Evidence for Late Cretaceous Volcanism in Trans‐Pecos Texas

Breyer, John A.; Busbey, Arthur B.; Hanson, Richard E.; Befus, Kenneth E.; Griffin, William R.; Hargrove, Ulysses S.; Bergman, Steven C.

doi:10.1086/510640

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The latest Cretaceous to Eocene Laramide orogeny was typifi ed by basement-cored uplifts and adja cent fl exural basins in the region of the modern Rocky Mountains (Dickinson et al, 1988;Cather, 2004), while activity waned in the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt farther west (Miller et al, 1992;DeCelles, 2004). Simultaneously, Cor dilleran arc magmatism migrated eastward (Lipman , 1992;McDowell et al, 2001;Breyer et al, 2007;Befus et al, 2008), and previously active portions of the arc were uplifted (Miller et al, 1992). Deposition of the Wilcox Group preceded the voluminous mid-Tertiary ignimbrite fl are-up of the southwestern United States Paleocene-Eocene drainage system Mexico (McDowell and Keizer, 1977;Ferrari et al, 1999Ferrari et al, , 2002Chapin et al, 2004), an event that buried older magmatic rocks in northern Mexico, making it diffi cult to evaluate their age and outcrop extent.…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grains younger than 80 Ma are most likely from igneous activity in northern Mexico (McDowell and Clabaugh, 1984;McDowell and Mauger, 1994), southern New Mexico (Chapin et al, 2004), and west Texas (Breyer et al, 2007;Befus et al, 2008), although activity in northern Mexico and southern New Mexico also overlaps temporally with sporadic activity farther west in the arc (Foster et al, 1989;McDowell et al, 2001;Chapin et al, 2004).…”

Section: Major Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Provenance of the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group, western Gulf of Mexico basin: Evidence for integrated drainage of the southern Laramide Rocky Mountains and Cordilleran arc

Mackey¹,

Horton²,

Milliken³

2012

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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Laramide basement blocks of the U.S. Rocky Mountain Province have long been considered the sediment source of the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group, implying that large-scale progradation driven by Laramide uplift induced a transition from carbonate to clastic deposition in the Gulf of Mexico. Detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra from 10 samples collected from the Wilcox Group in south Texas reveal a complex grain assemblage with major age populations at ca. 1800-1300 Ma and 350-50 Ma and minor populations at 1300-950 Ma, 3250-1850 Ma, and 900-400 Ma. Modal data for Wilcox Group sand grain populations from the same region suggest a diverse provenance, including sources from the Cordilleran magmatic arc and subordinate reworked sedimentary rocks. Sediment was primarily derived from a mix of crystalline basement blocks in the U.S. southern Rocky Mountains and northern Mexico, the Cordilleran arc of western Mexico and the southwestern United States, and Mesozoic-Paleogene magmatic rocks of northern Mexico. Secondary sources include recycled strata from Sevier-Laramide basins in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Comparisons of detrital zircon U-Pb age spectra show that the Lower Wilcox subunit contains signifi cant magmatic arc-derived sediment, whereas the Upper Wilcox subunit is more enriched in basement and recycled sedimentary detritus. Therefore, the relatively quartzose composition of the bulk detrital assemblages throughout the Wilcox Group of south Texas is not an accurate refl ection of the range of volcanic and basement sources indicated by the associated U-Pb ages, suggesting signifi cant attrition of unstable grains during long-distance (>500-1000 km) transport.

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Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Major Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance of the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group, western Gulf of Mexico basin: Evidence for integrated drainage of the southern Laramide Rocky Mountains and Cordilleran arc

Mackey¹,

Horton²,

Milliken³

2012

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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“…Spar ages are sporadic prior to the ignimbrite flare‐up but predominantly match the history of magmatic activity in southwestern New Mexico (Chapin et al, ) and west Texas (Befus et al, ; Breyer et al, ; Gilmer et al, ; Henry et al, ) (Figure b). 235 U/ 207 Pb spar ages at 44.6 ± 3.9, 53.58 ± 0.79, 55.0 ± 1.4, 61.73 ± 0.56, 66.1 ± 2.9, and 76.9 ± 1.5 Ma are coincident within error of individual intrusive dates of regional back‐arc magmatism in Trans‐Pecos, Texas, and in southwestern New Mexico during the Laramide Orogeny (Befus et al, ; Breyer et al, ; Chapin et al, ; Gilmer et al, ; Henry et al, ; McLemore, McIntosh, & Pease, ). Our interpretation is that these regional‐scale magmatic events periodically raised the local thermal gradient and produced copious amounts of CO 2 contributing to the formation of the spar caves and spar linings at ~0.5 km depths.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The bulk of our U–Pb ages (Table ) clusters with the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages in the older of two major ignimbrite flare‐up subepisodes (Chapin et al, ) (Figures b and ) between 36 and 28 Ma. The remainder are coeval with regional igneous events at 45 Ma (Henry, Price, & James, ), 55 Ma (Todd, Silberman, & Armstrong, ), 65 Ma (Gilmer et al, ), 75 Ma (Befus et al, ; Breyer et al, ), and 90 Ma (Befus et al, ), linking them temporally to the igneous episodes associated with Rio Grande rifting (Figures b and ) and other magmatic events, providing evidence that the origin of these caves and the calcite spar that lines them are related to pulses of regional magmatic activity (Figure b). The closest surface expression of magmatic activity occurring near the Guadalupe Mountains is within only 11 km of the reef front.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

U–Pb Dating of Cave Spar: A New Shallow Crust Landscape Evolution Tool

et al. 2018

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In carbonate terranes, rocks types that provide apatite are not available to effectively use apatite fission track (AFT) or (U/Th)‐He chronometry (AHe). Here we suggest that calcite cave spar can be an effective chronometer and complimentary to AFT and AHe thermochronometers in carbonate regions such as our study area, the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico, and west Texas. Our measured depth of cave spar deposition is 500 ± 250 m beneath the regional water table, formed at temperatures of 40° to 80°C, indicating that these caves and their spar crystals form near the supercritical CO2‐subcritical CO2 boundary where we interpret the origin of both the caves and spar to occur. This depth‐temperature relationship suggests a higher than normal geotherm, likely associated with regional magmatic activity. As a case study we examined the timing of uplift of the Guadalupe Mountains previously attributed to the compressional Laramide orogeny (ca. 90 to 50 Ma), later extensional tectonics associated with Basin and Range (ca. 36 to 28 Ma) or the opening of the Rio Grande Rift (ca. 20 Ma to Present). We show that most of the spar origin is coeval with the ignimbrite flare‐up between 36 and 28 Ma. Our results constrain the initiation of Guadalupe Mountains block uplift, relative to the surrounding terrain, to between 27 and 16 Ma and reconstruct the evolution of a low‐lying regional landscape prior to block uplift from 185 to 28 Ma, in support of models that attribute regional surface uplift to extensional tectonics and associated volcanism.

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“…A U-Pb date of 69.0 Ma recovered from the overlying Javelina Formation, ~60 m above the formational contact (Lehman et al, 2006) demonstrates that the upper part of the Upper Shale Member of the Aguja Formation is unlikely to be any younger than this. Similarly, phreatomagmatic volcanic deposits occur within the Upper Shale Member, and are U-Pb dated at 76.9 +/-1.2 Ma (Befus et al, 2008) and 72.6 +/-1.5 Ma (Breyer et al, 2007). In which case the base of the Upper Shale Member should not be any younger than 76.9 +/-1.2 Ma.…”

Section: Age Of the Aguja Formation Texasmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Supplemental Information 2: Recalibration Sheet

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Interbasinal stratigraphic correlation provides the foundation for all consequent continental-scale geological and paleontological analyses. Correlation requires synthesis of lithostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and geochronologic data, and must be periodically updated to accord with advances in dating techniques, changing standards for radiometric dates, new stratigraphic concepts, hypotheses, fossil specimens, and field data. Outdated or incorrect correlation exposes geological and paleontological analyses to potential error. The current work presents a high-resolution stratigraphic chart for terrestrial Late Cretaceous units of North America, combining published chronostratigraphic, lithostratigraphic, and biostratigraphic data. 40 Ar / 39 Ar radiometric dates are newly recalibrated to both current standard and decay constant pairings. Revisions to the stratigraphic placement of most units are slight, but important changes are made to the proposed correlations of the Aguja and Javelina Formations, Texas, and recalibration corrections in particular affect the relative age positions of the Belly River Group,

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Evidence for Late Cretaceous Volcanism in Trans‐Pecos Texas

Cited by 24 publications

References 9 publications

Provenance of the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group, western Gulf of Mexico basin: Evidence for integrated drainage of the southern Laramide Rocky Mountains and Cordilleran arc

Provenance of the Paleocene-Eocene Wilcox Group, western Gulf of Mexico basin: Evidence for integrated drainage of the southern Laramide Rocky Mountains and Cordilleran arc

U–Pb Dating of Cave Spar: A New Shallow Crust Landscape Evolution Tool

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