Regional geophysics of the Colorado Plateau

Influence of Rock Glaciers on Stream Hydrology in the La Sal Mountains, Utah

“…Geophysical studies suggest that the Colorado Plateau is underlain by 40-to 50-km-thick Precambrian cratonic crust (Thompson and Zoback, 1979;Allmendinger and others, 1987). Surface exposures of the Precambrian basement in the plateau region suggest that it consists of gneissic rocks of Early Proterozoic age (1,800 to 1,600 Ma) and granitoid rocks of Middle Proterozoic age (1,400 to 1,500 Ma) (Tweto, 1987;Bowring and Karlstrom, 1990;Case, 1991).…”

Influence of climate change and uplift on Colorado Plateau paleotemperatures from carbonate clumped isotope thermometry

“…upper mantle, or the introduction of volatiles to the upper mantle [e.g., Bird, 1979;McQuarrie and Chase, 2000;Humphreys et al, 2003]; (2) mid-Tertiary uplift related to the demise of a Laramide flat slab, where buoyancy is added to the upper mantle by mechanical thinning or chemical modification of the lithosphere [Spencer, 1996;Roy et al, 2005]; and (3) late Tertiary "epeirogenic" uplift associated with regional extensional tectonism, either by convective removal of lithosphere or heating from below [e.g., Bird, 1979;Thompson and Zoback, 1979;Humphreys, 1995;Parsons and McCarthy, 1995;Jones et al, 2004;Zandt et al, 2004]. Quantitative constraints on the timing of uplift therefore have the potential to falsify one or more of these hypotheses.…”

Remedial action plan and site conceptual design for stabilization of the inactive uranium mill tailings sites at Rifle, Colorado. Appendix D, Final report

“…The Colorado Plateau, Basin and Range, Rio Grande Rift; and Sierra Nevada appear to be part of an interrelated system that has experienced major uplift and extension during the last 20 million years (Zoback and Zoback, 1980;Thompson and Zoback, 1979). Within the Basin and Range and Rio Grande Rift bounding the Plateau are found geologic and geomorphic evidence of repeated surface faulting events associated with large earthquakes during Quaternary time.…”

“…These areas have experienced some of the largest historical earthquakes in the entire United States. These regions are characterized by large volumes of Cenozoic intrusive rock, thinner crust, higher heat flow, and stress fields oriented differently than the modern stress field in the interior of the Plateau (Thompson and Zoback, 1979). The boundary of the Colorado RFL001F2.AD3…”

“…It is conceivable that this range may represent the ME value for the prevailing stress field. Thompson and Zoback (1979) state that the lack of major faulting and/or seismicity within the Plateau interior indicates low differential (shear) stresses. This range is considerably lower than the ME value of 6.5 used for some UMTRA Project studies in the Colorado Plateau.…”