High precision U–Pb zircon geochronology for Cenomanian Dakota Formation floras in Utah

Barclay, Richard S.; Rioux, Matthew; Meyer, Laura B.; Bowring, Samuel A.; Johnson, Kirk R.; Miller, Ian M.

doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2014.08.006

Cited by 20 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 96 publications

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“…The mean of the youngest date signatures is 96.1 Ma ( Table 2 ; Table S1 ). Based on this date we suspect that this lower “Dakota sandstone” is equivalent to the basal Naturita Sandstone in Southern Utah ( Barclay et al, 2015 ; Laurin et al, 2019 ; Tucker et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Specifically, the western margin of the Western Interior Seaway underwent significant shifts in coastal morphology and coupled with on-going tectonism resulted in numerous unconformities, lateral discontinuities, and cryptic or tenuous stratigraphic linkages ( Molenaar, 1983a ; Molenaar et al, 2002 ; Haq, 2014 ; Albright & Titus, 2016 ; D’Emic et al, 2019 ). Although a number of studies have sought to resolve these complexities by obtaining depositional ages via radiometric age dating, the “mid-Cretaceous” southwestern shoreline (New Mexico) of the Western Interior Seaway has largely gone underexplored ( Lawton & Bradford, 2011 ; Meyers et al, 2012 ; Roberts et al, 2013 ; Barclay et al, 2015 ; Juárez-Arriaga et al, 2019 ; Lawton, 2019 ; Laurin et al, 2019 ; Pană, Poulton & DuFrane, 2019 ; Rinke-Hardekopf, Dashtgard & MacEachern, 2019 ). Adjacent basins offer little aid as lithostratigraphic relationships become increasingly cryptic ( Albright & Titus, 2016 ; D’Emic et al, 2019 ; Tucker et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age constraint for the Moreno Hill Formation (Zuni Basin) by CA-TIMS and LA-ICP-MS detrital zircon geochronology

Cilliers

Tucker

Crowley

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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The “mid-Cretaceous” (~125–80 Ma) was punctuated by major plate-tectonic upheavals resulting in widespread volcanism, mountain-building, eustatic sea-level changes, and climatic shifts that together had a profound impact on terrestrial biotic assemblages. Paleontological evidence suggests terrestrial ecosystems underwent a major restructuring during this interval, yet the pace and pattern are poorly constrained. Current impediments to piecing together the geologic and biological history of the “mid-Cretaceous” include a relative paucity of terrestrial outcrop stemming from this time interval, coupled with a historical understudy of fragmentary strata. In the Western Interior of North America, sedimentary strata of the Turonian–Santonian stages are emerging as key sources of data for refining the timing of ecosystem transformation during the transition from the late-Early to early-Late Cretaceous. In particular, the Moreno Hill Formation (Zuni Basin, New Mexico) is especially important for detailing the timing of the rise of iconic Late Cretaceous vertebrate faunas. This study presents the first systematic geochronological framework for key strata within the Moreno Hill Formation. Based on the double-dating of (U-Pb) detrital zircons, via CA-TIMS and LA-ICP-MS, we interpret two distinct depositional phases of the Moreno Hill Formation (initial deposition after 90.9 Ma (middle Turonian) and subsequent deposition after 88.6 Ma (early Coniacian)), younger than previously postulated based on correlations with marine biostratigraphy. Sediment and the co-occurring youthful subset of zircons are sourced from the southwestern Cordilleran Arc and Mogollon Highlands, which fed into the landward portion of the Gallup Delta (the Moreno Hill Formation) via northeasterly flowing channel complexes. This work greatly strengthens linkages to other early Late Cretaceous strata across the Western Interior.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age constraint for the Moreno Hill Formation (Zuni Basin) by CA-TIMS and LA-ICP-MS detrital zircon geochronology

Cilliers

Tucker

Crowley

et al. 2021

PeerJ

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“…For comparison, the six slightly younger sequences 3A, B, 4, 5 and 6A and B mapped in the middle Dakota Formation, were each interpreted to span from 100 to 200 kyr (Uličný, 1999). Recent radiometric dating (Barclay et al , 2015) suggests that the same six sequences have a duration closer to 100 kyr. The overlying ‘genetic sequences’ S2 and S3 in the upper Dakota Formation (Laurin et al , 2019) each span about 100 kyr (Figure 21), but are composed of higher‐frequency sequences that have a periodicity of about 20 kyr.…”

Section: Sea‐level Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Right column shows contemporaneous depositional sequences interpreted in the Dakota Formation, Utah (after Uličný, 1999; Laurin et al , 2019). The age range of Uličný’s sequences 2 through 6B have been recalibrated using the radiometric dates in Barclay et al (2015)…”

Section: Sea‐level Changesmentioning

confidence: 99%

High‐frequency sequences within a retrogradational deltaic succession: Upper Cenomanian Dunvegan Formation, Western Canada Foreland Basin

Hay

Plint

2020

The Depositional Record

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After prograding for several hundred kilometres during Middle Cenomanian time, the Dunvegan delta complex in north‐west Alberta and adjacent British Columbia experienced stepwise transgression, commencing at about the Middle to Late Cenomanian boundary. Progressive drowning of the delta complex is recorded by Dunvegan allomembers B and A, each comprised of three simple depositional sequences, bounded by composite subaerial unconformity/flooding surfaces. Each sequence represents an array of deltaic depositional environments. Delta‐front sandstones preserve little evidence, such as hummocky cross‐stratification, for powerful storm wave action, although wave and combined‐flow ripples are common. Delta‐front sandstone bodies tend to be smaller and lobate in the lower part of the studied interval, and larger and more linear near the top. This suggests increasingly effective wave‐driven redistribution of sand as more open‐marine conditions were gradually established. The top surfaces of allomembers B and A are locally incised by sandstone‐filled palaeovalleys up to 19 m deep; river incision may have been a response to relative sea‐level fall and/or a change in the ratio of discharge to sediment load. Overall, the shoreline described a broad arc, open to the south east, with the sense of shoreline migration north‐west to south‐east. For each sequence, the shoreline migrated an average of 80 km between transgressive and regressive limits. The transgressive limit shows a progressive landward offset of about 15 km per sequence, culminating in complete drowning of the delta system above sequence A3. Isopach maps show that syn‐depositional tectonic subsidence rotated the basin down to the south‐west; palaeogeographic maps show, however, that the sea floor sloped to the south‐east, implying that sediment redistribution effectively filled all tectonically generated accommodation and maintained a south‐east inclined depositional surface. Transgressions and regressions across this surface were therefore driven primarily by eustasy rather than pulses of tectonic subsidence. Simple calculations based on inferred alluvial gradients of 10–20 cm/km suggest that eustatic excursions of ca 8–16 m would have been sufficient to generate sequence thicknesses on the order of 10 m. Limited geochronologic and biostratigraphic control suggests that the six simple sequences that form Dunvegan allomembers B and A each represent an average of about 41 kyr, suggesting that the orbital obliquity cycle was the primary control on high‐frequency sea‐level cycles.

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“…A detailed correlation of pre-OAE strata between the Big Hill reference section and localities in the Kaiparowits Plateau (Cottonwood Canyon, Wahweap Wash, and Bald Knoll Mine) is hampered by the lack of suitable correlation markers in the nonmarine succession. Age data from the Kaiparowits Plateau were therefore estimated using a different set of age-control points, including U-Pb ages of two bentonites from the Henrieville locality (Barclay et al, 2015) and a prominent transgressive surface at the top of unit 6A (Uličný, 1999), which is interpreted as coeval with the onset of paralic sedimentation (upper member of the Naturita Formation) at Big Hill (Laurin and Sageman, 2007;Laurin et al, 2019). Correlation between Henrie ville and other localities in the Kaiparowits Plateau was based on Uličný (1999).…”

Section: Age Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

CO2-induced climate forcing on the fire record during the initiation of Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2

et al. 2019

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Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2 (OAE2) is thought to have been contemporary with extensive volcanism and the release of large quantities of volcanic CO2 capable of triggering marine anoxia through a series of biogeochemical feedbacks. High-resolution reconstructions of atmospheric CO2 concentrations across the initiation of OAE2 suggest that there were also two distinct pulses of CO2 drawdown coeval with increased organic carbon burial. These fluctuations in CO2 likely led to significant climatic changes, including fluctuations in temperatures and the hydrological cycle. Paleofire proxy records suggest that wildfire was a common occurrence throughout the Cretaceous Period, likely fueled by the estimated high atmospheric O2 concentrations at this time. However, over geological time scales, the likelihood and behavior of fire are also controlled by other factors such as climate, implying that CO2-driven climate changes should also be observable in the fossil charcoal record. We tested this hypothesis and present a high-resolution study of fire history through the use of fossil charcoal abundances across the OAE2 onset, and we compared our records to the estimated CO2 fluctuations published from the same study sites. Our study illustrates that inferred wildfire activity appears to relate to changes in CO2 occurring across the onset of OAE2, where periods of CO2 drawdown may have enabled an increase in fire activity through suppression of the hydrological cycle. Our study provides further insight into the relationships between rapid changes in the carbon cycle, climate, and wildfire activity, illustrating that CO2 and climate changes related to inferred wildfire activity can be detected despite the estimated high Cretaceous atmospheric O2 concentrations.

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High precision U–Pb zircon geochronology for Cenomanian Dakota Formation floras in Utah

Cited by 20 publications

References 96 publications

Age constraint for the Moreno Hill Formation (Zuni Basin) by CA-TIMS and LA-ICP-MS detrital zircon geochronology

Age constraint for the Moreno Hill Formation (Zuni Basin) by CA-TIMS and LA-ICP-MS detrital zircon geochronology

High‐frequency sequences within a retrogradational deltaic succession: Upper Cenomanian Dunvegan Formation, Western Canada Foreland Basin

CO2-induced climate forcing on the fire record during the initiation of Cretaceous oceanic anoxic event 2

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