Chronostratigraphy and Tectonic Significance of Lower Cretaceous Conglomerates in the Foreland of Central Wyoming

Tectonically induced climate and its control on the distribution of depositional systems in a continental foreland basin, Cloverly and Lakota Formations (Lower Cretaceous) of Wyoming, U.S.A.

“…3). This age range is supported by zircon ages, palynology, and magnetostratigraphy (May et al, 1995;Chen and Lubin, 1997;Zaleha, 2006). Furthermore, this age designation is consistent with a new age of 108.5 ± 0.2 Ma from the Himes Member of the Cloverly Formation in the Bighorn Basin (Burton et al, 2006).…”

“…Conglomerates of the Cloverly Formation extend up to 1000 km eastward from the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt in western Wyoming. Provenance studies of Cloverly sandstones and conglomerates indicate that they were sourced from lower Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks exposed by Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous thrusting in western Wyoming and central Utah (Mirsky, 1962;Furer, 1970;DeCelles and Burden, 1992;May et al, 1995;Zaleha, 2006). The provenance and distribution of coarse-grained sediments in this continental foreland basin is consistent with northeast paleoflow of Cloverly rivers (May, 1992;O'Malley, 1994;Way et al, 1994;May et al, 1995;Zaleha et al, 2001).…”

“…Studies by DeCelles (1986), May et al (1995), Way et al (1998), and Zaleha et al (2001) suggest that active intrabasinal structures controlled the distribution of trunk river systems in the Early Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin. Conglomerates of the Cloverly Formation extend up to 1000 km eastward from the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt in western Wyoming.…”

“…Detailed studies of the Morrison and Cloverly Formations in Wyoming indicate that Sevier thrusting started in the Late Jurassic (Furer, 1970;DeCelles and Burden, 1992;May et al, 1995), resulting in the uplift of the Sevier Mountains, a linear mountain belt extending from southern Arizona to northern British Columbia (DeCelles, 2004;Dickinson, 2004). Adjacent to the uplifted Sevier Mountains, the Cloverly and Lakota Formations were deposited in the overfilled portion of a continental retroarc foreland basin spanning the Neocomian to middle Albian in Wyoming (DeCelles and Burden, 1992).…”

Early and “Middle” Cretaceous Iguanodonts in Time and Space

“…The ilium of T. dossi differs little a from that of T. tilletorum, namely in the proportionally larger, shallower suprailiac notch relative to ilium size, and proportionally smaller (less deep) postacetabular process. , 1997;May et al 1995;Jacobs and Winkler 1998) Comments: Tenontosaurus tilleti was named "for the Lloyd Tilett family", thus the species-group name must be modified (ICZN 34.3) to "tilletorum" because the "Tilett family" undoubtedly includes both men and women: "if of man (men) and woman (women) together." ICZN 31.1.2.…”