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Tectonic Setting and Timing of Deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon, Northern Colorado Front Range

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Tectonic Setting and Timing of Deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon, Northern Colorado Front Range University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Master's Theses Student Research 11-8-2019 Tectonic setting and timing of deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon, northern Colorado Front Range Simone Muller [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses Recommended Citation Muller, Simone, "Tectonic setting and timing of deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon, northern Colorado Front Range" (2019). Master's Theses. 111. https://digscholarship.unco.edu/theses/111 This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School TECTONIC SETTING AND TIMING OF DEFORMATION IN THE BIG THOMPSON CANYON, NORTHERN COLORADO FRONT RANGE A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Simone Rene Müller College of Natural and Health Sciences Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences December 2019 This Thesis by: Simone Rene Müller Entitled: Tectonic setting and timing of deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon, northern Colorado Front Range has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts in College of Natural and Health Sciences in Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Accepted by the Thesis Committee: _______________________________________________________ Graham Baird, Ph.D., Chair _______________________________________________________ Tim Grover, Ph.D., Committee Member _______________________________________________________ Kevin Mahan, Ph.D., Committee Member Accepted by the Graduate School _____________________________________________________________ Linda L. Black, Ed.D. Associate Provost and Dean Graduate School and International Admissions Research and Sponsored Projects ABSTRACT Müller, Simone. Tectonic setting and timing of deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon, northern Colorado Front Range. Unpublished Master of Arts thesis, University of Northern Colorado, 2019. The 1.8-1.6 Ga rocks of the western United States were formed through accretionary tectonics either by collision of juvenile island-arcs or by cycles of extension- accretion. For the juvenile island-arc model, basins between the arcs are expected to be older than the arcs and long periods of time (>10-20 Myr) may exist between basin formation, arc formation, and the deformation caused by their accretion. In contrast, the extension-accretion model predicts sedimentation within extensional basins must be younger than the earliest arcs and may be deformed by accretion shortly (~10-20 Myr) after formation. The Big Thompson Canyon area, between Loveland and Estes Park, CO, was formed during 1.8-1.6 Ga accretionary orogenesis. Therefore, constraining the timing of sedimentation and deformation in this area offers an opportunity to investigate how accretionary orogens operate and which model best applies to the region. Four main lithologies exist within the central Big Thompson Canyon area. These include metasedimentary knotted schist and quartzite, both intruded by granitic pegmatite and tonalite. The maximum age of deposition of the schist and quartzite protolith has been constrained by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry of detrital zircons to 1751±44 Ma, in agreement with previous studies. Two deformation events have affected these rocks. The first deformational foliation has a NE strike and SE iii dip and is essentially parallel to relict bedding. Intrusion of pegmatite and tonalitic rocks occurred before or during the first deformation as these rocks exhibit a foliation, folding, tension gashes, and boudinage associated with this first deformation event. The second deformation event is recorded by all rocks as a foliation with a NW strike and SW dip and folding of older features. Zircon constrains the age of tonalite intrusion to 1742±15 Ma. Microstructural analysis of monazite in a schist indicates that the grains have grown cores and rims parallel to the first deformation. Electron microprobe dating of the monazite give an average core and rim age of 1723.1±4.0 Ma. These ages, with errors, support the timing of the first deformation occurring shortly after the tonalite intrusion. The data collected indicates that there is a ~10-20 Myr time frame between sediment deposition, closing of the basin, intrusive activity, and subsequent deformation in the Big Thompson Canyon area. This ~10-20 Myr constraint fits the proposed duration of events for the extension-accretion model. Published geochemical analysis has shown that the Green Mountain arc to the north and the Salida-Gunnison arc to the south may be related, which could be explained by the arcs forming together and subsequently rifting via slab-rollback. Though, arguments can be made in support of the juvenile island-arc accretion model and further research is necessary, this study concludes that data and previous studies suggest the extension-accretion model best explains the formation of these rocks. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The idea for this project has evolved over several years and become a strong interest of several instructors, including Dr. Graham Baird at the University of Northern Colorado. I am honored to have had Dr. Baird for an advisor, as his expertise and guidance have allowed me to explore this topic and grow as a researcher. Thank you to the members of my committee, Dr. Tim Grover at UNCO and Dr. Kevin Mahan at the University of Colorado Boulder. Their feedback and expertise have been a valuable resource. Special thanks to Chris Holm-Denoma at the USGS for the use of the LA-ICP- MS as well as Dr. Mike Williams, Michael Jercinovic, and Kathryn Suarez at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for the use of the electron microprobe. Many endless thanks to my fellow graduate students at UNCO, Haylie Brown and Davitia James, for their encouragement and feedback on my work. I especially must thank Haylie for her assistance in working with ArcGIS as my field map would not have been completed without her. This project was funded by research and travel grants from the Graduate Student Association at the University of Northern Colorado, Colorado Scientific Society Snyder Fund, the Gene Hatten and Don Meredith Memorial Scholarship through Cinemark USA, Inc., and the Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America. Stereonets were produced by Steronet v.10.8 for Windows by Richard W. Allmendinger. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER INTRODUCTION………….……………………………………..…… 1 Background Geology…………………………………………... 6 The Big Thompson Canyon……………………………………. 11 FIELD AREA……………….………………………………………….. 14 Lithologies……………………………………………………… 14 Structural Analysis………………………………………...….… 17 METHODS AND RESULTS …………………………………………... 24 Detrital Zircon Geochronology…………………………………. 24 Detrital Zircon Results………………………………………….. 26 Monazite Geochronology……………………………………….. 29 Monazite Results………………………………………………... 30 DISCUSSION.…………………………………………………….…...... 33 Applying a Tectonic Model………………………………..…..... 40 CONCLUSIONS……………………….…………………………….. 45 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………… 47 APPENDIX Tables………………………………………………………………..….. 57 iv LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. Juvenile island-arc accretion model……………………………………... 2 2. Extension-accretion model………………………………………...…….. 3 3. Map of Proterozoic rocks of the western United States, generalized geologic map of the Proterozoic rocks of the Colorado Front Range, and geologic map of the Big Thompson Canyon………………….…………. 5 4. Age comparison of intrusions throughout Colorado……………………… 8 5. Graded beds on Storm Mountain……………………………………….… 9 6. Geologic map of Storm Mountain Drive…………………………………. 15 7. Outcrop of quartzite showing crossbeds………………………………….. 16 8. Outcrop of knotted schist…………………………………………………. 16 9. Pinch and swell in a pegmatite, boudinage tonalite, boudinage tonalite and S0-1 foliation, folded tension gash…………………….……………… 18 10. Photomicrographs of knotted schist thin section………………………….. 19 11. Stereonet of S0-1 data………………………………………………………. 20 12. Stereonet of S2 data………………………………………………………... 20 13. Pegmatite seam surrounded by tonalite showing S2 foliation……………... 21 14. F2 folding in a quartzite and pegmatite……………………………………. 21 15. F1 and F2 folding…………………………………………………………... 22 vii 16. CL images of detrital zircons………………………………………………. 25 17. Concordia plot of all zircon data…………………………………………… 27 18. Concordia plot of filtered zircon data……………………………………… 27 19. Probability density plot of all zircon data………………………………….. 28 20. Probability density plot of filtered zircon data…………………………….. 28 21. Example of monazite growth during deformation…………………………. 29 22. Monazite data………………………………………………………………. 31 23. Weighted mean plots of monazite rim and core ages………………………. 32 24. Weighted mean plot comparing all detrital zircon ages…………………….. 34 25. Patterns of detrital zircon probability density plots and tectonic settings…... 36 26. Weighted mean plot comparing ages………………………………………... 40 27. Extension-accretion model for Colorado……………………………………. 41 28. Juvenile island-arc accretion model for Colorado…………………………… 42 viii LIST OF TABLES TABLES 1. Detrital zircon data……………………………………………………….. 58 a. Detrital zircon data……………………………………………….. 58 b. Additional detrital zircon data……………………………………. 61 c. U/Th ratios for detrital
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