Geologic map of Utah

Hintze, Lehi F.

doi:10.34191/m-a1

Cited by 66 publications

(55 citation statements)

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“…Near the start of the Neoproterozoic breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, an episode of intracratonic rifting resulted in basin formation in the current location of the Uinta Mountains and formed the western margin of the Laurentian craton (Condie and others, 2001;Dehler and others, 2010;Yonkee and others, 2014). The accumulation of sediments from the surrounding Wyoming, Mojave, and Yavapai provinces into this rift basin created the Neoproterozoic Uinta Mountain Group (figure 3), which is now extensively exposed throughout the Uinta Mountains (Ball and Farmer, 1998;Mueller and others, 2007;Dehler and others, 2010;Hintze and Kowallis, 2021). Continued rifting along the western margin of Laurentia produced a passive margin where an elongate belt of thick sediment accumulated throughout present day Utah and eastern Nevada (Stewart and Poole, 1974;Condie and others, 2001;Dickinson, 2004).…”

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This subduction and accretion lead to a long period of orogenic activity that produced the North American Cordillera (Saleeby, 1983;Lawton, 1994;Dickinson, 2004). Uplift of the Antler highlands to the west contributed to a shallow marine setting that allowed for deposition of formations on a carbonate platform, such as the Mississippian Madison Limestone (Lawton, 1994;Smith and others, 2004;Katz and others, 2007;Hintze and Kowallis, 2021).…”

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Throughout the Sevier orogeny, oceanic lithosphere subducted at a relatively steep angle producing a typical volcano-plutonic arc extending through present day Arizona, California, Nevada, and Idaho (Cross, 1986;Livaccari and Perry, 1993;Lawton, 1994;Kowallis and others, 2001;Christiansen and others, 2015). The foreland basin in Utah was flooded by the Western Interior seaway in the Late Cretaceous, which ultimately divided Laurentia into two halves, with the Cordillera to the west and continental lowlands to the east (Lawton, 1994;Hintze and Kowallis, 2021). Sediment was shed from the uplifted Sevier highlands and was deposited in the foreland basin, creating the Jurassic Morrison and Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formations in a continental basin, and the Mancos Shale and Mesaverde Group in a marine basin (Hettinger and Kirshbaum, 2002;Hintze and Kowallis, 2021) (figures 2 and 4).…”

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Uinta Mountains, in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado, are a basement-cored uplift formed during the Laramide orogeny that began in the Late Cretaceous and continued until the late Paleogene (Hansen, 1986b;Blakey, 2008;Sprinkel, 2014;Hintze and Kowallis, 2021). Minor contraction from moderate angle reverse faults in the lower crust resulted in flexural basins to the north and south of the mountain range (DeCelles, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stratigraphic relationships of the Eocene Duchesne River Formation and Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate, northeastern Utah—pulsed sedimentary response to rollback of the subducted Farallon slab

Webb

Jensen

Kowallis

et al. 2022

GIW

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The Uinta Mountains are an east-west-trending, reverse fault-bounded, basement-cored Laramide uplift. The Eocene Duchesne River Formation and Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate represent late stage, intermontane basin fill of the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah. Detailed mapping (1:24,000 scale), clast counts in conglomerate beds, description of lithology and stratigraphic contacts, and radiometric dating of pyroclastic fall beds of the Duchesne River Formation and Bishop Conglomerate in the Vernal NW quadrangle in northeastern Utah reveal stratal geometries of middle Cenozoic depositional units, the uplift and unroofing history of the eastern Uinta Mountains, and give evidence for the pulsed termination of Laramide uplift related to rollback of the Farallon slab and lithospheric delamination. These relationships show the continuation of Laramide uplift in this region until after 37.9 Ma and before 34 Ma, an age younger than the previously reported 45 to 40 Ma. The Duchesne River Formation consists of four members: the Brennan Basin, Dry Gulch Creek, Lapoint, and the Starr Flat. A normal unroofing signal is found within the formation with a downward increase in Paleozoic clasts and an upward increase in Proterozoic clasts. The oldest member, the Brennan Basin Member contains 80% to 90% Paleozoic clasts and less than 20% Proterozoic clasts. Conglomerate beds in the progressively younger Dry Gulch Creek, Lapoint, and Starr Flat Members of the Duchesne River Formation show significant increases in Proterozoic clasts (34% to 73%) and a decrease in Paleozoic clasts (27% to 66%). The Bishop Conglomerate overlies the Duchesne River Formation, but shows no clear change in clast composition. In the Duchesne River Formation, the proportion of beds containing fine gravel to boulder-sized clasts decreases significantly with distance from the Uinta uplift, from almost 100% near the source (<0.5 km) to 50% to 20% to the south (10 km). The lower part of the Duchesne River Formation exhibits a fining upward sequence that may represent a lull in tectonic uplift. The fine-grained lithofacies of the Dry Gulch Creek and Lapoint Members of the Duchesne River Formation pinch out within about 1 to 2 km from the Uinta uplift. In this proximal region conglomerates equivalent in age to the Lapoint Member cannot be separated from the younger conglomerates of the Starr Flat Member and are mapped together as one unit. Where the fine-grained lithologies appear farther from the uplift, the Starr Flat Member conglomerates deposited above Lapoint Member siltstones represent a southward progradation of alluvial fans away from the uplifting mountain front. The Starr Flat Member is overlain by the Bishop Conglomerate. These units are similar in sedimentary structure and clast composition and are distinguished by an angular unconformity that developed after 37.9 Ma. Stratigraphic and structural relationships between the Duchesne River Formation and Bishop Conglomerate reveal evidence of at least three episodes of Laramide-age uplift of the Uinta Mountains during the deposition of these formations: (1) deposition of fining upward sequences beginning with a basal coarse-grained unit within the Brennan Basin, Dry Gulch Creek, and Lapoint Members; (2) progradation of alluvial fans to the south form the younger Starr Flat Member resulted from an increase in sediment supply likely associated with renewed uplift; and (3) tilting and truncation of Duchesne River Formation to form the Gilbert Peak erosional surface, and prograding alluvial fans of the Bishop Conglomerate. These episodes of pulsed uplift are possibly the result of dripping lithosphere that occurred during Farallon slab rollback. New 40Ar/39Ar ages of 39.4 Ma from ash beds in the Dry Gulch Creek and Lapoint Members emplaced from Farallon rollback volcanism help to constrain the timing of deposition and uplift. These new ages and other existing radiometric and faunal ages suggest a significant unconformity of as much as 4 m.y. between the Duchesne River Formation and the overlying Bishop Conglomerate, which rangesfrom 34 to 30 Ma in age and show that Laramide uplift continued after 40 Ma in this region.

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Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Geologic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stratigraphic relationships of the Eocene Duchesne River Formation and Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate, northeastern Utah—pulsed sedimentary response to rollback of the subducted Farallon slab

Webb

Jensen

Kowallis

et al. 2022

GIW

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“…Removal of the Bluff Sandstone Member from the Morrison has not been accepted by some workers (e.g., Turner and Peterson, 2004;Hintze and Kowallis, 2009;O'Sullivan, 2010b;Kirkland et al, in press). The ongoing controversy about the affinity of the Bluff Sandstone, however, need not be a major issue for mappers.…”

Section: Morrison Formation Bluff Sandstone and Recapture Membersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology of the Mount Taylor area

Frey¹,

Kelley²,

Zeigler³

et al. 2020

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We gratefully dedicate this special publication about the geology of the Mount Taylor area to the Pueblo of Laguna. The Pueblo has supported and participated in both geologic and environmental research in and around Mount Taylor and Jackpile Mine. Mount Taylor is an important cultural site to the Laguna community. In addition, the Pueblo has been impacted by mining activities associated with uranium extraction in the area, including at Jackpile Mine.The Pueblo of Laguna has been working with the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources' mapping program for over a decade. Pueblo approval to access Laguna lands has facilitated the production of six STATEMAP geologic quadrangle maps. These maps were used to compile a geologic map of the Mount Taylor volcano, one of the featured works of the 2021 field conference.The Laguna Environmental & Natural Resources Department (ENRD) also worked closely with several undergraduate and graduate students from New Mexico universities, whose studies focused on uranium mobility and the impact of mining activities at sites such as the Jackpile Mine in northern Laguna Pueblo. ENRD provided escorts, logistics, and site assistance to more than 10 university students and professionals who were participating in "Energize New Mexico," an NSF program dedicated to investigating energy industries that are not carbon emitters. This group of studies, which will also be featured during the 2021 field conference, was preceded by NMT soil and plant studies in the early 2000s and will continue with UNM and NMT health studies.This research direction is indicative of the change in perspective toward mining that Laguna Pueblo has seen in the last one hundred years, from the 1950s "uranium capital of the world" to the modern focus on identifying hazards, remediating sites, and mitigating health effects, a focus described in McLemore et al. (this volume). Mining provided jobs for thousands in McKinley and Cibola counties, including members of the Laguna tribe. Mining also affected the health of citizens within the local communities.The people of Laguna Pueblo have occupied the area since they migrated from Mesa Verde around 1300 A.D. or earlier. Their strong affinity with Mount Taylor, located only about 20 miles from the pueblo, is shared with many indigenous cultures, serving as a spiritual site and for hunting, grazing, farming, and collecting resources. Laguna Pueblo supported what became the successful 2008 designation of Mount Taylor as a Traditional Cultural Property, when the mountain became eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.Thanks to the Pueblo of Laguna for its dedication to this landscape and for their partnerships with the many groups working in the area.

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Overprinted allocyclic processes by tidal resonance in an epicontinental basin: The Upper Jurassic Curtis Formation, east‐central Utah, USA

Zuchuat

Sleveland

Pettigrew

et al. 2019

The Depositional Record

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Modern, tide‐dominated and tide‐influenced coastlines are characterized by a range of environments, including deltas, estuaries and lagoons. However, some tide‐dominated basins and related sedimentary units in the rock record, such as the semi‐enclosed, shallow, Utah–Idaho Trough foreland basin of the Jurassic Curtis Sea, do not correspond to any of these modern systems. Persistent aridity caused the characteristic severe starvation of perennial fluvial input throughout this basin, in which the informal lower, middle and upper Curtis, as well as the underlying Entrada Sandstone, and the overlying Summerville Formation were deposited. Wave energy was efficiently dissipated by the shallow basin's elongated morphology (approximately 800 × 150 km), as its semi‐enclosed morphology further protected the system from significant wave impact. Consequently, the semi‐enclosed, shallow‐marine system was dominated by amplified tidal forces, resulting in a complex distribution of heterolithic deposits. Allocyclic forcing strongly impacted upon the system's intrinsic autocyclic processes as the lower Curtis was deposited. Short‐lived relative sea‐level variations, along with uplift and deformation episodes, resulted in the accumulation of three parasequences, each separated by traceable flooding and ravinement surfaces. The subsequent transgression, which defines the base of the middle Curtis, allowed for the shallow‐marine part of the system to enter into tidal resonance as a consequence of the flooded basin reaching the optimal configuration of approximately 800 km in length, corresponding to an odd multiple of the quarter of the tidal wavelength given an average minimum water depth of 20–25 m. This resonant system overprinted the effects of allocyclic forcing and related traceable stratigraphic surfaces. However, the contemporaneous and neighbouring coastal dune field sedimentary rocks of the Moab Member of the Curtis Formation, characterized by five stacked aeolian sequences, as well as the supratidal deposits of the Summerville Formation, lingered to record allocyclic signals, as the Curtis Sea regressed. This study shows that a tide‐dominated basin can enter into tidal resonance as it reaches its optimal morphological configuration, leading to the overprinting of otherwise dominant allocyclic processes by autocyclic behaviour. It is only by considering the sedimentological relationships of neighbouring and contemporaneous depositional systems that a full understanding of the dynamic stratigraphic history of a basin alternatively dominated by autocyclic and allocyclic processes can be achieved.

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Geologic map of Utah

Cited by 66 publications

References 0 publications

Stratigraphic relationships of the Eocene Duchesne River Formation and Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate, northeastern Utah—pulsed sedimentary response to rollback of the subducted Farallon slab

Stratigraphic relationships of the Eocene Duchesne River Formation and Oligocene Bishop Conglomerate, northeastern Utah—pulsed sedimentary response to rollback of the subducted Farallon slab

Geology of the Mount Taylor area

Overprinted allocyclic processes by tidal resonance in an epicontinental basin: The Upper Jurassic Curtis Formation, east‐central Utah, USA

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