sp. nov. is distinguished from all congeners by a combination of (1) body size medium (37.2–41.4 mm in five adult males), (2) snout rounded in dorsal and lateral views, (3) dorsal surface brown or yellowish with a darker brown interorbital crossbar and inverse-Y shape on the back, (4) throat and chest yellow or yellowish brown with pinkish mottling and belly and ventral surfaces of limbs including hands and feet pinkish, (5) tympanum and supratympanic fold distinct, (6) iris pale gold with darker gold radiating out from anterior and posterior edges of pupil, (7) majority of dorsal body and limb surfaces smooth in adults, with some individuals having sparsely distributed low, irregular tubercles, (8) nuptial pads on fingers I and II in adult males, and (9) eggs deposited as a tightly spaced array of non-pendent eggs on the wall of a phytotelmon. The species occurs in syntopy with G. lumarius. At present, Gracixalus trieng sp. nov. is known only from montane bamboo and evergreen forest (>1700 m) on Mount Ngoc Linh and adjacent peaks; and it is likely to be restricted to high-elevation forest with an estimated geographical distribution of <1000 km2. 

Evaporative water loss simulation improves models’ prediction of habitat suitability for a high-elevation forest skink

Oecologia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 192 (3) ◽  
pp. 657-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu-Ping Huang ◽  
Ruth E. Kearley ◽  
Kuan-Wei Hung ◽  
Warren P. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Water Loss ◽  
Habitat Suitability ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Evaporative Water Loss ◽  
Evaporative Water ◽  
High Elevation Forest

Holocene environmental change in southern Spain deduced from the isotopic record of a high-elevation wetland in Sierra Nevada

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 471-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio García-Alix ◽  
Gonzalo Jiménez-Moreno ◽  
R. Scott Anderson ◽  
Francisco J. Jiménez Espejo ◽  
Antonio Delgado Huertas
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Southern Spain ◽  
Holocene Environmental Change

Meadow Invasion from High-Elevation Spruce-Fir Forest in South-Central New Mexico

1999 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 444 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Dyer ◽  
K. Evan Moffett
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
South Central
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