Exhumation of the North American Cordillera Revealed by Multi-Dating of Upper Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous Foreland Basin Deposits
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Exhumation of the North American Cordillera revealed by multi-dating of Upper Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous foreland basin deposits Clayton S. Painter†, Barbara Carrapa, Peter G. DeCelles, George E. Gehrels, and Stuart N. Thomson Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, 1040 E. 4th Street, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA ABSTRACT AFT and U-Pb) shows that volcanic contami- eroded and later obscured by Basin and Range nation is a signifi cant issue that can, however, extensional tectonics, leaving only the foreland New low-temperature thermochronol- be addressed by double dating. basin deposits as a record of exhumation history. ogy and geochronology data from Upper Despite the great potential of such an approach Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous strata from the INTRODUCTION in North America, to date, no detailed detrital North American Cordilleran foreland ba- thermochronological study had been applied in sin in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Foreland basin deposits are an impor- the retro arc foreland basin of the North Ameri- Dakota document rapid exhumation rates tant archive of orogenic growth and tectonic can Cordillera. The goal of this study is to deter- of the adjacent Cordilleran orogenic belt to processes (Aubouin, 1965; Dickinson, 1974; mine the timing, pattern, and rates of cooling of the west. Both zircon (U-Th-[Sm])/He (zircon Dickinson and Suczek, 1979; Jordan, 1981; the North American Cordillera in order to better He) and apatite fi ssion track (AFT) thermo- DeCelles and Giles, 1996; DeCelles, 2004; understand the modes of exhumation and con- chronology were applied to proximal and Miall, 2009). Many researchers have used tribute to models of fold- thrust belt and foreland distal synorogenic deposits in order to iden- coarse-grained foreland basin deposits to date basin evolution. In this study we apply zircon tify a thermochronometer suitable to record thrusting events, identify unroofi ng sequences, (U-Th-[Sm])/He (zircon He) and apatite fi ssion source exhumation during the North Amer- and identify provenance. Examples of these track (AFT) thermochronology and zircon U-Pb ica Cordilleran orogeny. AFT lag times from techniques are clast counting of synorogenic geochronology to samples from Upper Juras- Upper Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous deposits conglomerates and sandstone petrographic sic–Upper Cretaceous coarse-grained foreland are 0–5 m.y. and indicate a relatively steady- analysis (Dickinson, 1985; Graham et al., 1986; basin deposits in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, state to slightly increasing exhumation rate Lawton, 1986; DeCelles, 1988; Steidtmann and and South Dakota, in order to determine prov- between 118 Ma and 66 Ma. These lag-time Schmitt, 1988; Horton et al., 2004). enance cooling history and maximum deposi- measurements are consistent with active Thermochronology applied to detrital min- tional ages (Table 1; Figs. 1, 2, and 3). Further- shortening and rapid exhumation rates of erals from foreland basin deposits is a power- more, U-Pb thermochronology can be used to ~0.9–>1 km/m.y. of the North American Cor- ful tool to infer the timing of sediment source assess whether the young cooling-age popula- dillera throughout the Cretaceous. cooling and exhumation (Bernet et al., 2001; tions were contaminated by young, Cordilleran Double dating of the detrital AFT samples Carrapa et al., 2003, 2006; Najman et al., arc–derived apatites, and thus record cooling was performed on apatites with young AFT 2005; Reiners and Brandon, 2006; Carrapa, related to magmatic events rather than exhuma- cooling ages, in order to test whether or not 2010). While traditional provenance techniques tion ages of the Cordilleran thrust belt. Lag-time the young cooling ages represent a signal provide information on the type of sediment patterns and exhumation rates calculated from related to exhumation rather than volcanic sources through time, thermochronology pro- this study are here compared to basin-fi lling and activity. Maximum depositional ages using vides unique information on the timing and orogenic-growth models. detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology match rates of sediment source exhumation and on Coarse-grained deposits have been inter- existing ages on basin stratigraphy. This the thermal history of the sedimentary basin as preted to represent contrasting tectonic pro- study indicates that AFT is the most effective well. In particular, detrital thermochronology cesses. For example, some researchers have thermochronometer to resolve source exhu- can be applied to measure lag time, which is the asserted that proximal upward-coarsening suc- mation from Lower to Upper Cretaceous difference between the depositional age of the cessions represent orogenic growth, but that foreland stratigraphy in the central Cor di- detrital minerals and their cooling ages (Garver distal upward-coarsening successions represent lleran foreland, and indicates that source ma- et al., 1999). Lag-time trends also provide infor- periods of tectonic quiescence, fl exural rebound, terial was exhumed from 4 to 5 km depths but mation on the mode of orogenic growth (Ber- and the reworking of proximal deposits into the was never buried more than a few kilometers net et al., 2001; Carrapa et al., 2003; Carrapa, distal foreland (Beck et al., 1988; Blair and (<4 km) since Cretaceous time. Zircon He 2009). Lag time of foreland basin deposits can Bilodeau, 1988; Heller et al., 1988). This model dates indicate that the orogenic hinter land thus successfully measure the long-term exhu- has been called the two-phase stratigraphic could not have been exhumed from depths mation history of orogenic belts over large model (Heller et al., 1988). In contrast, others >8–9 km. Double dating of apatites (with catchment areas (Cerveny et al., 1988; Coutand have linked distal coarse-grained deposits to et al., 2006; Spiegel et al., 2004). In addition, times of active shortening and orogenic growth, †Now affi liated with ConocoPhillips; Clayton .S many of the allochthonous thrust sheets in the and propose that the increase in sediment sup- .Painter@ conocophillips .com. North American Cordillera have since been ply during these periods of active orogenic GSA Bulletin; Month/Month 2014; v. 1xx; no. X/X; p. 1–26; doi: 10.1130/B30999.1; 16 fi gures; 6 tables; Data Repository item 2014223. For permission to copy, contact [email protected] 1 © 2014 Geological Society of America Painter et al. TABLE 1. SAMPLE LIST, LOCATION, AND ANALYSES DONE Location Analysis type Latitude DZ DA Zircon He AFT Sample Stratigraphic unit Longitude Sample type U-Pb U-Pb Chilson Member, N43.44490° 051101 Detrital x Lakota Formation W103.77887° Chilson Member, N43.44490° 051102 Detrital x Lakota Formation W103.83715° N43.44717° 051103 Morrison Formation Detrital x W103.83905° N43.69704° 051104 Frontier Formation Detrital x W106.69336° N40.96244° 051105 Frontier Formation Detrital x W109.47128° N40.95719° 051106 Dakota Sandstone Detrital x W109.47023° N40.52022° 051107 Cedar Mountain Formation Detrital x W109.52075° N40.54865° 051108 Morrison Formation Detrital x W109.52416° N40.96344° 051201 Echo Canyon Conglomerate Conglomerate clast x W111.41634° N40.76712° 051204 Kelvin Formation Detrital x x x W111.40012° N41.58785° 051205 Lazeart Sandstone Detrital x W110.63001° N41.87089° 051206 Frontier Formation Detrital x W110.52497° N41.48659° 051207 Blair Formation Detrital x x x W108.96523° Brooks Member, N41.35810° 051208 Detrital x x x Rocks Springs Formation W108.93082° Trail Member, N41.32461° 051209 Detrital x Ericson Formation W108.94299° Canyon Creek Member, N41.31646° 051210 Detrital x Ericson Formation W108.92226° N41.31762° 051211 Almond Formation Detrital x W108.90691° Chimney Rock Tongue Member, N41.39890° 051212 Detrital x x x Rock Springs Formation W108.93394° N42.56673° 051213 Cloverly Formation (A interval) Detrital x W106.70624° N42.52449° 051214 Morrison Formation Detrital x W106.74066° (continued) growth is greater than the accommodation space state when the wedge is building internally, basin, nonmarine sedimentation dominated and created by fl exural subsidence in the proximal whereas increasing lag times are predicted dur- included the Upper Jurassic Morrison Forma- foredeep and leads to rapid progradation into ing a supercritical wedge state, when the wedge tion and Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain– the distal foreland basin (Burbank et al., 1988; is rapidly propagating into the foreland basin Cloverly–Kootenai Formations (Suttner, 1969; DeCelles and Giles, 1996; Horton et al., 2004). (Carrapa, 2009). We use this model to interpret Furer, 1970; Currie, 1997). Between ca. 110 We compare our exhumation trends and rates our lag-time trends and identify the overall Cor- Ma and ca. 71 Ma, marginal marine to fully based on lag-time measurements to predictions dilleran orogenic wedge behavior during the marine deposition dominated the foreland basin made from both of these basin-fi lling models. Cretaceous. while the epicontinental Western Interior Sea- Active shortening and orogenic growth should way extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the produce small lag times and rapid exhumation GEOLOGIC BACKGROUND Arctic Ocean north of Alaska. Isopach maps rates, whereas fl exural rebound and reworking show that from ca. 155 Ma to ca. 88 Ma, a of stored deposits into the distal foreland should Timing of the initial development of the Cor- fl exurally infl uenced to fl exurally dominated produce larger lag times. dilleran retroarc thrust belt has been the source retroarc foreland basin was located east of the At