Weathering, erosion, and sediment transport in modern landscapes may be investigated via direct observation of attributes such as elevation, relief, bedrock lithology, climate, drainage organization, watershed extent, and others. Studies of ancient landscape evolution lack this synoptic perspective, however, and instead must rely more heavily on downstream records of fluvial deposits. Provenance analysis based on detrital grain ages has greatly enhanced the utility of such records but has often focused broadly on regional to continental scales. This approach may overlook important details of localized watersheds, which could lead to significant misinterpretation of past sediment dispersal patterns. The present study, therefore, explores the impact of geographic and stratigraphic sampling density on detrital zircon provenance, based on a high-density investigation of U-Pb ages (N = 23, n = 4905) obtained from a narrow chronostratigraphic range (∼2 m.y.) within a relatively small (∼25,000 km2) area of an Eocene nonmarine sedimentary basin. Based on multi-dimensional scaling and DZmix modeling, these strata comprise seven distinct, approximately isochronous detrital zircon (DZ) chronofacies, defined as “. . . a group of sedimentary rocks that contains a specified suite of detrital zircon age populations” (Lawton et al., 2010). Four of these DZ chronofacies reflect long-distance transport from extrabasinal source areas. DZ chronofacies CO-1 and CO-2 are interpreted to derive from a primary sediment source in central Colorado (USA), corroborating previously proposed long-distance sediment transport via the Aspen paleoriver. DZ chronofacies ID-1 and ID-2 are interpreted to have been delivered to the basin from central Idaho by the Idaho paleoriver. In contrast, DZ chronofacies UT-1 and UT-2 are interpreted to reflect local drainage from the Uinta Uplift south of the basin, and DZ chronofacies WY-1 is interpreted to have been sourced from the Rawlins, Granite, and Sierra Madre uplifts to the north and east via the Toya Puki paleoriver. Lateral transitions between different DZ chronofacies in some cases occur over distances as little as 5 km, implying that depositional systems carrying sand from disparate watersheds directly competed to fill available basin accommodation. The results of this study reveal a high degree of complexity of Eocene rivers that converged on the Greater Green River Basin, indicating that their deposits contain a rich record of fine-scale landscape evolution across much of the Laramide foreland and Cordilleran orogen. These results illustrate the need for adequate sample density when assessing basin-scale provenance and offer a cautionary consideration for researchers using sandstone (and incorporated authigenic cement) in other nonmarine basins as the basis for paleoaltimetry or detrital thermochronology studies.
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This content will become publicly available on November 16, 2024
High-resolution X-ray fluorescence-based provenance mapping of Eocene fluvial distributary fans that fed ancient Gosiute Lake, Wyoming, USA
The Green River Formation of Wyoming, USA, is host to the world’s largest known lacustrine sodium carbonate deposits, which accumulated in a closed basin during the early Eocene greenhouse. Alkaline brines are hypothesized to have been delivered to ancient Gosiute Lake by the Aspen paleoriver that flowed from the Colorado Mineral Belt. To precisely trace fluvial provenance in the resulting deposits, we conducted X-ray fluorescence analyses and petrographic studies across a suite of well-dated sandstone marker beds of the Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River Formation. Principal component analysis reveals strong correlation among elemental abundances, grain composition, and sedimentary lithofacies. To isolate a detrital signal, elements least affected by authigenic minerals, weathering, and other processes were included in a principal component analysis, the results of which are consistent with petrographic sandstone modes and detrital zircon chronofacies of the basin. Sandstone marker beds formed during eccentricity-paced lacustrine lowstands and record the migration of fluvial distributary channel networks from multiple catchments
around a migrating depocenter, including two major paleorivers. The depositional topography of these convergent fluvial fans would have inversely defined bathymetric lows during subsequent phases of lacustrine
inundation, locations where trona could accumulate below a thermocline. Provenance mapping verifies fluvial connectivity to the Aspen paleoriver and to sources of alkalinity in the Colorado Mineral Belt across Wilkins
Peak Member deposition, and shows that the greatest volumes of sediment were delivered from the Aspen paleoriver during deposition of marker beds A, B, D, and I, each of which were deposited coincident with prominent “hyperthermal” isotopic excursions documented in oceanic cores.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1813350
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10474241
- Publisher / Repository:
- Geological Society of America Bulletin
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geological Society of America bulletin
- ISSN:
- 0016-7606
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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