Birth of the lower Colorado River—Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California

House, P. Kyle; Pearthree, P.A.; Howard, Keith A.; Bell, Jonathan; Perkins, Michael E.; Faulds, James E.; Brock, Amy L.

doi:10.1130/0-8137-0006-x.357

Cited by 21 publications

(53 citation statements)

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“…Our new age for the fluvial-deltaic deposits is somewhat less than the youngest age of Carter (1977) and is similar to the lower age range of 35-70 ka for the Chemehuevi beds near Lake Mohave (House et al, 2005) and 32-60 ka aggradation units that are cut by terraces farther up the Colorado River near Yuma (Lundstrom et al, 2004). Thus, aggradation and delta deposition at this time seems to have been prevalent from the delta to near the mouth of the Grand Canyon during Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS-3).…”

Section: Osl Resultssupporting

confidence: 74%

“…Terraces along the Colorado River system downstream of the Grand Canyon are common and have been studied extensively (e.g., Lee, 1908, Blackwelder, 1933, 1934Longwell, 1936;Metzger and Loeltz, 1973). House et al (2005) summarize previous work and describe Neogene to Holocene aggradation surfaces and terraces along the Colorado River in the Lake Mohave and Mohave Valley region farther north (Fig. 1).…”

Section: Tcn Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

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Timing and controls on late Quaternary landscape development along the eastern Sierra El Mayor range front in northern Baja California, Mexico

et al. 2010

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Section: Osl Resultssupporting

confidence: 74%

Section: Tcn Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Timing and controls on late Quaternary landscape development along the eastern Sierra El Mayor range front in northern Baja California, Mexico

et al. 2010

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“…The Colorado River drainage was established along its present course at the end of the Miocene (ca. 6 Ma) when it was diverted into the Salton Trough on June 5, 2015 geology.gsapubs.org Downloaded from lowland by a series of rapid lake fi lling and spillover events (Meek and Douglass, 2001;Spencer et al, 2001;House et al, 2005). Intensifi cation of monsoonal fl ow up the newly formed Gulf of California, and the resulting increase in precipitation, may have caused overtopping of lakes that drove the Colorado River into this tectonic lowland (Chapin, 2008).…”

Section: Tectonic and Hydrologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentation and crustal recycling along an active oblique-rift margin: Salton Trough and northern Gulf of California

Dorsey

2010

Geology

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Transtensional basins embedded in the San Andreas fault system of Southern California (United States) and northwestern Mexico are fi lled with sediment derived from the Colorado River, which drains a large area of the western U.S. interior. The sediment is rapidly buried, heated, and mingled with intrusions in the deep basins to form a new generation of recycled crust along the active plate boundary. Using a range of values for total basin depth, relative volume of mantle-derived intrusions, and composition of early rift deposits, the volume of Colorado River-derived sediment in the basins is bracketed between 2.2 and 3.4 × 10 5 km 3 , similar to the volume of rock that likely was eroded from the Colorado River catchment over the past 5-6 m.y. The volumetric rate of crustal growth by sedimentation is ~80-130 km 3 /m.y./km, comparable to growth rates in subductionrelated island arcs and slow seafl oor spreading centers. Sedimentary and basinal processes thus play a major role in crustal evolution and recycling in this setting, and may be important at other rifted margins where a large river system is captured following tectonic collapse of a prerift orogenic highland.

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“…The lacustrine origin suggests deposition of the Bouse Formation in a series of lakes that fi lled and spilled from one basin to the next until system was integrated and the Colorado River was a through-fl owing river (House et al, 2005a(House et al, , 2005bSpencer et al, 2005Spencer et al, , 2008. Arguments in favor of a lacustrine origin of the Bouse Formation are based on isotopic analyses (Spencer and Patchett, 1997;Buising, 1990;Poulson and John, 2003;Roskowski et al, 2010;Spencer et al, 2013), step-like maximum elevations of the Bouse paleolakes suggesting that no uplift or southward tilting has occurred since deposition of the unit (Spencer et al, 2008(Spencer et al, , 2013, and sedimentological evidence of fl oodwater infl ux derived from northern sources immediately preceding Bouse Formation deposition in the Mohave and Cottonwood Valleys Spencer et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for a marine incursion along the lower Colorado River corridor

McDougall

Martínez

2014

Geosphere

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Foraminiferal assemblages in the stratigraphically lower part of the Bouse Formation in the Blythe basin (lower Colorado River corridor, western USA) indicate marine conditions, whereas assemblages in the upper part of the Bouse Formation indicate lacustrine conditions and suggest the presence of a saline lake. Benthic foraminiferal assemblages in the lower part of the Bouse Formation are similar to lagoonal and inner neritic biofacies of the modern Gulf of California. Evidence suggesting a change from marine to lacustrine conditions includes the highest occurrence of planktic foraminifers at an elevation of 123 m above sea level (asl), the change from low diversity to monospecifi c foraminiferal assemblages composed only of Ammonia beccarii (between 110 and 126 m asl), an increase in abundance of A. beccarii specimens (above ~110 m asl), increased number of deformed tests (above ~123 m asl), fi rst appearance of Chara (at ~85 m asl), lowest occurrence of reworked Cretaceous coccoliths (at ~110 m), a decrease in strontium isotopic values (between 70 and 120 m), and δ 18 O and δ 13 C values similar to seawater (between 70 and 100 m asl). Planktic foraminifers indicate a late Miocene age between 8.1 and 5.3 Ma for the oldest part of the Bouse Formation in the southern part of the Blythe basin. Benthic and planktic foraminifers correlate with other late Miocene sections in the proto-Gulf of California and suggest that the basal Bouse Formation in the Blythe basin was deposited at the northern end of this proto-gulf. After the marine connection was restricted or eliminated, the Colorado River fl owed into the Blythe basin, forming a saline lake. This lake supported a monospecifi c foraminiferal assemblage of A. beccarii until the lake spilled into the Salton Trough and the Colorado River became a through-fl owing river.

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Birth of the lower Colorado River—Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California

Cited by 21 publications

References 0 publications

Timing and controls on late Quaternary landscape development along the eastern Sierra El Mayor range front in northern Baja California, Mexico

Timing and controls on late Quaternary landscape development along the eastern Sierra El Mayor range front in northern Baja California, Mexico

Sedimentation and crustal recycling along an active oblique-rift margin: Salton Trough and northern Gulf of California

Evidence for a marine incursion along the lower Colorado River corridor

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