Geothermal characteristics of the colorado plateau

Reiter, Marshall; Mansure, A.J.; Shearer, Charles

doi:10.1016/0040-1951(79)90297-x

Cited by 41 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Deposition of 4 km of overlying sediment would be required to place the sampled limestone horizon at a temperature of , 120uC (the warmest sample temperature estimated by clumped-isotope thermometry), assuming a mean annual surface temperature of 20uC through most of the pre-Miocene (Fricke and Wing 2008;Yapp 2008) and a geothermal gradient of 25uC/km. If a higher geothermal gradient characteristic of volcanic source areas on the plateau is considered (40uC/km, Reiter et al 1979), 2.5 km of sediment would be required. At the sample locality on the Coconino Plateau, the precise maximum depth of burial of the samples is unknown, because no record remains of mid-Eocene through early Miocene sediment that may have accumulated and then been eroded above the Music Mountain Formation prior to emplacement of the late Miocene basalt.…”

Section: Thermal History Of Long Point Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Clumped-Isotope Thermometry To Constrain the Crystallization Temperature of Diagenetic Calcite

Huntington¹,

Budd²,

Wernicke³

et al. 2011

Journal of Sedimentary Research

129

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We describe an approach to estimating the crystallization temperatures of diagenetic calcites using clumped-isotope thermometry, a paleothermometer based on the 13 C- 18O-bond enrichment in carbonates. Application of this thermometer to calcified gastropod shells and calcite cements in an early Eocene limestone from the Colorado Plateau reveals a record of calcite precipitation and replacement at temperatures varying from 14 to 123uC. The early Eocene host sediments were never deeply buried, but they experienced a significant thermal pulse associated with the emplacement of a late Miocene basalt flow. The combination of independent constraints on thermal history with clumped-isotope thermometry, petrographic (including cathodoluminescence) observations, and oxygen isotopic data provides an improved basis for estimation of the temperature and timing of diagenetic events and fluid sources. The petrography and calcite d 18O values, taken alone, suggest that the aragonite-tocalcite transformation of gastropod shell material occurred simultaneously with early formation of cements and lithification of the matrix in the same sample. However, addition of clumped-isotope thermometry demonstrates that this phase transformation of shell material occurred at temperatures of 94-123uC in a highly rock-buffered microenvironment (i.e., with the isotopic composition of fluid buffered by coexisting carbonate), millions of years after lithification of the matrix and formation of initial low-temperature (14-19uC) calcite cements within shell body cavities. Clumped-isotope temperatures in excess of reasonable Earth-surface conditions recorded by later-formed cements demand that cement growth occurred in association with the lava emplacement. Our results illustrate the potential for clumped-isotope thermometry to constrain conditions of diagenesis and guide interpretations that would not be possible on the basis of conventional stable-isotopic and petrographic data alone, and demonstrate how petrographic characterization of clumped-isotope thermometry samples can benefit paleoclimate studies.

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Section: Thermal History Of Long Point Samplesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Clumped-Isotope Thermometry To Constrain the Crystallization Temperature of Diagenetic Calcite

Huntington¹,

Budd²,

Wernicke³

et al. 2011

Journal of Sedimentary Research

129

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“…Processes producing uplift are often associated with thermal phenomena generating an increase in terrestrial heat fl ow. Over the past several decades, lithosphere warming, Moho underplating, and continental delamination have all been suggested as mechanisms of uplift for the Colorado Plateau (Crough and Thompson, 1976;Reiter et al, 1979;Bird, 1979;Bodell and Chapman, 1982;Morgan and Swanberg, 1985;Roy et al, 2009). As such, there are a number of phenomena possibly contributing to Colorado Plateau uplift; the question is which phenomena contributed most signifi cantly (Flowers, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The heat-fl ow temperature measurements (temperature logs) in the area are distinctly deep enough that it is thought that shallower perturbations such as groundwater movement are minimized. The aerial data set provides a mean with little noise, and although the data are several decades old (Reiter et al, 1979;Reiter and Mansure, 1983), they are unique and most suitable for the present study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat-flow data in the Four Corners area suggest Neogene crustal warming resulting from partial lithosphere replacement in the Colorado Plateau interior, southwest USA

Reiter

2014

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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The uplift of the Colorado Plateau is of great geologic interest, and low-noise terrestrial heat-fl ow data can provide boundary conditions that should be met by proposed models of uplift. The structural continuity of the plateau interior with respect to the neighboring Basin and Range and Southern Rocky Mountains implies a distinctive Neogene lithosphere-crustal evolution. The Four Corners area represents a unique location in the Colorado Plateau interior, and likely the world, where both heat-fl ow data with little variability, and mineralogy studies relating to pre-Neogene lithosphere temperatures, are available. Together these studies allow one to calculate data-derived heat-fl ow values at two different times, ca. 25 Ma and the present. Using a fi rst-order model for temperature-depth profi les, these two heat-fl ow values imply ~100 km of Neogene lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB) shallowing in the study area. If crustal radiogenic heat remains constant, the calculated Neogene increase in heat fl ow of ~17 mW m -2 will be produced below the Moho. Several mechanisms are considered that might cause the LAB to shallow and the near-surface heat fl ow to increase. Derived Neogene lithosphere thinning of ~100 km leads one to consider lithosphere displacement of the same order. If the presented fi nite-difference model approximates Neogene thermal phenomena in the Four Corners, then partial lithosphere replacement of the upper-mantle lithosphere appears to be the most suitable cause of the heat-fl ow rise in the area, as well as the nearuniform heat fl ow over large regions of the plateau interior identifi ed by low-noise heatfl ow data.

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“…This is close to the values of 55-65 mW m-' reported by Bodell & Chapman (1982) for the Colorado Plateau immediately south of the Uinta Basin and the values of 63mWm-' (Sass et af. 1971) and 65mWm-* (Reiter et al 1979) determined in the Uinta Basin. These observations suggest heat flow is consistently 55-65 mW m-' in the northern Colorado Plateau and Uinta Basin and is not the cause of the observed temperature variations.…”

Section: Interpretation Of the Spatial Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stochastic inversion of thermal data in a sedimentary basin: resolving spatial variability

Willett¹

1990

Geophysical Journal International

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The concept of spatial stochastic processes and the techniques of geostatistics and stochastic inversion are presented as a means for evaluating the spatial variability of thermal properties and temperature in sedimentary basins. Data from the Uinta Basin of NE Utah are used to demonstrate the analysis. Bottom hole temperatures from oil and gas wells provide the best opportunity for a spatial analysis because of the large number and wide distribution of data. Errors in bottom hole temperatures are not too large to preclude their use and stochastic inversion provides an optimum method for removing random noise while retaining spatial resolution. Corrected bottom hole temperatures from 235 wells in the Uinta Basin are used to estimate: (a) average geothermal gradient as a function of position in the basin and (b) temperature gradients in individual formations, also as a function of position in the basin. The latter analysis yields a high-resolution estimate of temperature gradient and temperature throughout the basin. The temperature field shows variations of up to 50°C at a depth of 4 km and is estimated to be accurate to better than 5 "C. This variation in temperature is consistent with conductive and advective mechanisms of heat transfer in a heterogeneous medium.

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Geothermal characteristics of the colorado plateau

Cited by 41 publications

References 11 publications

Use of Clumped-Isotope Thermometry To Constrain the Crystallization Temperature of Diagenetic Calcite

Use of Clumped-Isotope Thermometry To Constrain the Crystallization Temperature of Diagenetic Calcite

Heat-flow data in the Four Corners area suggest Neogene crustal warming resulting from partial lithosphere replacement in the Colorado Plateau interior, southwest USA

Stochastic inversion of thermal data in a sedimentary basin: resolving spatial variability

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