Regional stratigraphic cross sections of Cretaceous rocks from east-central Arizona to the Oklahoma Panhandle

Molenaar, C. M.; Cobban, William A.; Merewether, E.A.; Pillmore, Charles L.; Wolfe, Douglas G.; Holbrook, John

doi:10.3133/mf2382

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…1) document a dynamic period of tectonic upheaval, active volcanism, greenhouse climate, and an ever-changing coastal margin in North America (Kauffman & Hart, 1996;Lloyd et al, 2008;Benton, 2009;Chaboureau et al, 2014;Haq, 2014;Huber et al, 2018). 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).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on established linkages to marine biostratigraphic records tied to radiometric dates derived from co-occurring bentonites, previously reported ages for the terrestrial Moreno Hill Formation place its deposition entirely within the Turonian (McLellan et al, 1983a;Wolfe & Kirkland, 1998;Molenaar et al, 2002;McDonald, Wolfe & Kirkland, 2006, 2010Fowler, 2017); yet, based on stratigraphic position (overlying the Atarque Sandstone) the lowerMoreno Hill Formation was temporally assigned to the middle to upper Turonian (Pike, 1947;McLellan et al, 1983a;Wolfe & Kirkland, 1998;McDonald, Wolfe & Kirkland, 2006, Fig. 1, p. 278;McDonald, Wolfe & Kirkland, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Moreno Hill Formation is preserved in the Laramidian Zuni Basin, located between the Nutria Monocline, Zuni and Defiance uplifts, Chaco and Mogollon slopes (Kelley, 1957(Kelley, , 1967McLellan et al, 1983a;Chamberlin & Anderson, 1989;Craigg, 2001;Molenaar et al, 2002). This terrestrial unit is typically exposed at surface near to Atarque (abandoned), Fence Lake, and Quemado, New Mexico, with thickness ranging from 4.75-261.5 m (Campbell, 1981(Campbell, , 1984(Campbell, , 1987Anderson, 1982aAnderson, , 1982bAnderson, , 1983Campbell & Roybal, 1984;Hoffman, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In section, the lower Moreno Hill overlies the shoreface deposits of the Atarque Sandstone (Formation) and the off-shore mudrocks of the Rio Salado Tongue of the lower Mancos Shale (Fig. 2) (Hook, Molenaar & Cobban, 1983;McLellan et al, 1983a;Molenaar et al, 2002). The Moreno Hill is regionally overlain by a temporal unconformity (Cenozoic sediments and volcanics) and is down-cut by the Eocene Baca and Miocene Fence Lake Formations (locally variable) (McLellan et al, 1982(McLellan et al, , 1983aRoybal, 1982;Campbell, 1984Campbell, , 1989Campbell & Roybal, 1984;Cook & Arkell, 1987).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Full-size  DOI: 10.7717/peerj.10948/ fig-2 woollgari and Mammities nodosoides. The maximum age is bounded by the middle Turonian ammonites Collignoniceras woollgari woollgari and Mammities nodosoides and bivalve Mytiloides mytiloides within the underlying Rio Salado Tongue of the Mancos Shale and by the co-occurrence of Collignoniceras woollgari woollgari with Mytiloides labiatus (Wolfe & Kirkland, 1998, p. 304) or Mytiloides mytiloides (Kirkland, Smith & Wolfe, 2005, p. 89) (Wolfe & Kirkland, 1998;Molenaar et al, 2002;Hook & Cobban, 2011, 2012, 2013. Regional correlations for the Moreno Hill have also been assessed via sequence-and lithostratigraphic linkages to the north-eastern Zuni Basin, with emplacement of sediment roughly during the regional R-1 phase of the Greenhorn Cycle and during the New Mexico-specific T-2-R-2 Carlile Cycle (early Niobrara Cyclothem equivalent) (Hook, Molenaar & Cobban, 1983;Molenaar, 1983aMolenaar, , 1983bWolfe, 1989;Wolfe & Kirkland, 1998;Molenaar et al, 2002;Hook, 2010;Hook & Cobban, 2011).…”

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: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

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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A new baenid, Edowa zuniensis gen. et sp. nov., and other fossil turtles from the Upper Cretaceous Moreno Hill Formation (Turonian), New Mexico, USA

Adrian

Smith

Kelley³

et al. 2023

Cretaceous Research

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Constraining the effects of dynamic topography on the development of Late Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin, western United States

Li¹,

Aschoff

2021

GSA Bulletin

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Dynamic topography refers to the vertical deflection (i.e., uplift and subsidence) of the Earth’s surface generated in response to mantle flow. Although dynamic subsidence has been increasingly invoked to explain the subsidence and migration of depocenters in the Late Cretaceous North American Cordilleran foreland basin (CFB), it remains a challenging task to discriminate the effects of dynamic mantle processes from other subsidence mechanisms, and the spatial and temporal scales of dynamic topography is not well known. To unravel the relationship between sedimentary systems, accommodation, and subsidence mechanisms of the CFB through time and space, a high-resolution chronostratigraphic framework was developed for the Upper Cretaceous strata based on a dense data set integrating >600 well logs from multiple basins/regions in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico, USA. The newly developed stratigraphic framework divides the Upper Cretaceous strata into four chronostratigraphic packages separated by chronostratigraphic surfaces that can be correlated regionally and constrained by ammonite biozones. Regional isopach patterns and shoreline trends constructed for successive time intervals suggest that dynamic subsidence influenced accommodation creation in the CFB starting from ca. 85 Ma, and this wave of subsidence increasingly affected the CFB by ca. 80 Ma as subsidence migrated from the southwest to northeast. During 100−75 Ma, the depocenter migrated from central Utah (dominantly flexural subsidence) to north-central Colorado (dominantly dynamic subsidence). Subsidence within the CFB during 75−66 Ma was controlled by the combined effects of flexural subsidence induced by local Laramide uplifts and dynamic subsidence. Results from this study provide new constraints on the spatio-temporal footprint and migration of large-scale (>400 km × 400 km) dynamic topography at an average rate ranging from ∼120 to 60 km/m.y. in the CFB through the Late Cretaceous. The wavelength and location of dynamic topography (subsidence and uplift) generated in response to the subduction of the conjugate Shatsky Rise highly varied through both space and time, probably depending on the evolution of the oceanic plateau (e.g., changes in its location, subduction angle and depth, and buoyancy). Careful, high-resolution reconstruction of regional stratigraphic frameworks using three-dimensional data sets is critical to constrain the influence of dynamic topography. The highly transitory effects of dynamic topography need to be incorporated into future foreland basin models to better reconstruct and predict the formation of foreland basins that may have formed under the combined influence of upper crustal flexural loading and dynamic subcrustal loading associated with large-scale mantle flows.

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Regional stratigraphic cross sections of Cretaceous rocks from east-central Arizona to the Oklahoma Panhandle

Cited by 6 publications

References 2 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

A new baenid, Edowa zuniensis gen. et sp. nov., and other fossil turtles from the Upper Cretaceous Moreno Hill Formation (Turonian), New Mexico, USA

Constraining the effects of dynamic topography on the development of Late Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin, western United States

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