scholarly journals Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of Paleozoic strata in the Grand Canyon, Arizona

Lithosphere ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
George E. Gehrels ◽  
Ron Blakey ◽  
Karl E. Karlstrom ◽  
J. Michael Timmons ◽  
Bill Dickinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Grand Canyon

Redefining the Tonto Group of Grand Canyon and recalibrating the Cambrian time scale

Geology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 425-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.E. Karlstrom ◽  
M.T. Mohr ◽  
M.D. Schmitz ◽  
F.A. Sundberg ◽  
S.M. Rowland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Isotope Dilution ◽  
Time Scale ◽  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Earth Systems ◽  
Extinction Event ◽  
Central Arizona

Abstract We applied tandem U-Pb dating of detrital zircon (DZ) to redefine the Tonto Group in the Grand Canyon region (Arizona, USA) and to modify the Cambrian time scale. Maximum depositional ages (MDAs) based upon youngest isotope-dilution DZ ages for the Tapeats Sandstone are ≤508.19 ± 0.39 Ma in eastern Grand Canyon, ≤507.68 ± 0.36 Ma in Nevada, and ≤506.64 ± 0.32 Ma in central Arizona. The Sixtymile Formation, locally conformable below the Tapeats Sandstone, has a similar MDA (≤508.6 ± 0.8 Ma) and is here added to the Tonto Group. We combined these precise MDAs with biostratigraphy of trilobite biozones in the Tonto Group. The Tapeats Sandstone is ca. 508–507 Ma; the Bright Angel Formation contains Olenellus, Glossopleura, and Ehmaniella biozones and is ca. 507–502 Ma; and the Muav Formation contains Bolaspidella and Cedaria biozones and is ca. 502–499 Ma. The Frenchman Mountain Dolostone is conformable above the Muav Formation and part of the same transgression; it replaces McKee’s Undifferentiated Dolomite as part of the Tonto Group; it contains the Crepicephalus Biozone and is 498–497 Ma. The Tonto Group thickens east to west, from 250 m to 830 m, due to ∼300 m of westward thickening of carbonates plus ∼300 m of eastward beveling beneath the sub-Devonian disconformity. The trilobite genus Olenellus occurs in western but not eastern Grand Canyon; it has its last appearance datum (LAD) in the Bright Angel Formation ∼45 m above the ≤507.68 Ma horizon. This extinction event is estimated to be ca. 506.5 Ma and is two biozones below the Series 2–Miaolingian Epoch boundary, which we estimate to be ca. 506 Ma. Continued tandem dating of detrital grains in stratigraphic context, combined with trilobite biostratigraphy, offers rich potential to recalibrate the tempo and dynamics of Cambrian Earth systems.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Shinumo-Sespe drainage connection: Arguments against the “old” (70–17 Ma) Grand Canyon models for Colorado Plateau drainage evolution

Geosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1425-1456
Author(s):  
Karl E. Karlstrom ◽  
Carl E. Jacobson ◽  
Kurt E. Sundell ◽  
Athena Eyster ◽  
Ron Blakey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Gulf Of California ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
River System ◽  
Death Valley ◽  
Transverse Ranges ◽  
Drainage Connection ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
History Of

Abstract The provocative hypothesis that the Shinumo Sandstone in the depths of Grand Canyon was the source for clasts of orthoquartzite in conglomerate of the Sespe Formation of coastal California, if verified, would indicate that a major river system flowed southwest from the Colorado Plateau to the Pacific Ocean prior to opening of the Gulf of California, and would imply that Grand Canyon had been carved to within a few hundred meters of its modern depth at the time of this drainage connection. The proposed Eocene Shinumo-Sespe connection, however, is not supported by detrital zircon nor paleomagnetic-inclination data and is refuted by thermochronology that shows that the Shinumo Sandstone of eastern Grand Canyon was >60 °C (∼1.8 km deep) and hence not incised at this time. A proposed 20 Ma (Miocene) Shinumo-Sespe drainage connection based on clasts in the Sespe Formation is also refuted. We point out numerous caveats and non-unique interpretations of paleomagnetic data from clasts. Further, our detrital zircon analysis requires diverse sources for Sespe clasts, with better statistical matches for the four “most-Shinumo-like” Sespe clasts with quartzites of the Big Bear Group and Ontario Ridge metasedimentary succession of the Transverse Ranges, Horse Thief Springs Formation from Death Valley, and Troy Quartzite of central Arizona. Diverse thermochronologic and geologic data also refute a Miocene river pathway through western Grand Canyon and Grand Wash trough. Thus, Sespe clasts do not require a drainage connection from Grand Canyon or the Colorado Plateau and provide no constraints for the history of carving of Grand Canyon. Instead, abundant evidence refutes the “old” (70–17 Ma) Grand Canyon models and supports a <6 Ma Grand Canyon.

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Evaluating the Shinumo-Sespe drainage connection: Arguments against the “old” (70–17 Ma) Grand Canyon models for Colorado Plateau drainage evolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.E. Karlstrom ◽  
et al.
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Cross Bedding ◽  
Drainage Connection ◽  
Comparison Results

Table S1: Rotations of measured paleomagnetic paleopoles to test the error introduced by measuring inclinations relative to cross bedding of different orientations instead of horizontal bedding. Table S2: Detrital zircon data used in this study. Table S3: Quantitative comparison results from DZstats.

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Evaluating the Shinumo-Sespe drainage connection: Arguments against the “old” (70–17 Ma) Grand Canyon models for Colorado Plateau drainage evolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.E. Karlstrom ◽  
et al.
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Quantitative Comparison ◽  
Cross Bedding ◽  
Drainage Connection ◽  
Comparison Results

Table S1: Rotations of measured paleomagnetic paleopoles to test the error introduced by measuring inclinations relative to cross bedding of different orientations instead of horizontal bedding. Table S2: Detrital zircon data used in this study. Table S3: Quantitative comparison results from DZstats.

scholarly journals A constraint on post–6 Ma timing of western Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA) incision removed: Local derivation indicated by ca. 5.4 Ma fluvial deposits below Shivwits Plateau basalts north of Grand Canyon

Geosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.T. Steelquist ◽  
G.E. Hilley ◽  
I. Lucchitta ◽  
R.A. Young
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
Landscape Evolution ◽  
Colorado Plateau ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
River System ◽  
Fluvial Deposits ◽  
Western Colorado ◽  
Rule Out

The timing of integration of the Colorado River system is central to understanding the landscape evolution of much of the southwestern United States. However, the time at which the Colorado River started incising the westernmost Grand Canyon (Arizona) is still an unsettled question, with conflicting interpretations of both geologic and thermochronologic data from western Grand Canyon. Fluvial gravels on the Shivwits Plateau, north of the canyon, have been reported to contain clasts derived from south of the modern canyon, suggesting the absence of western Grand Canyon at the time of their deposition. In this study, we reassess these deposits using modern geochronologic measurements to determine the age of the deposits and the presence or absence of clasts from south of the Grand Canyon. We could not identify southerly derived clasts, so cannot rule out the existence of a major topographic barrier such as Grand Canyon prior to the age of deposition of the gravels. 40Ar/39Ar analysis of a basalt clast entrained in the upper deposit (in combination with prior data) supports a maximum age of deposition of ca. 5.4 Ma, limiting deposition to post-Miocene, a period from which very few diagnostic and dated fluvial deposits remain in the western Colorado Plateau. Analysis of detrital zircon composition of the sand matrix supports interpretation of the deposit as being locally derived and not part of a major throughgoing river. We suggest that the published constraint of <6 Ma timing of Grand Canyon incision may be removed, given that no clasts that must be sourced from south of Grand Canyon were found in the only known outcrop of gravels under the Shivwits Plateau basalts at Grassy Mountain north of Grand Canyon.

scholarly journals Grand Canyon provenance for orthoquartzite clasts in the lower Miocene of coastal southern California

Geosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1973-1998 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Sabbeth ◽  
Brian P. Wernicke ◽  
Timothy D. Raub ◽  
Jeffrey A. Grover ◽  
E. Bruce Lander ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Detrital Zircon ◽  
Mojave Desert ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Death Valley ◽  
Source Population ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Detrital Zircon Ages ◽  
Central Arizona ◽  
Rule Out

Abstract Orthoquartzite detrital source regions in the Cordilleran interior yield clast populations with distinct spectra of paleomagnetic inclinations and detrital zircon ages that can be used to trace the provenance of gravels deposited along the western margin of the Cordilleran orogen. An inventory of characteristic remnant magnetizations (CRMs) from >700 sample cores from orthoquartzite source regions defines a low-inclination population of Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic age in the Mojave Desert–Death Valley region (and in correlative strata in Sonora, Mexico) and a moderate- to high-inclination population in the 1.1 Ga Shinumo Formation in eastern Grand Canyon. Detrital zircon ages can be used to distinguish Paleoproterozoic to mid-Mesoproterozoic (1.84–1.20 Ga) clasts derived from the central Arizona highlands region from clasts derived from younger sources that contain late Mesoproterozoic zircons (1.20–1.00 Ga). Characteristic paleomagnetic magnetizations were measured in 44 densely cemented orthoquartzite clasts, sampled from lower Miocene portions of the Sespe Formation in the Santa Monica and Santa Ana mountains and from a middle Eocene section in Simi Valley. Miocene Sespe clast inclinations define a bimodal population with modes near 15° and 45°. Eight samples from the steeper Miocene mode for which detrital zircon spectra were obtained all have spectra with peaks at 1.2, 1.4, and 1.7 Ga. One contains Paleozoic and Mesozoic peaks and is probably Jurassic. The remaining seven define a population of clasts with the distinctive combination of moderate to high inclination and a cosmopolitan age spectrum with abundant grains younger than 1.2 Ga. The moderate to high inclinations rule out a Mojave Desert–Death Valley or Sonoran region source population, and the cosmopolitan detrital zircon spectra rule out a central Arizona highlands source population. The Shinumo Formation, presently exposed only within a few hundred meters elevation of the bottom of eastern Grand Canyon, thus remains the only plausible, known source for the moderate- to high-inclination clast population. If so, then the Upper Granite Gorge of the eastern Grand Canyon had been eroded to within a few hundred meters of its current depth by early Miocene time (ca. 20 Ma). Such an unroofing event in the eastern Grand Canyon region is independently confirmed by (U-Th)/He thermochronology. Inclusion of the eastern Grand Canyon region in the Sespe drainage system is also independently supported by detrital zircon age spectra of Sespe sandstones. Collectively, these data define a mid-Tertiary, SW-flowing “Arizona River” drainage system between the rapidly eroding eastern Grand Canyon region and coastal California.

Grand Canyon Rafting

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-14
Author(s):  
Sharon R. Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Grand Canyon
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