Reconnaissance stratigraphy of the Prichard Formation (middle Proterozoic) and the early development of the Belt Basin, Washington, Idaho, and Montana

Cressman, Earle Rupert

doi:10.3133/pp1490

Cited by 28 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…In the present study, we analyzed stratigraphically controlled carbonate samples from the Paradise Creek Formation at Winston, 1990;Winston and Link, 1993;Luepke and Lyons, 2001 Luepke and Lyons (2001). Recent geochronometric ages are discussed in Cressman (1989), Winston and Link (1993), Anderson and Davis (1995), Aleinikoff et al (1996), and Sears et al (1998).…”

Section: Mcnamara Group-paradise Creek Formationmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The Belt Supergroup thickens from ϳ5 km in the Helena Embayment to ϳ16 km in the western portion of the Belt basin and was deposited from ϳ1.47 to 1.37 Ga. Various aspects of the Belt Supergroup, including chronological details, are reviewed in Maxwell and Hower (1967), Harrison (1972), Harrison et al (1974), Cressman (1989), Winston and Link (1993), and Luepke and Lyons (2001). The lower two-thirds of Belt deposition took place over a period of only 20 -30 million years, as constrained by the 1469 Ϯ 3 Ma Plains Sill in the Prichard Formation (Sears et al, 1998), a tuff bed at Logan Pass in the upper part of the Helena Formation (1449 Ϯ 10 Ma), and the Purcell Lava (1443 Ϯ 5 Ma; Aleinikoff et al, 1996).…”

Section: Belt Supergroup-newland and Helena Formationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Trace sulfate in mid-Proterozoic carbonates and the sulfur isotope record of biospheric evolution

Gellatly

Lyons

2005

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

101

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Section: Mcnamara Group-paradise Creek Formationmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Belt Supergroup-newland and Helena Formationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trace sulfate in mid-Proterozoic carbonates and the sulfur isotope record of biospheric evolution

Gellatly

Lyons

2005

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

101

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“…The general stratigraphy of northwest Montana can be divided into four major tectonostratigraphic packages developed over North American cratonic basement: (1) a thick (≥15 km) Proterozoic succession of clastic, carbonate, and igneous rocks of the Belt Supergroup (Harrison, 1972;Harrison et al, 1974), possibly deposited in an intracontinental rift (Cressman, 1989;Price and Sears, 2000) or a backarc extensional or strike-slip basin (Ross and Villeneuve, 2003); (2) a succession of carbonate and relatively minor clastic rocks, deposited as a miogeoclinal wedge during late Precambrian rifting and subsequent Paleozoic passive-margin development (McMannis, 1965;Bond et al, 1985;Poole et al, 1992);…”

Section: Regional Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of the Cordilleran foreland basin system in northwestern Montana, U.S.A.

Fuentes

DeCelles

Constenius

et al. 2010

Geological Society of America Bulletin

106

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New lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic, geochronologic, and sedimentary petrologic data illuminate the history of development of the North American Cordilleran foreland basin system and adjacent thrust belt from Middle Jurassic through Eocene time in northwestern Montana. The oldest deposits in the foreland basin system consist of relatively thin, regionally tabular deposits of the marine Ellis Group and fl uvial-estuarine Morrison Formation, which accumulated during Bajocian to Kimmeridgian time. U-Pb ages of detrital zircons and sandstone modal petrographic data indicate that by ca. 170 Ma, miogeoclinal strata were being deformed and eroded in hinterland regions. Sandstones of the Swift and Morrison Formations contain detrital zircons derived from the Intermontane belt. The Jurassic deposits probably accumulated in the distal, back-bulge depozone of an early foreland basin, as suggested by the slow rates of tectonic subsidence and tabular geometry. A regional unconformity separates the Jurassic strata from late Barremian(?) foredeep deposits. This unconformity possibly resulted as a combined effect of forebulge migration, decreased dynamic subsidence, and eustatic sea-level fall. The late Barremian(?)-early Albian Kootenai Formation is the fi rst unit that consistently thickens westward, as would be expected in a foredeep depozone. The subsidence curve at this time begins to show the convex-upward pattern characteristic of foredeeps. By Albian time, the foldand-thrust belt had propagated to the east and incorporated Proterozoic rocks of the Belt Supergroup, as indicated by sandstone compositions, detrital zircon ages in the Blackleaf Formation, and by crosscutting relationships in thrust sheets involving Belt Supergroup rocks in the thrust belt. A major episode of marine inundation and black shale deposition (Marias River Shale) occurred between the Cenomanian and mid-Santonian, and was followed by a regressive succession represented by the Upper Santonian-midCampanian Telegraph Creek, Virgelle, and Two Medicine Formations. Provenance data do not resolve the timing of individual thrust displacements during Cenomanian-early Campanian time. The Upper Campanian Bearpaw Formation represents the last major marine inundation in the foreland basin . By latest Campanian time, a major epi sode of slip on the Lewis thrust system had commenced, as recorded in the foreland by the Willow Creek and St. Mary River Formations in the proximal foredeep depozone.The fi nal stage in the evolution of the Cor dilleran fold-and-thrust belt and foreland basin system is recorded by the Paleocene-early Eocene Fort Union and Wasatch Formations, which were preserved in the distal foreland region. Regional extensional faulting along the fold-and-thrust belt began during the middle Eocene. The results presented here enable the establishment of links between previous geological work in Canada and the better known parts of the Cor dilleran foreland basin in the United States.

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“…Sears & Price, 1978;Winston, 1986), and one might ask if this landmass might have contributed sediment to the Newland Formation. However, if such a landmass existed, the Belt basin was probably a deep and narrow, north-trending gulf with the Newland Formation being deposited along its eastern margin (Hoffman, 1988;Cressman, 1989), and elastics from the western landmass were trapped within the gulf rather than being able to prograde across to the eastern margin. That there was no contribution from a western landmass is confirmed by palaeocurrent data from sandstones of the Newland Formation (Schieber, 1987).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sandstone petrology and shale geochemistry lead to the same conclusion with regard to the tectonic setting of the Newland Formation, namely that it was deposited in a passive margin or intracratonic setting. Because of recent palaeogeographical reconstructions of Midproterozoic continents and the Belt basin (Stewart, 1976;Sears & Price, 1978;Piper, 1982;Winston, 1986;Cressman, 1989), an intracratonic setting appears most likely.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A combined petrographical—geochemical provenance study of the Newland Formation, Mid-Proterozoic of Montana

Schieber

1992

Geol. Mag.

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A provenance study was conducted on the Mid-Proterozoic Newland Formation, in which petrographical features of sandstones and geochemical characteristics of shales were integrated to arrive at an internally consistent interpretation.Sandstones of the Newland Formation are typically arkosic sands and arkoses with very-wellrounded quartz and feldspar grains and only minor amounts of extrabasinal rock fragments. The predominant feldspar types are K-spar and microcline, feldspar grains are smaller than quartz grains, and feldspars show little alteration due to weathering. Detrital modes of Newland sandstones (QFL diagrams) indicate that they were derived from a stable cratonic source. These petrographical features imply a source area dominated by granites and granitoid gneisses, semi-arid to arid climate, tectonic quiescence, and overall peneplain conditions.Shales of the Newland Formation are dominated by illite, quartz silt, and fine crystalline dolomite. They have small La/Th rations, relatively large Hf contents, and small contents of Cr, Co, and Ni, all indicative of derivation from crust of granitic composition. Small Tio 2 /Al 2 O 3 ratios also suggest source rocks of granitic composition. The average chemical index of alteration (CIA) for Newland shales is 71.8, which in light of the probable granitoid source indicates modest amounts of chemical weathering. Relatively large SiO 2 contents and large K 2 0/Na 2 0 ratios reflect derivation from stable cratonic areas and tectonic quiescence.Thus, in general, the petrography of sandstones and geochemistry of shales provides the same provenance clues for the Newland Formation. One notable discrepancy between the two approaches is that the sandstones indicate an arid to semi-arid climate with very minor chemical weathering, whereas the CIA of the shales indicates at least modest amounts of chemical weathering. This indicates on one hand the need to better calibrate the CIA with a large variety of muds from modern climatic settings, and on the other hand the possibility that this discrepancy is due to transport segregation.

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Reconnaissance stratigraphy of the Prichard Formation (middle Proterozoic) and the early development of the Belt Basin, Washington, Idaho, and Montana

Cited by 28 publications

References 0 publications

Trace sulfate in mid-Proterozoic carbonates and the sulfur isotope record of biospheric evolution

Trace sulfate in mid-Proterozoic carbonates and the sulfur isotope record of biospheric evolution

Evolution of the Cordilleran foreland basin system in northwestern Montana, U.S.A.

A combined petrographical—geochemical provenance study of the Newland Formation, Mid-Proterozoic of Montana

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