Variations in fluvial style in the Westwater Canyon Member, Morrison formation (Jurassic), San Juan basin, Colorado plateau

Miall, Andrew D.; Turner-Peterson, Christine E.

doi:10.1016/0037-0738(89)90070-5

Cited by 37 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…For this reason, and because of the massive and laterally extensive character of the sand bodies, we suggest that the lower Tamberia strata were deposited in low-sinuosity, sandy, braided channels (Smith, 1970;Allen, 1983;Miall and Turner-Peterson, 1989;Hein and Walker, 1977;Smith and Perez-Arlucea, 1994;Miall, 1996;Makaske, 2001;Lunt and Bridge, 2004;Wooldridge and Hickin, 2005).…”

Section: Tamberia Formationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Dynamics of deformation and sedimentation in the northern Sierras Pampeanas: An integrated study of the Neogene Fiambala basin, NW Argentina

Carrapa

Hauer

Schoenbohm

et al. 2008

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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The thick-skinned Sierras Pampeanas morphotectonic domain of western and northwestern Argentina (27°S-33°S) is characterized by reverse-fault-bounded basement blocks that delimit internally deformed, Neogene sedimentary basins. Forelandbasin evolution in this part of the Andes is still not very well understood. For example, challenging questions exist as to how thickskinned deformation develops, if there are distinct spatiotemporal trends in deformation and exhumation, how such deformation styles infl uence sedimentation patterns, and whether or not broken foreland basins are related to regional plate-tectonic processes, such as fl at-slab subduction.The Fiambalá basin of the northwestern Sierras Pampeanas is the largest of several intermontane basins in the transition to the southern margin of the Puna Plateau. This basin preserves a thick continental Neo-gene sequence that provides information on the dynamics of thick-skinned deformation and resulting sedimentation. The Fiambalá basin contains ~4 km of fl uvial-alluvial sedimentary rocks that comprise the Tamberia, Guanchin, and Punaschotter Formations. U-Pb geochronology of ashes intercalated within the Fiambalá stratigraphic sequence demonstrates that these sedimentary rocks are late Miocene to Pliocene (8.2 ± 0.3 Ma to 3.05 ± 0.4 Ma) in age. Sedimentology and provenance data indicate that the source of the Tamberia Formation was located to the west of the modern western basin-bounding range. The Guanchin and Punaschotter Formations record input from local sources, including the modern basin-bounding range to the west and the southern Puna Plateau to the north, suggesting reorganization of the catchment area at ca. 5.5 Ma.The coarsening-upward trends recorded by the fl uvial Tamberia and Guanchin Formations indicate enhanced tectonics and relief during sedimentation. The Punaschotter conglomerates record alluvial-fan sedimentation and local sources. Fault kinematic data document a contractional regime, characterized by E-W and NE-SW shortening, active throughout the middle-late Miocene and Pliocene. Furthermore, a comparison between the Fiambalá basin and similar sedimentary basins in the Sierras Pampeanas (e.g., Bermejo foreland basin) and the Eastern Cordillera leads us to propose that the study area originally constituted an integral part of a continuous and more extensive foreland-basin system (thin-skinned) for much of its early history. Our data suggest coeval intrabasin deformation along strike from the Bermejo region northward to the Eastern Cordillera. The coeval change at ca. 6 Ma from a regional to more compartmentalized (thick-skinned) tectono-sedimentary environment in the regions adjacent to the Eastern Cordillera, the southern Puna margin, and other sectors within the Sierras Pampeanas domain may thus refl ect a regional tectonic process related to fl at subduction. Our data, combined with existing sedimentological and petrological evidence, imply that the passage from steep to fl at subduction occurred synchronously from ~30°S to ~26°S.

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Section: Tamberia Formationmentioning

confidence: 90%

Dynamics of deformation and sedimentation in the northern Sierras Pampeanas: An integrated study of the Neogene Fiambala basin, NW Argentina

Carrapa

Hauer

Schoenbohm

et al. 2008

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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“…The depositional climate was arid to semiarid environment (Demko & Parish 2001;Demko et al 2004). The sediments contain a major contribution of weathered volcanic ash, expressed as Deposition was dominated by anastomosing fixed fluvial channels (Miall & Turner-Peterson 1989;Kjemperud et al 2008). 3).…”

Section: Fluvial Faciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some published descriptions of these facies can be found in Miall & Peterson (1989). The meandering channels are typically thin (<2 m) and are laterally extensive (100-200 m in width).…”

Section: Fluvial Faciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concretions in exhumed and inverted channels near Hanksville Utah: implications for Mars

Clarke¹,

Stoker

2011

International Journal of Astrobiology

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The landscape near Hanksville, Utah, contains a diversity of Mars analogue features. These included segmented and inverted anastomosing palaeochannels exhumed from the Late Jurassic Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation that hosts abundant small carbonate concretions. The exhumed and inverted channels closely resemble many seen on the surface of Mars in satellite imagery and which may be visited by surface missions in the near future. The channels contain a wealth of palaeoenvironmental information and are potentially of astrobiological interest, but intrinsically difficult terrain would make their study challenging on Mars. We show that an un-exhumed channel feature can be detected geophysically, and this may allow their study in more easily accessed terrain. The concretion's morphology and surface expression parallel the haematite 'blue berries' that are strewn across the surface of Meridiani Planum on Mars. They are best developed in poorly cemented medium to coarse channel sandstones and appear to have formed during deep burial.

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“…The Westwater Canyon Member is a composite sheet of multistory channel complexes, separated by thin intervals of finer grained overbank deposits, having an average thickness of 60 m that locally ranges upward to 90 m (Campbell, 1976;Turner-Peterson, 1986). Horizontal laminations indicative of the upper flow regime, crossbeds reflecting downstream accretion on intrachannel bars, and locally prominent lateral-accretion beds formed on point bars jointly imply deposition by intermittent streamflow of seasonal or multiannual recurrence (Miall and Turner-Peterson, 1989).…”

Section: Morrison Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of volcano-hosted geothermal systems based on deep wells from Karaha-Telaga Bodas, Indonesia

Moore¹,

Allis²,

Němčok³

et al. 2008

American Journal of Science

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In late Mesozoic time, the southern Cordilleran foreland basin was bounded on the west by the Sevier thrust belt and on the south by the Mogollon highlands. Paleocurrent indicators in fluvial and fluviodeltaic strata imply sediment delivery into the basin from both tectonic features. Ages of detrital zircons in sandstones of the basin provide insights into the nature of the sediment sources. Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous fluvial strata were deposited as sediment blankets across the width of the basin but Upper Cretaceous marginal-marine facies were restricted to the basin margin, with marine facies in the basin interior. Most Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous fluvial sandstones contain heterogeneous age populations of Precambrian and Paleozoic detrital zircons largely recycled from Jurassic eolianites uplifted within the Sevier thrust belt or antecedent highlands, and exposed as sedimentary cover over the Mogollon highlands, with only minor contributions of Mesozoic zircon grains from the Cordilleran magmatic arc along the continental margin. Sources in Yavapai-Mazatzal Proterozoic basement intruded by anorogenic Mesoproterozoic plutons along the Mogollon highlands were significant for the Westwater Canyon Member of the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation and for early Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) fluviodeltaic depositional systems, in which arc-derived Cordilleran zircon grains are more abundant than in older and younger units composed dominantly of recycled detritus. Detrital zircons confirm that the Salt Wash and Westwater Canyon Members of the Morrison Formation formed separate foreland megafans of different provenance. Late Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) fluvial sandstones include units containing mostly recycled sand lacking arc-derived grains in the Sevier foredeep adjacent to the Sevier thrust front, and units derived from both Yavapai-Mazatzal basement and the Cordilleran arc farther east, with some mingling of sand from both sources at selected horizons within the Sevier foredeep. Evidence for longitudinal as well as transverse delivery of sediment to the foreland basin shows that paleogeographic and isostatic analyses of thrust-belt erosion, sediment loads, and basin subsidence in foreland systems need to allow for derivation of foreland sediment in significant volumes from sources lying outside adjacent thrust belts.

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Variations in fluvial style in the Westwater Canyon Member, Morrison formation (Jurassic), San Juan basin, Colorado plateau

Cited by 37 publications

References 10 publications

Dynamics of deformation and sedimentation in the northern Sierras Pampeanas: An integrated study of the Neogene Fiambala basin, NW Argentina

Dynamics of deformation and sedimentation in the northern Sierras Pampeanas: An integrated study of the Neogene Fiambala basin, NW Argentina

Concretions in exhumed and inverted channels near Hanksville Utah: implications for Mars

The evolution of volcano-hosted geothermal systems based on deep wells from Karaha-Telaga Bodas, Indonesia

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