RESEARCH Growth Faults in the Kaiparowits Basin, Utah, Pinpoint Initial Laramide Deformation in the Western Colorado Plateau

RESEARCH

Growth faults in the Kaiparowits Basin, Utah, pinpoint initial Laramide deformation in the western Colorado Plateau

S.E. Tindall1,*, L.P. Storm1, T.A. Jenesky2, and E.L. Simpson1 1DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES, KUTZTOWN UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, KUTZTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA 19530, USA 2AECOM, 125 ROCK ROAD, HORSHAM, PENNSYLVANIA 19044, USA

ABSTRACT

Growth faults and synorogenic sedimentary strata preserved in Upper Cretaceous units on the margin of the Kaiparowits Basin in southern Utah pinpoint the timing of onset of the Laramide orogeny in this region between 80 and 76 Ma. The newly identiﬁ ed listric normal faults, exposed in the steep limb of the East Kaibab monocline, sole into shales and evaporites of the Jurassic Carmel Formation. Faults lose displacement up-section through the Cretaceous Wahweap Formation and are associated with numerous coseismic sedimentary features. Fault orientations and slip vectors yield strain directions consistent with fold-related extension parallel to the axis of the growing East Kaibab monocline, or with development of a pull-apart basin at a bend in the trend of the fold. The association of the faults with the steep limb of a major basement-cored structure links them to initial Laramide movement along the Kaibab Uplift. When combined with recent radiometric ages of rock units bracketing the fault-induced growth strata, these sedimentary and structural features narrowly deﬁ ne the onset of Laramide deformation in the western Colorado Plateau.

LITHOSPHERE; v. 2; no. 4; p. 221–231. doi: 10.1130/L79.1

INTRODUCTION ers have assumed that Laramide deformation across the southwestern Colorado Plateau generally coincided with development of this uncon- The timing and kinematic progression of Laramide deformation in formity (Gregory and Moore, 1931; Bowers, 1972; Chapin and Cather, the Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountain regions of the western United 1981; Goldstrand, 1994). Regional studies of sedimentation patterns and States have been controversial topics since early exploration of the Ameri- basin styles provide a broad framework for the timing and progression of can West (Powell, 1875; Dutton, 1882; Walcott, 1890). To explain vari- Laramide deformation (Chapin and Cather, 1981; Dickinson et al., 1986; ations in the orientations and structural styles of Colorado Plateau and Goldstrand, 1994), but the different orientations and structural styles of Rocky Mountain basement-cored uplifts, geologists have suggested pro- individual uplifts, and the underlying tectonic causes of basement-involved cesses including changing stress ﬁ elds (Chapin and Cather, 1981; Gries, foreland deformation, are still actively debated (e.g., Bump, 2004, 2007; 1983; Varga, 1993; Bird, 1998; Bump, 2004), rotation or northward trans- Jones et al., 2007; Tetreault and Jones, 2007; Wawrzyniec et al., 2007). lation of the Colorado Plateau crustal block (Chapin and Cather, 1981; Synorogenic sedimentary rocks are instrumental in unraveling timing, Bryan, 1989; Wawrzyniec and Geissman, 1995; Cather, 1997, 1999), progression, and kinematics of mountain-building and in understanding lithospheric buckling (Tikoff and Maxson, 2001), and oblique reactivation the effects of orogenesis on Earth surface processes and environments. of preexisting crustal weaknesses (Kelley, 1955; Stone, 1969; Marshak et Several studies have investigated syntectonic sediments and growth strata al., 2000; Timmons et al., 2001; Tetreault and Jones, 2007). A deﬁ nitive associated with Sevier fold-and-thrust deformation in the western United understanding of the growth of foreland basement-cored uplifts, both as States (DeCelles, 1994; DeCelles et al., 1995; Latta, 1999; Anastasio et individual structures and as tectonic systems, hinges on unraveling the al., 2002). Within the Rocky Mountain foreland uplifts bordering the timing and sequence of deformation. Unfortunately, determination of tim- Colorado Plateau, the magnitude of uplift and subsidence favored pres- ing is complicated by limitations of erosion and exposure. On the Colo- ervation of syntectonic strata, and, in many cases, subsequent Basin and rado Plateau in particular, the key Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary syn- Range normal faulting resulted in their dissection and exposure (e.g., Hoy tectonic strata have been eroded from the crests of major basement-cored and Ridgeway, 1997; Seager et al., 1997; Johnson and Andersen, 2009). uplifts or are deeply buried in intervening basins. Across the spatial transi- The low amplitude of deformation and the presence of a regional uncon- tion from Sevier fold-and-thrust deformation to Laramide basement-cored formity between Late Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits of the western uplifts in southwestern Utah, the relevant synorogenic sedimentary rocks Colorado Plateau have precluded widespread investigation of synorogenic are exposed only in narrow, discontinuous belts across the westernmost sedimentary rocks associated with the start of the Laramide orogeny in Colorado Plateau (Goldstrand, 1994; Lawton et al., 2003) (Fig. 1). Exami- this enigmatic region. nation of the limited exposures of sedimentary rocks spanning the time Close examination of Upper Cretaceous strata exposed at the bound- of the Laramide orogeny reveals a regional unconformity separating Late ary between the Kaibab Uplift and the Kaiparowits Basin in southern Cretaceous strata from Paleocene and Eocene rocks, and most research- Utah (Fig. 2) has revealed faulting and associated growth strata linked with early movement of a major Laramide uplift. Fault kinematics indi- *Corresponding author e-mail: [email protected] cate extension in the upper crust at the onset of Laramide deformation,

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0 300 Iron Springs Panguitch km UT CO A Thrust B N U Escalante D Cedar belt City fault Tropic Kanarra r e thrust D i U fold v e e n i Fig. 2 S l U c D o n fault o Kaiparowits

Sevier fault M e

t Basin n

Kaibab a n b c D u Uplift i a r U g r b u i

u a a

H s K

n t Kanab u s a a 20 km M P o E 37°N H go ig llo hla n 113°W 112°W nd s Figure 1. (A) Location of the Kaibab Uplift in the west-central Colorado NM Plateau, near the margin of the Sevier thrust belt. (B) Upper Cretaceous AZ strata (gray) deposited during the temporal transition from Sevier to Laramide deformation are exposed in a narrow strip across the spatial Colorado Plateau Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary between the Sevier thrust belt and the adjacent foreland basin. basement uplifts thrust belts The Iron Springs thrust is a thin-skinned Sevier structure; the East Kaibab Approximate area shown in (B) monocline is a Laramide basement-cored foreland uplift; and the Hur- ricane, Sevier, and Paunsaugunt are Tertiary normal faults.

and associated syntectonic strata reveal that the basement-cored Kaibab (Jinnah et al., 2009), and a tuff near the base of the overlying Kaiparowits Uplift infl uenced surface structure and sedimentation during Campan- Formation yielded an age of 75.96 ± 0.14 Ma (Roberts et al., 2005). These ian time—specifi cally, between 80 and 76 Ma. The study area lies near radiometric ages complement studies of microvertebrate biostratigraphy the boundary between the Sevier, “thin-skinned” fold-and-thrust belt (Eaton, 1991, 2002) in supporting a Campanian age for the Wahweap style of deformation and the Laramide, “thick-skinned” basement-cored Formation. West and south of the study area, the Wahweap Formation has uplifts of the Cordilleran foreland (Fig. 2). The transition in structural been uplifted and removed by erosion, while to the north and east, it is style across this region makes it a key area for understanding kinematic buried in the subsurface of the Kaiparowits Basin (Fig. 1). However, along and tectonic development of orogens, while the temporal progression the East Kaibab monocline, a narrow strip of tilted Cretaceous rocks pro- of deformation across the boundary is a necessary element in model- vides perspective on structure and sedimentation at the onset of Laramide ing the Colorado Plateau system of basement-cored uplifts. This paper deformation (Fig. 2). analyzes the timing and kinematics of surface faulting marking the onset of Laramide deformation along the Kaibab Uplift and discusses tectonic GROWTH FAULTS AND SYNTECTONIC STRATA and sedimentologic implications. Modern Fault Geometry GEOLOGIC SETTING Two northeast-striking, northwest-dipping faults exposed in the steep, The Kaibab Uplift is a Laramide-age, basement-cored uplift near east-dipping limb of the East Kaibab monocline each display ~0.5–1 km the western edge of the Colorado Plateau, occupying the foreland for of right-handed separation of Jurassic Entrada through Cretaceous Wah- ~180 km parallel to the edge of the Sevier thin-skinned fold-and-thrust weap strata (Figs. 2 and 3). Slickenlines on exposed fault surfaces rake belt (Fig. 1). In southern Utah, the eastern edge of the Kaibab Uplift is moderately (~45°–55°) southwest, indicating oblique, northwest-side-up marked by steeply east-dipping Jurassic and Cretaceous strata of the East relative displacement (Fig. 4). The faults lose displacement up-section Kaibab monocline, and to the east, a thick sequence of Upper Cretaceous within the Cretaceous Wahweap Formation; separation at the base of the strata preserved in the neighboring Kaiparowits Basin (Figs. 1 and 2). Pre- Wahweap is up to 0.5 km, but the Wahweap-Kaiparowits contact is undis- vious work suggests that the East Kaibab monocline formed above steeply turbed by the southern fault and is offset only a few meters by the northern dipping Precambrian basement faults that were reactivated as reverse fault (Fig. 3). Toward the southwest, each fault trace curves into parallel- or dextral-reverse faults during the Late Cretaceous to early Tertiary ism with shales and evaporites of the Jurassic Carmel Formation, a valley- Laramide orogeny, causing west-side-up monoclinal folding of Paleozoic forming unit through which stratigraphic markers and fault surfaces are and Mesozoic sedimentary strata (e.g., Stern, 1992; Tindall and Davis, diffi cult to trace. However, the faults clearly do not displace the underly- 1999; Marshak et al., 2000; Timmons et al., 2001; Bump and Davis, 2003) ing Jurassic Navajo Sandstone in the fi eld area (Figs. 2 and 3). Figure 4 (Fig. 2). The maximum vertical offset across the monocline is ~1600 m summarizes orientations of major northeast-striking fault surfaces and near the northern end of the Kaibab Uplift in southern Utah. southwest-raking slickenlines in their modern-day orientations. This study focuses on faults and sedimentary strata preserved in the Stern (1992) and Tindall and Davis (1999) interpreted these faults as Late Cretaceous Wahweap Formation at the boundary between the Kai- oblique reverse faults that developed during a fi nal phase of Laramide, bab Uplift and Kaiparowits Basin (Fig. 2). Recent radiometric dating of a ENE-directed horizontal shortening and monocline growth. Stern (1992) bentonite layer in the middle Wahweap provided an age of 80.1 ± 0.3 Ma noted their association with a bend in the trend of the monocline, and

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Kt Ksc Kw

Kd Je 4 (M) ERA PERIOD FORMATIONTHICKNESS SYMBOL

′ Kaiparowits 600-900 Kk

e 37°30

n i l Wahweap 300-450 Kw c Jc o N n o Straight Cliffs 275-550 Ksc

Kk Tropic 150-230 Kt b Jn a b Dakota 0-115 Kd i s N b

′ a t a t i f b i K i l w Entrada 0-300 Je a o n p i r 37°25 s K U a a p t i MESOZOIC B s a a E K Carmel 50-320 Jc

111°57′W 111°47′W JURASSIC CRETACEOUS 0510 Navajo 400-460 Jn A kilometers B

Ksc Kw Kk

Figure 2. (A) Simpliﬁ ed geologic map of the study area. Location is shown in Figure 1B. Star indicates the location of the aerial photograph in C. (B) Jurassic and Cretaceous stratigraphy in the study area. (C) North-directed oblique aerial photograph across the northern fault. Horizontal distance between the crests of the two prominent ridges north of the fault is approximately 800 meters (0.5 mile). Photograph is by H.L. Hilbert-Wolf.

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THICKNESS (M) ′ Kwl 30 ″ Pine Hollow, Grand Castle, N Canaan Peak, and Claron Fms (undifferentiated) ~65 Kwu Ma Kaiparowits Fm, Kk A 600-900 ~80 Kt upper and capping Ma 75 Wahweap Kwu 30-90 Ksc Fm 300-450 lower and middle Kk Kwl 250-350 67 26 Straight Cliffs Fm, Ksc 80 36 275-550 32 ~90 Tropic Shale, Kt Ma 150-230 36 Dakota Fm, Kd 0-115 ~144 84 Entrada Sandstone, Je Ma 60 Kwu 0-300 Carmel Fm, Jc 43 28 50-320 30 ~180 Navajo Sandstone, Jn Ma Jurassic400-460 Cretaceous Tertiary Kwl B 32 Kd 43 Je 30 Kk 58 32 Ksc T/Q Jc alluvium

25 Kt 35 60 54 C 52 86 29 Je Kwl 41 Kk N

Kwu Kt

010.5 kilometers Ksc Kd 59 D Je 37°25 ′ N

111°50′W Figure 3. Detailed geologic map of the northern and southern faults. A–D are locations of cross sections shown in Figure 6.

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inferred them to represent displacement transfer between right-stepping of Wahweap growth strata indicates that the faults predate signifi cant basement fault segments. A reverse right-lateral kinematic interpretation is monoclinal folding. Furthermore, if faulting can be linked to early rather logical given the modern fault and slickenline orientations and the appar- than late Laramide movement across the East Kaibab monocline, then the ent right-handed separation across the faults. However, closer examina- Campanian age of the Wahweap growth strata also coincides with the ini- tion of the informally defi ned lower, middle, upper, and capping sandstone tiation of Laramide deformation. members of the Cretaceous Wahweap Formation across the faults reveals apparent growth strata in the upper member immediately south of each Evidence for Growth Faults fault trace. Today, the Wahweap strata dip 20°–60° east as a result of folding in the steep limb of the monocline. The east-dipping upper member The upper member of the Wahweap Formation appears to thicken from growth strata complicate the interpretation of fault timing and kinematics south to north as it approaches the faults (Fig. 3). The apparent thickening because bedding must have been approximately horizontal, not tilted in is particularly evident when comparing the separation of the base of the the steep monoclinal limb, at the time faulting occurred. The presence Wahweap (Ksc-Kwl contact, Fig. 3) with the separation of the top of the Wahweap (Kwu-Kk contact, Fig. 3). Because the steep limb of the monocline is tilted eastward up to 70° in the fi eld area, the map pattern exposed in the tilted limb presents an oblique cross section of strata as they would have appeared before monoclinal folding. In other words, the eroded map view “slice” across tilted strata is analogous to a nearly vertical cross section through the same structural and stratigraphic features when bedding was horizontal, prior to monoclinal folding. Using this analogy, the faults and sedimentary layers exposed in map view resemble a cross section through dip fans in growth strata on the hanging wall of listric normal faults (Figs. 3 and 5) (Hamb- lin, 1965; Shelton, 1984; Twiss and Moores, 2007). A localized westward turn in the strike of Jurassic and Cretaceous strata south of the southern

post-faulting A

syn-faulting

pre-faulting

fault tip in syntectonic reverse drag rollover anticline strata folding in pre-tectonic strata B poppost-faultingost-f- au ng KaiparowitsKaiparow ts FormationForma on A syn-faulting N Wahweap Formation Strike Dip Rake prpre-faultinge-e faulu ng pre-faulting Jurassic 49 86NW - JuJurassicr ss c andnd anandd CretaceousCretacceousu CrCCretaceousettaceeousu 63 84NW 44SW 70 58NW 53SW N 1 km 86 80NW 46W BC Figure 5. (A) Elements associated with syntectonic sedimentation and listric normal faulting. A rollover anticline and reverse drag folding are Figure 4. (A) West-directed photograph of fault exposure near the north- typical in the prefault strata, and sediments deposited during faulting eastern tip of the southern fault. Geologist is T.A. Jenesky. (B) Lower- develop a thickened wedge on the down-dropped hanging wall. The fault hemisphere, equal-area projection of four prominent fault surfaces with loses displacement up-section in the synfault strata, and the entire sys- associated slickenlines (open circles) and slip vectors (gray arrows). (C) tem is buried by undisturbed postfault sediments. (B) The same elements Measurements plotted in B. are exposed in map view in the steep limb of the East Kaibab monocline.

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fault resembles a rollover anticline associated with listric normal faulting, points (provided by GPS coordinates) and bedding dip across changing and short, northwest-striking antithetic faults accommodate extension and dip domains (Fig. 6). rollover in the hanging wall of the listric normal fault system (Figs. 2 and Transect A lies north of the two-fault system, across a section of the 5). The growth fault interpretation can be confi rmed by comparing true Wahweap that appears relatively thin in map view. The transect yields an stratigraphic thickness of the upper member of the Wahweap Formation at upper member true thickness of 92 m at this location. In a listric growth proximal and distal locations. fault system (Fig. 5), this transect location is analogous to the footwall bordering a pair of linked, listric normal faults; the uplifted footwall is Evaluation of Stratigraphic Thickness expected to accumulate the thinnest section of syntectonic strata. Transects B and C lie immediately south of the northern and south- The upper member of the Wahweap Formation consists primarily of ern faults, respectively, where the upper member appears thicker. These thick lenses of fl uvial channel sands and minor conglomerates with over- locations are hypothesized to represent the down-dropped hanging-wall bank silt and shale deposits (Pollock, 1999; Lawton et al., 2003; Wizevich blocks of the northern and southern faults, where thickened syntectonic et al., 2008). Although exposure in the fi eld area is excellent, treacher- strata fi ll fault-bounded half-graben. The true thickness along transect B is ous topography, steep bedding dip, and the discontinuous nature of the 132 m, and along transect C, the upper member is 262 m thick. channel and overbank deposits make accurate measurement of thickness Transect D crosses the upper member of the Wahweap ~2 km south of of stratigraphic sections problematic. Instead, evaluation of stratigraphic the southern fault, where the thickened wedge of growth strata begins to thickness was accomplished by careful measurement and Global Position- taper. The upper member true thickness at this location is reduced to 160 m. ing System (GPS) location of contacts and dip infl ections along transects The true thickness calculations take into account variations in eleva- crossing the suspected syntectonic strata at varying distances from the tion and bedding orientation across the fi eld area, eliminating the pos- faults. Bedding orientations were measured along four transects (lines sibility that the apparent variations in thickness are illusions created by A–D on Fig. 3) across the upper and capping sandstone members of the orientation and exposure. Our calculations indicate that the upper mem- Wahweap, with particular emphasis on recording lower and upper con- ber of the Cretaceous Wahweap Formation is almost three times thicker tacts of these units and notable changes in bedding dip. Field data were on the southernmost fault block (originally the hanging wall) than on the used to construct cross sections using the kink method (Faill, 1969; Suppe, northern block (the original footwall) of the fault system, and that thick- 1985). Cross sections display true thickness of the upper member for easy ness tapers again toward the south as distance from the faults increases. visual comparison (Fig. 6). Accurate thicknesses were calculated geo- These thickness variations could not have developed if faulting postdated metrically using horizontal distance and elevation change between data monoclinal folding, because the Wahweap is incorporated in the steep

1950 2000 Kaiparowits Formation 1900 1950 Kw capping sandstone 1850 1900 1850 Kw upper member 1800 1800 1750 A 92 m Kw middle member 1750 Thickness of Kw upper member 1700 B 1650 100 m 2000 132 m

1950

1900 1950

1850 1900

1800 1850

1750 1800

1700 1750

1650 1700

1600 1650

1550 1600 160 m C 262 m D 1500 1550 Figure 6. Cross sections showing true thickness of the upper member of the Wahweap Formation (Kw) along transects A–D. Transect locations are shown on Figure 3.

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monoclinal limb. Instead, structural data and thickness calculations sup- minor fault surfaces and cataclastic deformation band shear zones con- port the interpretation that the Wahweap Formation contains growth strata taining both slickenlines and offset markers in Straight Cliffs Formation on the southeastern side of each fault, meaning that the faults were active sandstones throughout the ﬁ eld area. Unfolding and inversion of these fault during deposition of the Wahweap Formation, before signiﬁ cant monocli- measurements yield incremental strain orientations (following Unruh and

nal folding occurred. Twiss, 1998) of S1 = 162°, 9°; S2 = 68°, 24°; and S3 = 271°, 64° (Fig. 8). The fault plane solution based on the 29 measurements, rotated back to Cretaceous Fault Kinematics their Cretaceous orientations, reveals slightly oblique normal faulting (Fig. 8). The strain directions and the focal mechanism are consistent with As exposed today, the faults dip northwest and display reverse right- an interpretation of near-surface normal faulting in the regional context handed separation in the steep monoclinal limb; however, the growth of Laramide, ENE-directed horizontal shortening (Coney, 1976; Reches, strata in the Wahweap Formation indicate that faulting occurred when the 1978; Anderson and Barnhard, 1986). The faults exposed in the steep limb Wahweap was more or less horizontal, prior to signiﬁ cant monoclinal tilt- of the East Kaibab monocline therefore represent northeast- to east-striking, ing. Therefore, the faults must be rotated stereographically to their Creta- south-dipping, listric normal faults, detached within the Jurassic Carmel ceous orientations before correct kinematic interpretation can occur. Formation, that were active during deposition of the Cretaceous Wahweap Original (Cretaceous) fault orientations were determined by rotating Formation and that mark the onset of Laramide monoclinal folding. faults and associated slickenlines around the strike of adjacent footwall bedding and thus returning bedding dips to horizontal (Fig. 7). Fault traces DISCUSSION are curved, so their orientations vary slightly according to stratigraphic position, but, in general, the faults rotate back to easterly and northeasterly Laramide Timing strikes with moderate to steep southward dips when bedding is returned to horizontal. Slickenlines on major fault surfaces, although southwest-raking The fragmented distribution of Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary rock today, restore to rakes of 72W–78E, indicating southeast-side-down, nearly exposures has limited the investigation of synorogenic strata associated dip-slip normal offset. An additional 29 measurements were gathered from with Laramide deformation in the western Colorado Plateau, complicating

N N D

C Strike Dip Rake Fault 49 86NW - Bedding 6 60E - Rotated 64 53SE - Fault 63 84NW 44SW Bedding 6 60E - Rotated 73 65SE 82NE Fault 70 58NW 53W Bedding 34 32E - Rotated 64 85NW 72SW Fault 86 80N 46W Bedding 34 67E - Rotated 97 61S 78E

Figure 7. (A) Lower-hemisphere, equal-area projection of major fault surfaces in their modern orientations. Faults, indicated by black great circles, strike east-northeast and dip northwest. Slickenlines (open circles) rake southwest. Dashed gray great circles show associated modern-day bedding orientations. (B) Fault and slickenline measurements rotated back to their Cretaceous orientations, when adjacent bedding was horizontal. Faults strike approximately east-west, dip steeply southeast, and display 90°-raking, dip-slip slickenlines. (C) Summary of data plotted in A and B. (D) Northeast-directed photograph of the southern fault with Tropic Shale (left) against Straight Cliffs Formation (right). Geologist is T.A. Jenesky.

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the determination of the timing of individual uplifts. Apatite fi ssion-track A data from the Grand Canyon suggest that regional Laramide uplift was under way by ca. 75 Ma (Dumitru et al., 1994). Working near our fi eld area in southwestern Utah, Goldstrand (1994) associated the initiation of Laramide-style deformation in this region with deposition of the Lower S2 Paleocene Canaan Peak and Grand Castle Formations. However, the presence of growth strata in the Wahweap Formation suggests an earlier start to Laramide movement along the Kaibab Uplift. The upper member of the S3 Wahweap Formation has not been dated directly, but it is bracketed by a bentonite layer in the middle member dated to be 80.1 ± 0.3 Ma (Jinnah et al., 2009) and a dateable tuff in the lower unit of the Kaiparowits at 75.96 ± 0.14 Ma (Roberts et al., 2005). This marks the time of deposition, and therefore of fold-related faulting, as Campanian (80–76 Ma) rather than S1 Maastrichtian–early Paleocene. The Campanian age indicated by growth faulting in the Wahweap Formation instead agrees closely with estimates of initial Laramide defor- B mation in central Utah and in the surrounding Rocky Mountains. Chapin Faults Bedding and Cather (1981) examined basin types and facies distributions in Rocky Strike Dip Rake Offset Strike Dip Mountain basins around the margins of the Colorado Plateau and broadly 80 86S 8SW Rlat 8 50E distinguished two pulses of Laramide tectonism, a slow beginning from 80 64 83S 5SW Rlat to 55 Ma and a rapid pulse 55–40 Ma. Cather (2004) identifi ed an initial stage of deformation between 80 and 75 Ma in Laramide basins of north- 80 74S 6SW Rlat ern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Dickinson et al. (1986) linked 53 83NW 38SW Rlat 36 26E changes in petrofacies of sandstones deposited in central Utah during the 85 88NW 25SW Rlat latest Campanian and earliest Paleocene to initial Laramide fragmentation 54 88E 32SW Rlat 36 26E of the Sevier foreland basin into smaller subbasins. However, recent work 50 87NW 18SW Rlat by Horton et al. (2004) determined that the Charleston-Nebo salient of the 47 90E 39SW Rlat Sevier thrust belt in central Utah was still highly active during the Cam- 45 90E 36SW Rlat panian, implying temporal overlap of Sevier and Laramide deformation in 50 76NW 25SW Rlat that area. These studies imply concurrent movement on Laramide struc- 35 75NW 81SW Rev 7 41E tures around the margins of the Colorado Plateau and within the frontal 22 70W 71S Rlat 194 58E thrusts of the Sevier thin-skinned thrust belt. 21 50W 78SW Rev Close identifi cation of the onset of Laramide deformation along the Kaibab Uplift and other major uplifts of the Colorado Plateau and Rocky 20 57W 73SW Rev Mountains can help to distinguish among proposed causes of foreland 225 60NW 64SW Rev basement-involved deformation. For example, if Colorado Plateau and 26 49E 45SW Rlat Rocky Mountain uplifts arose as a result of indentation or rotation of a 32 87W 9NE Rlat rigid Colorado Plateau crustal block (e.g., Hamilton, 1981, 1988; Karl- 34 61NW 31SW Rlat strom and Daniel, 1993; Cather, 1999; Wawrzyniec et al., 2002; Cather 102 54N 6E Llat 34 67E et al., 2006), the timing of deformation around the margins of the Col- 132 45N 0E Llat orado Plateau should coincide. However, if foreland basement-cored 49 85SE 38SW N/Rlat 28 36E uplifts developed above a gradually fl attening lithospheric slab (Coney, 47 90E 42SW Rlat 1976; Dumitru, 1991) or from eastward injection of ductile material from 46 90E 70SW Rlat the overthickened Sevier wedge at the midcrustal level (McQuarrie and 36 71W 35SW Rlat 18 38E Chase, 2000), then deformation should progress temporally from west to east across the Colorado Plateau. Yet a third possibility is that a changing 36 71W 42SW Rlat stress fi eld favored movement across different uplifts at different times, 49 89SE 34SW N/Rlat depending on favorable orientations of preexisting crustal weaknesses 51 85SE 36SW N/Rlat (Chapin and Cather, 1981; Gries, 1983; Bird, 1998; Bump, 2004). In this 46 88SE 59SW N/Rlat 2 40E model, the initiation of movement should correlate with uplift orientation. 106 41N 20W N/Rlat Evaluation of these hypotheses requires a detailed knowledge of the tim- Figure 8. (A) Focal mechanism based on 29 measurements of minor fault ing of movement along major foreland basement-cored uplifts. A closer surfaces with slickenlines and offset sense (Rlat—right lateral; Rev— examination of minor faults and preserved syntectonic sedimentary rocks reverse; Llat—left lateral; N/Rlat—normal right lateral). Before inver- in Cretaceous and Tertiary strata along the margins of uplifts might yield sion, all measurements were rotated to their Cretaceous orientations by the necessary level of detail to make such distinctions. returning adjacent bedding to horizontal. The focal mechanism reveals slightly oblique normal faulting. Principal strain axes interpreted from the Crustal Kinematics data indicate south-southeast extension (S1) and a steep, near-vertical

shortening direction (S3). These results are consistent with normal faulting accompanying fold-parallel extension. (B) Summary of data used to The timing, rate, and sequence of deformation relate not only to produce the focal mechanism and strain directions shown in A. underlying tectonic cause but also to the kinematic history of individual

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basement-cored uplifts. By defi ning the changing rate of growth through surface faulting during deposition. For example, Hilbert-Wolf et al. (2009) time of specifi c uplifts, and comparing them across the Colorado Plateau, described extensive seismites in the capping sandstone along the north- we can determine whether uplifts developed by a uniform or a widely vari- ern East Kaibab monocline, and attributed fl uidization features and large- able set of processes. Basement-cored uplifts have been described or mod- amplitude soft-sediment folds to proximal faulting before lithifi cation. eled as fault-propagation folds (Erslev, 1991; Erslev and Rogers, 1993; The normal faults in our fi eld area were active during the deposition of the Stone, 1993; Mitra and Mount, 1998) or as drape folds (Stearns, 1971; upper member and through to the beginning of capping sandstone deposi- Reches and Johnson, 1978; Reches, 1978); with or without folding of the tion, and they are the most likely source of some of the local seismicity basement-cover interface (Erslev and Rogers, 1993; Schmidt et al., 1993; (Wolf et al., 2006, 2008; Hilbert-Wolf et al., 2009). Orsulak et al. (2006) Stone, 1993; Narr and Suppe, 1994; Mitra and Mount, 1998; Bump, 2003); described an increase in locally derived sandstone and mudstone clasts in overlying steep, reactivated faults (Huntoon, 1993; Marshak et al., 2000); conglomerates of the capping sandstone from north to south across the or newly formed Laramide thrusts (Hamilton, 1988; Huntoon, 1993; Yin, traces of the two faults. Farther north along the East Kaibab monocline, 1994); or originating as broad lithospheric buckles (Tikoff and Maxson, a Cretaceous sag pond deposit has been reported in the Wahweap Forma- 2001). Detailed analyses of secondary structures in sedimentary cover and tion adjacent to a northeast-striking, northwest-dipping normal fault at a in the basement, where exposed, coupled with a detailed knowledge of left bend in the trend of the monocline (Wolf et al., 2007; Hilbert-Wolf timing and deformation rate, provide clues to understanding the ways in et al., 2009; Simpson et al., 2009). These features are consistent with the which each uplift formed, and therefore to explaining the observed vari- interpretation that the faults in the fi eld area were seismically active and ability in orientation and structural style among foreland uplifts. produced surface rupture during deposition of the Wahweap Formation. Our study indicates that the Kaibab Uplift experienced an early phase of extension in the upper crust along the rising eastern limb, with faults CONCLUSIONS soling into a shale or evaporite detachment horizon. The normal faulting could be a response to localized, fold-parallel extension; the fi eld area lies Two northeast-striking, northwest-dipping faults within the steep limb near an infl ection where the northward plunge of the monocline begins of the East Kaibab monocline preserve thickened wedges of Cretaceous to steepen from 5° to nearly 15° (Sargent and Hansen, 1982). Unruh and Wahweap Formation immediately southeast of each fault trace. True Twiss (1998) observed similar fold-parallel lengthening in geodetic data thickness of the Wahweap upper member is 92 m immediately north of and focal mechanisms following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and in the fault pair, but it thickens to 262 m immediately south of the south- inversion of fault-slip data from several Laramide basement-cored anti- ern fault trace before gradually thinning again southward. These thick- clines. Varga (1993) interpreted fold-parallel lengthening along Laramide ness changes represent wedges of growth strata deposited during faulting. basement-cored uplifts to be coeval with basement-involved shortening, Faults and syntectonic sediment wedges subsequently have been rotated rather than indicative of an earlier episode of extension. The transverse 20°–60° eastward in the steep limb of the East Kaibab monocline. Res- orientation of the faults in our fi eld area relative to the fold axis is consis- toration of faults and slickenlines to their Cretaceous, pre-monoclinal tent with fold-parallel extension as observed by Varga (1993) and Unruh folding orientations reveals that the faults formed as northeast-striking, and Twiss (1998). southeast-dipping, listric normal faults detached within the Jurassic Car- Alternatively, the normal faults may be caused by the right-stepping mel Formation. The association of faulting with the steep limb of the Kai- bend in the trend of the East Kaibab monocline (Figs. 2 and 3). Other bab Uplift, and the compatibility between the faults and Laramide strain authors have related this bend, and similar bends southward along the directions, imply that faults formed during initial Laramide deformation. monocline, to basement fault segmentation (Stern, 1992; Rosnovsky, Radiometric ages of units bracketing the Wahweap upper member growth 1998), and Tindall and Davis (1999) documented evidence for a right- strata delimit the onset of Laramide deformation between 80 and 76 Ma lateral component of basement-rooted fault offset across the monocline. (Roberts et al., 2005; Jinnah et al., 2009). A right bend in a right-lateral strike-slip system typically produces a pull-apart basin. 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REVISED MANUSCRIPT RECEIVED 21 FEBRUARY 2010 Varga, R.J., 1993, Rocky Mountain foreland uplifts: Products of a rotation stress fi eld or MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED 14 APRIL 2010 strain partitioning?: Geology, v. 21, p. 1115–1118, doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1993)021<1115: RMFUPO>2.3.CO;2. Printed in the USA

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