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403.Pdf by Guest on 27 September 2021 SIDDOWAY and GEHRELS SHORT RESEARCH Basement-hosted sandstone injectites of Colorado: A vestige of the Neoproterozoic revealed through detrital zircon provenance analysis Christine Smith Siddoway1,* and George E. Gehrels2 1DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, THE COLORADO COLLEGE, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO 80903, USA 2DEPARTMENT OF GEOSCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, TUCSON, ARIZONA 85712, USA ABSTRACT Detrital zircon provenance analysis is used to resolve the age of sandstone injectites together with source sandstones that form fault- bounded, tabular bodies within Mesoproterozoic crystalline rocks of the Colorado Front Range. Named Tava sandstone (informal), the unit is a product of liquefaction and remobilization of mature quartz sediment within source bodies having volumes ≥1 × 10 6 m3 into dikes up to 6 m in width. To surmount the indeterminate age of emplacement, we obtained new U-Pb detrital zircon age data for two source sand- stones, three dikes and one sill, for comparison to four Paleozoic arenites. Tava age distributions feature a dominant 1.33–0.97 Ga broad age group and narrow ca. 1.11, 1.44, and 1.70 Ga groups, with several smaller age groups >1.5 Ga. The Tava detrital zircon results are dissimilar to Paleozoic sandstones but closely resemble published detrital zircon reference data for Grenville orogen–derived siliciclastic units of the western United States. The similarity in age distributions is borne out by statistical comparisons among Tava sandstone, Paleozoic samples, and Neoproterozoic strata that reveal a high probability of correlation of Tava sandstone to ca. 800–680 Ma strata deposited during intrac- ontinental extension. We conclude that Tava sandstone is Neoproterozoic in age and provides a new avenue to investigation of Rodinia’s terrestrial paleoenvironment. LITHOSPHERE; v. 6; no. 6; p. 403–408; GSA Data Repository Item 2014333 | Published online 27 August 2014 doi:10.1130/L390.1 INTRODUCTION hundreds to millions of cubic meters (Siddoway et al., 2013). The source of voluminous mature sediment, origin of fluid overpressure, and trig- Detrital zircon reference curves for North America (Gehrels and ger for liquefaction will remain obscure, however, without constraints on Pecha, 2014; Yonkee et al., 2014) provide a new means by which to paleoenvironment, which will be recognized once the age of formation of place age limits upon the deposition of siliciclastic units that lack age the sandstone is resolved. control. Age correlation is based upon the premise that contemporane- A maximum age for the Tava sandstone is provided by the 1.09 to ous units incorporate detrital zircon from regional reservoirs that contain 1.03 Ga Pikes Peak Granite (Unruh, et al., 1995; Howard, 2013), which diagnostic zircon age populations. The approach promises to resolve a hosts a majority of the dikes and parent bodies (Fig. 1; Siddoway et al., long-standing problem in Colorado geology (Cross, 1894; Harms, 1965), 2013). A minimum age of late Paleozoic is provided by chemical rema- namely, the age of a regional system of dikes, sills, and source bodies nent (Kost, 1984; Freedman, 2014) and primary (Dulin and Elmore, 2013) (Fig. 1) formed by liquefaction and remobilization of mature quartz sed- magnetization retained within the hematitic quartz sandstones. iment. On the basis of distinctive sedimentological characteristics and To refine the age of Tava sandstone emplacement, we employed detri- geological context, Siddoway et al. (2013) introduced the name Tava tal zircon age analysis to test hypothesized correlations (e.g., Vitanage, sandstone1 for the formation. Bounded by crystalline host rock (Figs. 2 1954; Scott, 1963; Dockal, 2005) to Paleozoic mature sandstones (Maher, and 3), the injectite system has defied comprehension because of its 1950) and to investigate alternatives. The impetus to resolve the age stems indeterminate emplacement age and the uncertain provenance for the from recognition that the Tava injectite system constitutes a unique ele- constituent mature quartz (e.g., Scott, 1963). Hypotheses for the time of ment (cf. Jonk, 2010) of a continental environment of the past. We report formation span the Phanerozoic Eon. new detrital zircon data for five granite-hosted Tava sandstones and four Injectites ordinarily form within strata undergoing rapid sedimentation Paleozoic quartz arenites, and then we compare the new data sets to each (Hurst et al., 2011) in settings prone to transient rapid overpressure events, other and to published detrital zircon reference curves for siliciclastic units from earthquakes or other causes (Jonk, 2010). The Colorado Front Range of the southwest United States. We demonstrate a very strong probability offers one of the only regional-scale examples of injectites within crystal- of statistical correlation to detrital zircon age distributions of Neoprotero- line host rock. Attributes of Tava sandstone are diagnostic of liquefaction zoic strata deposited during extension/rifting along the proto-Cordilleran and high-energy sediment remobilization: The rock is conglomeratic yet margin (Yonkee et al., 2014). structureless, with nontouching granule- to pebble-sized clasts suspended in a sand matrix, forming tabular dikes and large bodies having volumes of DETRITAL ZIRCON U-Pb GEOCHRONOLOGY SAMPLES *[email protected] Samples of well-rounded or moderately well-rounded quartz sand- 1Tava is an indigenous name referencing Pikes Peak. stone of 4–6 kg were collected from representative portions of outcrops LITHOSPHERE© 2014 Geological | Volume Society 6 of| AmericaNumber 6| |For www.gsapubs.org permission to copy, contact [email protected] 403 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/lithosphere/article-pdf/6/6/403/3039442/403.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 SIDDOWAY AND GEHRELS -105°00’ 490000 500000 510000 R A A M P PPf Pikes A Peak R Tava T Granite sandstone R (in red) A N G 4320000 WP E 39°00’ dike WP113 F margin A PPG, U fractured Cenozoic L deposits T PPG WPCHR4 Lower Paleozoic 4310000 units PPf Tavakaiv (Pikes Peak) U MS MSCD T 4300000 E Colorado PPG, SH314-HOS P Springs grus Mesoproterozoic SH314-SI A PPG, suite Pikes S grus (ca. 1440 Ma) S Peak F Granite A U 38°45’ L 4290000 T KRCD Paleoproterozoic suite B (ca. 1665 Ma) 4280000 Mesozoic- HARD-13 Cenozoic strata PPf Figure 1. Geological map of southern Front Range, showing Tava sand- stone in red. Yellow symbols show sample locations, with IDs, and the blue rectangle encloses the collection area for four of five Paleozoic samples (see Fig. DR1G for geological map inset and sample sites [see text footnote 2]). The fourth sample, HARD-13, was collected from the site labeled in the SW corner of Figure 1. Proterozoic plutonic units are labeled on the map, Pennsylvanian Fountain Formation is abbreviated PPf, and units of other ages are generalized as labeled. Cross-hachured Figure 2. (A) Field photograph of Tava sandstone dike, 1.5 m wide, hosted patterns correspond to urban areas (MS—Manitou Springs; WP—Wood- by Pikes Peak Granite (PPG; detrital zircon sample WP113). (B) Hand sam- land Park). Digital topography is from http://ned.usgs.gov/ and geology ple of WP113 exhibiting dispersed pebbles within unsorted, ungraded base from Green (1992). Map projection: WGS1984, UTM zone 13S. matrix of moderately fine sand. Chisel head is 1.5 cm across. 404 www.gsapubs.org | Volume 6 | Number 6 | LITHOSPHERE Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/lithosphere/article-pdf/6/6/403/3039442/403.pdf by guest on 27 September 2021 Neoproterozoic origin of sandstone injectites | SHORT RESEARCH Ute Paleozoic mature r # of analyses, A Pass B r max. probability factor quartz sandstones PPB Mp Pp dikes fault 1447 1714 Fountain 18 41 va [Pennsylv.] MSGE Pennsylv. n= 94. P, 0.00 Ta Glen Eyrie 450,13 1082,13 1366,19 BLACY n= 85. P, 0.13 Hardscrabble [Miss.] Devonian 1847 2720 Williams Canyon 24 27 Harding HARD-13 Ordovician n= 85. P, 0.00 1709 1442 113 60 Manitou [Ordov.] CSWC_CSGU basal Cambrian n= 202. P, 0.00 Tava sandstone 1072 1434 1705 Pikes 33 14 7 Sawatch SH314-HOS Source unit, n= 78 Peak Granite SH314-SI Sill, n= 76 (or older 1091 49 Source unit, n= 120 units) WPCHR4 1087 1159 1446 1695 33 28 17 12 MSCD Dike, n= 212 1042 42°N120°W 110°W KRCD 55 Dike, n= 148 1173 1468 1743 C 18 12 37 1 WP113 Dike, n= 158 Nevada 2 41°N Neoproterozoic 3 Colorado Utah Kelly Canyon Fm n=83. P, 0.99 California 1 Perry Canyon Fm 2 n=78. P, 0.98 Area of Fig. 1 Perry Canyon Fm 1 n=48. P, 0.88 37° 5 4 N Middle n=62. P, 0.92 2 Big Coonwood Fm. n=57. P, 0.20 New Mexico UMG Mt Watson Arizona 200 3 0 400 UMG n=58. P, 0.96 Scale, km Moosehorn Lake Map of Southwest USA Chuar-Nankoweap n=84. P=0.99 4 K00-53-3 Pahrump- n=92. P, 0.19 5 Horsethief Springs 0 250 500 7501000 1250 1500 1750 2000 2250 2500 2750 3000 Age (Ma) Figure 3. (A) Tectonostratigraphic diagram for southern Front Range, illustrating the spatial-structural relationship of Tava sandstone to the Ute Pass fault and Paleozoic strata. Sampled Paleozoic strata are labeled. (B) Age distribution plots compar- ing detrital zircon results for Tava sandstone and Paleozoic quartz arenites with detrital zircon reference curves for Neopro- terozoic siliciclastic units. Formation names appear on the left. Equal-area curves were constructed by summing all ages and uncertainties, and normalizing by the number of analyses (shown on the right). Continuous age-probability domains and peak ages were calculated at 2σ uncertainty using a University of Arizona LaserChron Center (ALC) routine: Selected peaks are labeled in Ma, with number of analyses in italics. The right column displays the highest P values determined from Kolmogorov- Smirnoff (K-S) statistical comparison (see Table DR1, parts 12–15 [see text footnote 2]) of the detrital zircon age data for the specified formation to Tava sandstone (UMG—Uinta Mountain Group).
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