Late Paleozoic tectonics and paleogeography of the ancestral Front Range: Structural, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic evidence from the Fountain Formation (Manitou Springs, Colorado)

Sweet, Dustin E.; Soreghan, Gerilyn S.

doi:10.1130/b26554.1

Cited by 31 publications

(40 citation statements)

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“…Regions to the north and east of the Colorado Plateau were, however, affected by Pennsylvanian uplift of basementcored mountain ranges during creation of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains (e.g., Miller et al 1992). Evidence for this orogeny comes primarily from Late Mississippian-Early Pennsylvanian arkosic redbeds deposited in basins adjacent to the uplifts (e.g., Mallory 1958Mallory , 1975Kluth and Coney 1981;van de Kamp and Leake 1994;Sweet and Soreghan 2010). Uplift of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains coincides with coastal plain, shallow marine, and eolian siliciclastic and carbonate sedimentation in the Late Mississippian-Permian Supai Group in the Grand Canyon region (e.g., McKee 1982;Blakey 1990;Rice and Loope 1991;Billingsley 2000), which grades laterally into the Callville Limestone to the west (Blakey 1990) and seems to have been fed by fluvial and eolian systems sourced from the Ancestral Rocky Mountains (Blakey et al 1988;Peterson 1988;Baars 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations in the Illite to Muscovite Transition Related to Metamorphic Conditions and Detrital Muscovite Content: Insight from the Paleozoic Passive Margin of the Southwestern United States

Verdel

Niemi

Pluijm

2011

The Journal of Geology

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press A B S T R A C TX-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the illite to muscovite transition in pelitic rocks has been widely used in regional studies of low-grade metamorphism. Variations in detrital muscovite content of sediments are also measurable with XRD and may, in fact, be difficult to distinguish from metamorphic gradients. We utilize field transects to isolate detrital muscovite versus metamorphic reaction components of illite-muscovite variations in Paleozoic rocks of the western United States. One transect focuses on a single stratigraphic interval (Middle Cambrian pelites) and extends from Death Valley in the west to the Grand Canyon in the east. Detrital muscovite content is roughly constant along this 500-km-long transect, so illite-muscovite variations are ascribed to differences in low-grade metamorphism. In terms of both illite crystallinity and polytype composition, there is an overall increase in metamorphic grade to the west along the transect, from the diagenetic metapelitic zone at the Grand Canyon to epizone-low anchizone conditions near Death Valley. Most of the regional variation in illite parameters occurs between Frenchman Mountain and the southern Nopah Range, corresponding to the transition from cratonic to miogeoclinal facies and also to the leading edge of the Sevier thrust belt. In contrast to this "horizontal" transect that highlights metamorphic reactions, a vertical transect through the Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Grand Canyon targets temporal variations in the flux of detrital muscovite. In the Grand Canyon, illite crystallinity reaches a maximum at the base of the Pennsylvanian Supai Group before decreasing upsection. Deposition of the Supai Group was coeval with formation of basementcored uplifts during the Ancestral Rocky Mountains orogeny, and we suggest that the upsection change in illite composition at the Grand Canyon reflects input of detrital muscovite eroded from these uplifts.Online enhancement: appendix. IntroductionThe transformation of illite to muscovite is the basis for defining low-grade metamorphism of pelites (e.g., Frey 1987;Merriman and Frey 1999) tal structure of illite occur during subgreenschist facies metamorphism and, given sufficient time and temperature, result in crystallites that are indistinguishable from muscovite. These crystallographic variations, which are observable with both x-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), track metamorphism from the diagenetic zone to the epizone, or from roughly 100Њ to 300ЊC (Merriman and Frey 1999).However, direct inference of metamorphic grade from illite-muscovite parameters is complicated by variations in detrital musc...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations in the Illite to Muscovite Transition Related to Metamorphic Conditions and Detrital Muscovite Content: Insight from the Paleozoic Passive Margin of the Southwestern United States

Verdel

Niemi

Pluijm

2011

The Journal of Geology

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“…They are dominantly pebble sandstone, but also contain cobble conglomerate and boulder conglomerate. A total measured thickness was recently calculated at 914 m (3000 ft) by Sweet and Soreghan (2010). These strata are assigned to both Pennsylvanian and Permian systems (Atokan to Wolfcampian).…”

Section: Stop 2: Sedimentology Of the Fountain Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Upper strata are exposed within the Garden of the Gods. There are three dominant lithologies described by Sweet and Soreghan (2010) in the lower and middle Fountain: (1) muddy sandstone characterized by massive stacked beds, (2) sandy conglomerate dominated by granite pebbles, cobbles and boulders, and (3) sorted and bedded sandstone with fi ningupward sequence.…”

Section: Stop 2: Sedimentology Of the Fountain Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dominant lithology of the entire Fountain is the muddy sandstone. It is the chief lithology in the lower 700 m of the formation (Sweet and Soreghan, 2010). The very poorly sorted granule-, sand-, and mud-sized debris contains matrixsupported granite pebbles up to 3 cm diameter.…”

Section: Stop 2: Sedimentology Of the Fountain Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perhaps lithologies 1 and 2 are marine (subaqueous debris fl ows) as well. Sweet and Soreghan (2010) believe that paleosols with terrestrial plant rooting occurs on top of beds of lithology 1. The vertical pipes could be fl uid escape structures (not plant roots) and the fi nes that drape over the debris fl ows could be clay and silt elutriated by dewatering of the muddy matrix (not a soil weathered in place).…”

Section: Stop 2: Sedimentology Of the Fountain Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs: Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentation and tectonics

Ross¹,

Hoesch²,

Austin³

et al. 2010

Through the Generations: Geologic and Anthropogenic Field Excursions in the Rocky Mountains From Modern to Ancient

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Exposed along the southeast fl ank of the Colorado Front Range are rocks that beautifully illustrate the interplay of sedimentation and tectonics. Two major rangebounding faults, the Ute Pass fault and the Rampart Range fault, converge on the Garden of the Gods region west of Colorado Springs. Cambrian through Cretaceous strata upturned by these faults reveal in their grain compositions, textures, and bedforms radically different styles of sedimentation. The Cambrian/Ordovician marine transgressive deposits appear to have come to rest on a passive and tectonically inactive craton. In contrast, coarse-grained Pennsylvanian/Permian marine deposits of the Fountain Formation and Lyons Sandstone reveal deposition by suspension and tractive currents in a very dynamic tectonic setting. These styles are contrasted with the alternating eustatics of the Western Interior Seaway which led to the local Cretaceous section. Finally, the powerful imprint of the Laramide orogeny is evident in the sandstone dikes of Sawatch Sandstone which are found within the hanging wall of the Ute Pass fault.

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Zircon (U-Th)/He data for the Colorado Front Range “fourteeners” and testing Cryogenian exhumation of sub-Great Unconformity basement

Havranek

Flowers

2022

Chemical Geology

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Late Paleozoic tectonics and paleogeography of the ancestral Front Range: Structural, stratigraphic, and sedimentologic evidence from the Fountain Formation (Manitou Springs, Colorado)

Cited by 31 publications

References 18 publications

Variations in the Illite to Muscovite Transition Related to Metamorphic Conditions and Detrital Muscovite Content: Insight from the Paleozoic Passive Margin of the Southwestern United States

Variations in the Illite to Muscovite Transition Related to Metamorphic Conditions and Detrital Muscovite Content: Insight from the Paleozoic Passive Margin of the Southwestern United States

Garden of the Gods at Colorado Springs: Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentation and tectonics

Zircon (U-Th)/He data for the Colorado Front Range “fourteeners” and testing Cryogenian exhumation of sub-Great Unconformity basement

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