Sedimentation and crustal recycling along an active oblique-rift margin: Salton Trough and northern Gulf of California

Dorsey, Rebecca J.

doi:10.1130/g30698.1

Cited by 67 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Recent studies call attention to the critical role that sediments play in continental rifting, lithospheric rupture, and the formation of new ocean basins (Dorsey 2010). Prol-Ledesma et al (2013) believe that the mean heat flow for the Wagner and Consag Basins area is 1875 mWm −2 , more than 15 times higher than the mean value for oceanic crust (~105 mWm −2 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The high rates of sediment accumulation cause rapid burial, and igneous intrusions into the deeper sediments metamorphose them and create hybrid crust (Fuis et al 1982(Fuis et al , 1984Axen 2008;Dorsey 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…International Geology Review 1319 different crust layers do not behave discretely (GonzalezFernandez et al 2005;Dorsey 2010). This behaviour seems to be similar to the one observed by Fuis et al (1984) in the Imperial Valley, California, USA, where the results of a seismic refraction study show no sharp velocity discontinuity within the sedimentary-basement sequence.…”

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confidence: 98%

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Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

González-Escobar

Suárez-Vidal

Sojo-Amezquita

et al. 2014

International Geology Review

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The Gulf of California is an excellent example of how new ocean basins form. Tectonically, the northern Gulf of California is an incipient ocean basin and studies on it have defined acoustic basement and reveal the presence of new oceanic crust and intrusive bodies. Some recent studies report fundamental differences between the basins of the northern and southern Gulf of California: that the latter have well-developed oceanic crust beneath a thin cover of sediments, whereas the northern basins show proto-ocean basins, which may reflect thermal insulation of the thick sedimentary cover, the presence of lowangle faults, and more diffuse and distributed deformation. During the 1970s, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) undertook a 2D seismic reflection survey in the northern Gulf of California, over many active rift basins, including the Consag Basin. Through the processing and interpretation of these data, we describe the structural characteristics of the Consag Basin beyond 2 km depths. Using seismic reflection data, we identified an intrusion in the central part of this basin that may represent new oceanic crust buried by more than 4 km of sediments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 98%

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Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

González-Escobar

Suárez-Vidal

Sojo-Amezquita

et al. 2014

International Geology Review

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“…One of the ways in which continents grow through time is by deposition of sediment at continental margins (e.g., Dorsey, 2010). On many modern and ancient margins, this sediment is terrestrially derived detritus.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of the paleoflux of terrestrial-derived solids across ancient basin margins using the stratigraphic record

Petter

Steel

Mohrig

et al. 2012

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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“…This conclusion is consistent with sediment mass-balance calculations that document a large sustained flux of sediment from the Colorado River to actively subsiding plate-boundary basins over the past ca. 5-6 Myr (Dorsey, 2010;Dorsey and Lazear, 2013).…”

Section: Stratigraphic Synthesis Western Salton Troughmentioning

confidence: 99%

Punctuated Sediment Discharge During Early Pliocene Birth of the Colorado River: Evidence from Regional Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleontology

Dorsey¹,

O’Connell²,

McDougall-Reid³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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The Colorado River in the southwestern U.S. provides an excellent natural laboratory for studying the origins of a continent-scale river system, because deposits that formed prior to and during river initiation are well exposed in the lower river valley and nearby basinal sink. This paper presents a synthesis of regional stratigraphy, sedimentology, and micropaleontology from the southern Bouse Formation and similar-age deposits in the western Salton Trough, which we use to interpret processes that controlled the birth and early evolution of the Colorado River. The southern Bouse Formation is divided into three laterally persistent members: basal carbonate, siliciclastic, and upper bioclastic members. Basal carbonate accumulated in a tidedominated marine embayment during a rise of relative sea level between ~6.3 and 5.4 Ma, prior to arrival of the Colorado River. The transition to green claystone records initial rapid influx of river water and its distal clay wash load into the subtidal marine embayment at ~5.4-5.3 Ma. This was followed by rapid southward progradation of the Colorado River delta, establishment of the earliest through-flowing river, and deposition of river-derived turbidites in the western Salton Trough (Wind Caves paleocanyon) between ~5.3 and 5.1 Ma. Early delta progradation was followed by regional shut-down of river sand output between ~5.1 and 4.8 Ma that resulted in deposition of marine clay in the Salton Trough, retreat of the delta, and re-flooding of the lower river valley by shallow marine water that deposited the Bouse upper bioclastic member. Resumption of sediment discharge at ~4.8 Ma drove massive progradation of fluvial-deltaic deposits back down the river valley into the northern Gulf and Salton Trough.These results provide evidence for a discontinuous, start-stop-start history of sand output during initiation of the Colorado River that is not predicted by existing models for this system. The underlying controls on punctuated sediment discharge are assessed by comparing the depositional chronology to the record of global sea-level change. The lower Colorado River Valley and Salton Trough experienced marine transgression during a gradual fall in global sea level between ~6.3 and 5.5 Ma, implicating tectonic subsidence as the main driver of latest Miocene relative sea-level rise. A major fall of global sea level at 5.3Ma outpaced subsidence and drove regional delta progradation, earliest flushing of Colorado River sand into the northern Gulf of California, and erosion of Bouse basal carbonate and siliciclastic members. The lower Colorado River valley was re-flooded by shallow marine waters during smaller changes in global sea level ~ 5.1-4.8 Ma, after the river first ran through it, which requires a mechanism to stop delivery of sand to the lower river valley. We propose that tectonically controlled subsidence along the lower Colorado River, upstream of the southern Bouse study area, temporarily trapped sediment and stopped delivery of sand to the lower river valley and nort...

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Sedimentation and crustal recycling along an active oblique-rift margin: Salton Trough and northern Gulf of California

Cited by 67 publications

References 27 publications

Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

Estimation of the paleoflux of terrestrial-derived solids across ancient basin margins using the stratigraphic record

Punctuated Sediment Discharge During Early Pliocene Birth of the Colorado River: Evidence from Regional Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleontology

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