History of Cenozoic North American Drainage Basin Evolution, Sediment Yield, and Accumulation in the Gulf of Mexico Basin

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History of Cenozoic North American drainage basin evolution, sediment yield, and accumulation in the Gulf of Mexico basin

William E. Galloway1, Timothy L. Whiteaker2, and Patricia Ganey-Curry1 1Institute for Geophysics, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758-4445, USA 2Center for Research in Water Resources, University of Texas at Austin, 10100 Burnet Road, Austin, Texas 78758-4445, USA

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION a synthesis of North American drainage basin evolution. Since that effort, several advances The Cenozoic fi ll of the Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico (GOM) originated as a in our understanding both of North American basin contains a continuous record of sedi- small ocean basin created by seafl oor spreading Cenozoic history (source) and of the GOM ment supply from the North American con- in the Middle Jurassic through Early Cretaceous. depositional record (sink) combine to cre- tinental interior for the past 65 million years. By the end of the Mesozoic, mixed carbonate ate the opportunity for a more accurate and Regional mapping of unit thickness and and clastic sedimentation had constructed a detailed synthesis. paleogeography for 18 depositional episodes northern basin margin characterized by a broad (1) New synthesis papers have elucidated the defi nes patterns of shifting entry points of coastal plain and shelf fronted by a well-defi ned regional history and timing of Cenozoic deposi- continental fl uvial systems and quantifi es shelf edge and continental slope (Galloway, tion and erosion within the continental interior the total volume of sediment supplied dur- 2008). However, clastic sediment supply rates (Holm, 2001; Raynolds, 2002; Flores, 2003; ing each episode. Eight fl uvio-deltaic axes were low, in part because of the high global sea Cather, 2004; Sewall and Sloan, 2006; Cather are present: the Rio Bravo, Rio Grande, levels that characterized the Cretaceous and in et al., 2008; Chapin, 2008; Smith et al., 2008; Guadalupe, Colorado, Houston-Brazos, Red, part because the Gulf basin was insulated from Davis et al., 2009; Lawton et al., 2009). Mississippi, and Tennessee axes. Sediment sediment derived from the active Laramide fore- (2) Regional tectonic syntheses have pro- volume was calculated from digitized hand- land uplands by the intervening foreland basin vided quantitative information about the timing contoured unit thickness maps using a geo- seaway that extended from Canada to northern and location of volcanic activity, uplift, and ero- graphic information system (GIS) algorithm New Mexico. Beginning in the late Paleocene, sional unroofi ng of source uplands (McMillan to sum volumes within polygons bounding large volumes of terrigenous clastic sediment et al., 2002; Chapin et al., 2004a; Kelley and interpreted North American river contribu- began to enter the basin from continental North Chapin, 2004; McMillan et al., 2006; McDow- tion. General age-dependent compaction fac- America, constructing large fl uvial/deltaic ell, 2007; Eaton, 2008; Flowers et al., 2008; tors were used to convert calculated volume systems along an extensive, prograding con- Cather et al., 2009; Fan and Dettman, 2009). to total grain volume. Values for rate of sup- tinental margin (Galloway, 2008). Along this (3) Deep petroleum exploration drilling and ply range from >150 km to <10 km3/Ma. margin, loading of stretched continental crust seismic data acquisition on the GOM continen- Paleogeographic maps for eleven Cenozoic caused broad fl exural down warping, creating tal slope and abyssal plain has resolved the cor- time intervals display the evolving matrix of accommodation space for an inboard apron relation of seismic sequences of the deep basin elevated source areas, intracontinental sedi- of coalesced alluvial plain deposits, forming with basin margin depositional episodes (e.g., ment repositories, known and inferred drain- the upper coastal plain (Galloway, 1981). This Combellas-Bigott and Galloway, 2005; Radov- age elements, and depositional fl uvial/deltaic apron merged basinward with a mosaic of delta ich et al., 2007). depocenters along the northern Gulf of Mexico plain and shore-zone systems that together con- (4) Regional seismic depth sections have basin margin. Patterns of sediment supply in structed the lower coastal plain. Seaward and provided thickness information where well time and space record the complex interplay beneath the prograding lower coastal plain suc- control is lacking, allowing construction basin- of intracontinental tectonism, climate change, cession, a prism of continental slope deposits, wide isopach contour maps that can be used for and drainage basin evolution. Five tectono- 5–10 km thick, infi lled the deep basin (Gal- volumetric calculations (Galloway et al., 2000; climatic eras are differentiated: Paleocene late loway, 2008). Basinal deposits, also several Galloway, 2002). Laramide era; early to middle Eocene ter- kilometers thick, derived from the northern (5) Ongoing mapping of GOM genetic minal Laramide era; middle Cenozoic (Late continental margin lap out against the Yucatan sequences incorporating new well, seismic, and Eocene–Early Miocene) dry, volcanogenic Platform to the south and the Florida Platform published information has continued to enhance era; middle Neogene (Middle–Late Miocene) to the east and mix with sediments of the eastern paleogeographic map detail for Cenozoic depo- arid, extensional era; and late Neogene (Plio– Mexican continental slope to the west. sitional episodes (Galloway et al., 2000; Gallo- Pleistocene) monsoonal, epeirogenic uplift era. Galloway (2005b) spliced the depositional way, 2008). Through most of the Cenozoic, three to four record of the northern GOM to the interpreted The combination of information from these independent continental-scale drainage basins regional tectonic, climatic, and geomorphic diverse resources offers the opportunity to have supplied sediment to the Gulf of Mexico. history of the continental interior to produce update, quantify, and signifi cantly enhance

Geosphere; August 2011; v. 7; no. 4; p. 938–973; doi:10.1130/GES00647.1; 20 ﬁ gures; 3 tables; 1 appendix ﬁ gure; 2 appendix tables.

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paleogeographic resolution of the 65 Ma Ceno- of burial and degree of compaction) derived GOM continental platform associated with the zoic history of this continental scale source–sink for similar volume calculations in the Atlan- Late Paleocene Thermal Maximum at ca. 55 Ma couple. That is the objective of this paper. tic margin by Pazzaglia and Brandon (1996) (Zachos et al., 2008), Wilcox deposition termi- were used to recalculate total volumes of solids nated with the long-lived Upper Wilcox depos- Volume and Volume Rate of (grain volume) for each sequence. These gen- ode. Further reduction in sediment supply to Sediment Supply eralized porosity values attempt to account for ~25 km3/Ma was accompanied by long-term ret- the greater compaction of older (and thus more rogradation of the central GOM coastal systems Following the stratigraphic framework of deeply buried) sediments relative to younger and early Eocene sediment starvation of the pre- Galloway et al. (2000), GOM Cenozoic strata (shallower) sediments. They are not lithology viously active abyssal fan systems (Galloway were divided into 18 chronologically signifi cant specifi c, and subsume the variable mix of sand- et al., 2000; Zarra, 2007). Carroll et al. (2006) depositional episodes (deposodes) for mapping stone and mudstone. They are approximations document a comparable decrease in sediment and volumetric analysis (Fig. 1). Each deposode that improve fi nal grain volume estimates. supply and corresponding evolution from over- was a signifi cant period of sediment supply and fi lled Paleocene to underfi lled lacustrine Eocene continental margin growth. Each is recorded in Results deposition in the northern basins of the Western the deposits of regionally correlative genetic Interior. They attribute the observed decrease to sequences (Galloway, 1989; Catuneanu et al., Results of volumetric calculations are sum- removal of easily eroded Cretaceous foreland 2009) that are bounded by major transgres- marized in Table 1. Of most interest is the basin clastics and exposure of granitic cores of sive beds and contained maximum fl ooding grain volume rate column. This value esti- Laramide uplifts. surfaces. These fl ooding events punctuated the mates the average rate that solid mineral mat- For nearly ten million years, encompassing dominantly progradational history of the con- ter was deposited in the basin during each of much of the Middle Eocene, sediment sup- tinental platform on the northern basin margin. 14 differentiated geologic time intervals (Liu ply to the northern GOM was extremely low. For purposes of this analysis, the relatively high- and Galloway, 1997). Extreme time spans of Only thin coastal and shelf facies prograded frequency deposodes of the Plio-Pleistocene 1 and 10.6 Ma likely accentuate and subdue, onto the northern shelf platform of the GOM. are grouped into two composite deposodes of respectively, calculated values. However, the Extensive condensed intervals, including 2–3 Ma duration. This makes them more com- other 12 time steps cluster between 3 and the glauconitic Weches and Cook Mountain parable to the remaining 13 deposodes, which 6.6 Ma, providing a relatively consistent stan- Formations, extended from the inner coastal average ca. 5 Ma in duration. dard for rate calculation. plain outcrop belt to the abyssal plain. This Initial deposition across the northern GOM great period of GOM depositional quiescence Methodology began with a 3 Ma phase of sediment starvation. ended abruptly with coastal progradation to This interval corresponds to a thin, marine mud and over the relict continental margin of the A GIS database containing nearly 2000 points rock unit named Midway or Porters Creek For- short-lived late Eocene Yegua (in Louisiana, (wells and depth-converted seismic shot points; mation across the outcrop belt and in the sub- Cockfi eld) deposode. Sediment supply rates see the Appendix) was used to manually contour surface. The interval is condensed throughout increased more than sixfold above middle an isopach map of each genetic sequence. The the deep basin. Because it is not differentiated Eocene background values (Table 1). Follow- manual contours were then closely replicated from the overlying Wilcox Group in the most ing this initial late Eocene spurt, however, using the Topo To Raster tool, a standard Spa- deep subsurface correlation, total volume and rates again declined by about half during the tial Analyst tool for ArcGIS (©2006, ESRI). A derivative values were not calculated. Values latest Eocene Jackson deposode. key feature of the tool is that it takes both points would, however, clearly be much lower than The Paleogene history of the Gulf ended with (well and shot point data values) and contours any seen in the overlying 14 intervals. Follow- a very long lived (10.6 Ma) Oligocene depos- as input for use in its interpolation of the out- ing this period of sediment starvation, supply ode known in the subsurface as the Vicksburg put thickness grid. The area for volume calcu- increased abruptly in the Late Paleocene with and overlying Frio formations. Averaged rate for lation was defi ned by a polygon consisting of deposition of the Lower Wilcox sequence. Grain this longest of the tabulated deposodes exceeds zero-value contours (preserved or projected volume rates exceeded 150,000 km3/Ma—the 55,000 km3/Ma, a robust value that presages depositional limits; lap-out boundaries) and highest seen in any multi–million-year depos- those of the overlying Neogene stratigraphy boundaries that exclude areas of the basin fi ll ode. High rate of sediment supply caused rapid (Table 1). Accumulation rate calculations of consisting dominantly of (1) autochthonous car- progradation of major delta and accompanying Galloway and Williams (1991, their fi g. 5) for bonate sediment or (2) terrigenous clastic sedi- shore-zone systems to the shelf edge, extensive the northwest GOM margin suggest that rates ment derived from western GOM source areas depositional offl ap of the continental slope, were highest in the fi rst several million years in central and southern Mexico. The output ras- and accumulation of a composite family of of the deposode and declined in the later Oli- ter, depicting thickness of the unit, is multiplied thick, sand-rich abyssal plain fan systems on gocene. This is consistent with the observation by cell size (selected to be 1 km), giving vol- the GOM basin fl oor (Galloway et al., 2000; of long-term retrogradational transgression ume computed in cubic kilometers using stan- Zarra, 2007). (forming the widespread Anahuac marine shale dard ArcMap functionality. Summed volumes There then followed a series of Late Paleo- wedge) across the northern GOM margin. The for the point grid yield a total volume for the cene through Middle Eocene deposodes with value shown here averages these high initial sequence (Table 1). The complete methodology progressively decreasing grain volume rates of values with low terminal values of this undif- is described in the Appendix. supply, culminating in the Sparta (SP) depos- ferentiated 10+ Ma deposode, thus refl ecting To further standardize rate comparisons and ode. Latest Paleocene Middle Wilcox sedi- neither extreme. Sediment supply rates were better approximate actual sediment supply to the ment infl ux rates were about one half those of suffi ciently high to support extensive Oligocene Gulf, general porosity values for sediments of the Lower Wilcox (Table 1). After a brief but progradation of the entire northern GOM conti- differing ages (and consequently averaged depth extensive transgressive fl ooding of the northern nental margin (Galloway, 2005a).

Geosphere, August 2011 939

Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geosphere/article-pdf/7/4/938/3340555/938.pdf by guest on 02 October 2021 Galloway et al. ve tectono- ve era ed into ﬁ rough time. Map unit rough Monsoonal/ Late Laramide Arid Extensional Epeirogenic Uplift Arid Volcanogenic Terminal Laramide Terminal Tectono-climatic Pliocene Oligocene Pleistocene Late Eocene Early Eocene Late Miocene Early Miocene Map unit Middle Eocene Late Paleocene Middle Miocene Early Paleocene 150 ed from Galloway et al. (2000). The time scale is that of Luterbacher The time scale is that of Luterbacher Galloway et al. (2000). ed from 3 100 / Ma x 10 3 km Grain volume rate of supply 50 0 Deposodes

M. Wilcox M. Wilcox L. Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene U. Miocene M. Miocene 2 L. Miocene 1 L. Vicksburg / Frio Jackson Yegua Sparta Queen City Wilcox U. aecn oeeOioeeMoeePi.P. Plio. Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene Time scale of Luterbacher et al. (2004) and Lourens et al. (2004) (2004) and Lourens et al. Time scale of Luterbacher et al. (2009) GOM cycle chronology of Paleo-Data 0 5 Ma 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 climatic eras as shown in the right-hand column. Time scale and deposodes modiﬁ Time climatic eras as shown in the right-hand column. et al. (2004). et al. (2004) and Lourens Figure 1. Chronology of Cenozoic depositional episodes (deposodes). Plot shows changing grain volume sediment supply rate th 1. Chronology Figure The Cenozoic drainage basin history can be group which paleogeographic maps have been compiled. column lists the time steps for

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TABLE 1A. CALCULATED TOTAL VOLUME, GRAIN VOLUME, VOLUME RATE, AND GRAIN VOLUME Beginning in the northwest basin margin, the RATE FOR EACH OF 14 DEPOSITIONAL EPISODES THAT COMPRISE THE GOM BASIN FILL Rio Bravo axis refl ects the Spanish name, Rio Deposode Volume Duration Vol. rate Porosity Grain vol. Grain vol. rate Bravo del Norte, for the international boundary Pleist. 822000 2.3 357391 0.6 328800 142,957 Plio. 509000 3.8 133947 0.55 229050 60,276 river. The ancient drainage basin was similar U. Mio. 455000 4.8 94792 0.45 250250 52,135 to modern drainage elements, now tributary to M. Mio. 476000 3.1 153548 0.4 285600 92,129 L. Mio. 2 364000 3.2 113750 0.4 218400 68,250 the Rio Grande, in Chihuahua, Coahuila, and L. Mio. 1 347000 5.2 66731 0.4 208200 40,038 Nuevo Leon states. Its entry point lies south of Olig. 920000 10.6 86792 0.35 598000 56,415 U. Eo. JS 113000 2.3 49130 0.3 79100 34,391 the international boundary, in Tamaulipas. The U. Eo. YC 161000 1.8 89444 0.3 112700 62,611 Rio Grande axis has a long history (Fig. 3); it M. Eo. SP 72000 4.6 15652 0.3 50400 10,957 M. Eo. QC 85000 5.6 15179 0.3 59500 10,625 is characterized by its entry point across the L. Eo. UW 248000 6.8 36471 0.3 173600 25,529 South Texas coastal plain, somewhat north of U. Pal. MW 349000 3.6 96944 0.25 261750 72,708 U. Pal. LW 664000 3.3 201212 0.25 498000 150,909 its Quaternary position. Its headwaters have Note: JS–Jackson; YC–Yegua; SP–Sparta; QC–Queen City; UW–Upper Wilcox; MW–Middle Wilcox; had diverse origins, ranging from Arizona to LW–Lower Wilcox. Units—km3 and Ma. southern Colorado, at different times. The Gua- dalupe axis of the central Texas coastal plain TABLE 1B. SAME DATA GROUPED TO CORRESPOND TO THE 10 TIME INTERVALS SHOWN was primarily active during the Miocene. Its ON PALEOGEOGRAPHIC MAPS (FIGS. 7, 9–15, AND 17–19) locus approximates that of the modern Guada- Deposode Volume Duration Vol. rate Porosity Grain vol. Grain vol. rate lupe, but its drainage basin extended northwest Pleist. 822000 2.3 357391 0.6 328800 142,957 Plio. 509000 3.8 133947 0.55 229050 60,276 to extra-basinal sources. The Colorado axis is U. Mio. 455000 4.8 94792 0.45 250250 52,135 defi ned mainly by its interpreted drainage basin, M. Mio. 476000 3.1 153548 0.4 285600 92,129 which was an enlarged and extended version of L. Mio. 711000 7.5 94800 0.4 426600 56,880 Olig. 920000 10.6 86792 0.35 598000 56,415 its modern counterpart. It was a Laramide era U. Eo. 274000 4.1 66829 0.3 191800 46,780 drainage system that was important during the M. Eo. 157000 10.2 15392 0.3 109900 10,775 L. Eo. 248000 6.8 36471 0.3 173600 25,529 three Wilcox deposodes (Fig. 3). The Houston- U. Paleoc. 1013000 6.9 146812 0.25 759750 110,109 Brazos axis refl ects middle Cenozoic fl uvial 3 Note: Units—km and Ma. river systems that entered the GOM coastal plain at or northeast of the modern Brazos River. The Red axis was defi ned by its drain- Lower Miocene stratigraphy of the northern basin. Regardless, the supply history is clearly age basin development, generally comparable GOM records two distinct deposodes, called bimodal, with peaks at the beginning and end of to that of the Quaternary Red River, and by its lower Miocene 1 and 2 (LM 1 and LM 2) the Cenozoic basin fi ll history. locus in southeast Texas (Fig. 2). It is a Neo- here. Each is of several million years duration. gene feature. The Mississippi axis is the most LM 1 displays the lowest grain volume rates RECEIVING BASIN consistently present fl uvial/deltaic depocenter observed in the Neogene (Table 1); however, PALEOGEOGRAPHY: FLUVIAL/ of the northern Gulf margin. The Tennessee is a the values are still robust, and the GOM mar- DELTAIC AXES young Neogene fl uvial axis defi ned by a drain- gin actively prograded. The rate increased sub- age basin location coincident, in part, with that stantially during LM 2 deposition, approach- Regional paleogeographic mapping of the of its modern counterpart. Neither the Red nor ing 70,000 km3/Ma. Middle Miocene rates northern GOM Cenozoic depositional epi- Tennessee axes were tributary to the Mississippi again increased, exceeding 90,000 km3/Ma and sodes demonstrates that a relatively small as now; their permanent capture by the Missis- obtaining values not seen since the Lower Wil- number of continental-scale fl uvial axes sippi Valley is a geologically recent phenom- cox deposode. Following the Miocene trend of delivered the bulk of the sediment to the basin enon (Saucier, 1994). continuously increasing rate of sediment sup- (Galloway et al., 2000; Galloway, 2005a, Typically three or more major extra-basinal ply, the upper Miocene deposode refl ects a dra- 2008). Each major fl uvial axis created a major fl uvial systems were active during any one matic drop to a bit over 50% of the preceding prograding deltaic depocenter and is further deposode. In addition to pictorially summariz- middle Miocene peak. defi ned by the large scale of fl uvial channel ing the timing and duration of each fl uvial axis, Pliocene sediment supply rates remained fi ll deposits seen in outcrop and the shallow Figure 3 portrays the relative importance of each high, approximating upper Miocene grain vol- subsurface. An informal nomenclature for axis as a supplier of sediment to the GOM basin. ume rate values (Table 1). Pleistocene values these recurrent fl uvial/deltaic axes, modifi ed The width of the bar is based on isopach dep- more than double. Although this may be par- slightly from earlier publications, is shown in ocenter volume and magnitude (rate and area) of tially a product of the shorter time span of the Figure 2. Eight axes are differentiated. From continental margin progradation associated with Pleistocene relative to the Pliocene, it refl ects northwest to east, across the northern GOM each axis (Galloway, 2005a, 2002). the global pattern of extreme rates of supply coastal plain, the fl uvial axes are named Rio to Pleistocene ocean basins (Molnar, 2004). Bravo, Rio Grande, Guadalupe, Colorado, CONTINENTAL GEOLOGIC AND Pleistocene values of more than 140,000 km3/ Houston-Brazos, Red, Mississippi, and Ten- PHYSIOGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK Ma match those of the late Paleocene. Uncor- nessee. Fluvial axis nomenclature was chosen rected volume rates nearly double those of the to refl ect similarities in entry point along the The physiography of the North American Paleocene refl ecting the fact that assumptions Gulf margin, inferred location of the trunk continental interior assumed its modern confi g- about bulk porosity and consequent compac- stream, and/or drainage basin paleogeogra- uration during Cenozoic time. Concomitantly, tion correction determine the “winner” in terms phy to comparable attributes of modern extra- a drainage network evolved to remove both of grain volume rate of supply to the GOM basinal fl uvial systems. runoff and entrained sediment from a land area

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M T R HB C

0 30 60 90 mi 0 30 60 90 km

Figure 2. Geographic location of the Cenozoic ﬂ uvial input axes around the northern Gulf margin. Modiﬁ ed from Galloway (2008). RB–Rio Bravo; RG–Rio Grande; G–Guadalupe; C–Colorado; HB–Houston-Brazos; R–Red; M–Mississippi; T–Tennessee.

measuring 1500 × 2500 km (1000 × 1500 mi). major compressional era that extended from have remained topographically high to very Residual uplands, relicts of the late Paleozoic Paleocene through the middle Eocene. It was high throughout the entire Cenozoic. Elevations Appalachian orogeny, formed the eastern fl ank. followed by the Middle–Late Cenozoic phase of have ranged between 2 and 3 km (Chase et al., A more complex and evolving array of tectoni- crustal heating, igneous activity, and extension. 1998; McMillan et al., 2006; Eaton, 2008). cally active uplands lay to the west. Continental Principal Laramide phase upland provinces (4) The Sevier orogenic belt of the western drainage divides separated streams fl owing west potentially supplying sediments to the early interior United States. or east into the Pacifi c or Atlantic from those Cenozoic GOM included (Fig. 4): (5) The Laramide fold and thrust belt of converging into the low-relief continental inte- (1) Relict highlands of the Appalachian sys- Mexico. rior. On the south was a mature divergent conti- tem, composed of the Blue Ridge Mountains, (6) The Mogollon highlands of southern nental margin with a broad depositional coastal Ridge and Valley province, and Cumberland/ Arizona. plain. A generally poorly documented drainage Allegheny Plateaus. (7) Relict uplands of the Chihuahua tec- divide separated rivers fl owing south into the (2) Exposed remnants of the Ouachita sys- tonic belt. GOM from those fl owing north into the remnant tem, a west-trending extension of the Appala- (8) The Colorado Mineral Belt and Absaroka embayment of the Cretaceous seaway or north- chians, including the Ouachita Mountains, and volcanic uplands. east into Baffi n Bay. the Marathon uplift. A major tectonic reorganization in the middle Modern physiography refl ects two principal (3) Late Laramide basement-cored uplifts Cenozoic that included the Basin and Range orogenic phases. The Laramide orogenic phase, extending from southern Montana southward extension and regional crustal heating, uplift, a continuation late Mesozoic tectonism, was a to New Mexico. The eastern Laramide uplands and volcanism, remolded the western North

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American source provinces. Principal uplands (4) The regionally elevated Neogene Rocky ica. These basins provided collectors for upland produced include (Fig. 5): Mountain Orogenic Plateau, which is highest in tributaries and alluvial fans, acted as temporary (1) The Basin and Range province of block- central Colorado. or permanent sediment repositories, and infl u- faulted uplands and adjacent basins, extending (5) The Colorado Plateau, a moderately high, enced the location and fl ow direction of axial, southward from Idaho through northern Mexico. structurally stable upland separating the Rocky integrated fl uvial systems. Late Laramide (2) The Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic Mountain Orogenic Plateau and the Basin and basins were particularly abundant (Fig. 4). They fi eld of Mexico and outliers in the southwestern Range Province. form an assemblage of small- to medium-sized United States. (6) The comparatively low-relief Edwards depressions between and fl anking the basement- (3) The San Juan, Central Colorado, Marys- Plateau of central Texas. cored uplifts. To the south, extending from the vale, and numerous smaller volcanic fi elds of Each orogenic phase also produced a fam- Big Bend area of Texas, narrow, elongate fore- the Western Interior. ily of basins within continental North Amer- land subsidence belt including the Sabinas,

NW Fluvial Input Axes E Rio Rio Houston- Ma Deposodes Bravo Grande Guadalupe Colorado Brazos Red Miss. Tenn. 0 Pleistocene

5 Pliocene

U. Miocene 10

M. Miocene 15 L. Miocene 2

20 L. Miocene 1

Frio/Vicksburg 30 Oligocene Miocenee Plio. P.

35 Jackson Yegua

40 Sparta

45 Eocene Queen City

50 U. Wilcox

55 M. Wilcox

60 L. Wilcox Paleocene 65 Principal depocenter supply Time scale of Luterbacher et al. (2004) and Lourens et al. (2004) Secondary depocenter supply GOM cycle chronology of Paleo-data (2008, 2009), Significant contributor Crabaugh (2001), Combellas (2006), Wu (2004) Small delta system differentiated

Figure 3. Temporal history of the eight extra-basinal ﬂ uvial input axes of the northern Gulf of Mexico basin margin. Axes are arranged according to geographic position from northwest (Rio Bravo) to northeast (Tennessee). The relative importance of each axis is schematically indicated by the width of the blue bar. Fluvial axes are informally named based on similarities in their location along the Gulf margin or of their inferred drainage basin in the continental interior.

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Galloway et al.

Pmt

BRM Rav color ica. Brown aleocene and early

s that were actively s that were

GS, 2003). C/AP and 3. Elements com- N Wu 00 500 km 500 mi Mu Topographic highs Topographic Basins and lows Igneous provinces OP OM Sbu

Ta M

Pa S EBPa MU

BHu WM D T PLP SLu R HC CHu SDCM PR FR CTB Tu G GM

BHM CLJ SL

ESP LR CMB

Nu LFTB W WR SJ BH P RGu SrLu Zu OCu GR Avf U B WRM UM SRu Du CCu Mu

TC MH

Ku SOB Figure 4. Principal structural and topographic elements of the Paleocene–Eocene Laramide era continental interior of North Amer of North 4. Principal structural and topographic elements of the Paleocene–Eocene Laramide era continental interior Figure during Laramide deformation phases in the P rejuvenation of structural uplift or products locates topographic uplands. Most are (US Terrain and Time of Tapestry America (2004). Base is the North (1975), Dickinson et al. (1988), and Cather Tweto piled from Eocene. Some elements are relict topographic uplands of late Paleozoic origin. Blue polygons outline basins and low relict Eocene. Some elements are 2 Tables see explanation of abbreviations, subsiding and accumulating sediment during at least part of the Laramide phase. For

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Cenozoic North American drainage basin evolution

Pmt

BRM

Rav C/AP ), and Eaton (2008). nd Range structural nd Yeats (1992), Per- Yeats nd d provinces that were that were d provinces

P I

S I S S I M 00 500 km 500 mi OP Basin and Range province fields Volcanic Rift basins Rio Grande Regional elevated/ erosional provinces OM INTERIOR

A L I P N

H G I H LOWLANDS O+Rvf RCvf BR TPvf RGR CCvf AB

AI E

H RMOP S SJvf SMOvf Svf Movf CP Mvf BR Ylh GBvf BR Figure 5. Principal structural and topographic elements of Oligocene–Neogene continental interior of North America. The Basin a America. of North 5. Principal structural and topographic elements of Oligocene–Neogene continental interior Figure elevate outline regionally broadly areas Light brown province. formed the western margin of interior (light green) province actively eroded during the Neogene. For explanation of abbreviations, see Tables 2 and 3. Elements compiled from Christiansen a 2 and 3. Elements compiled from Tables see explanation of abbreviations, during the Neogene. For actively eroded et al. (2008 M. McDowell (2007, personal commun.), Cather (2004), Chapin et al. (2004a, 2004b), F. kins and Nash (2002), Cather Base is the North America Tapestry of Time and Terrain (USGS, 2003). Terrain and Time of Tapestry America Base is the North

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Parras-La Popa, and Magiscatzin basins was base (USGS, 2003). Most of the maps display uncertainty exists in the connections across separated from the adjacent GOM by a chain regional paleogeography for a single GOM the central and southern continental interior of arches that together constitute the peripheral deposode (e.g., Early Paleocene, Early Eocene, lowlands, Mississippi Valley, and southeastern bulge. In contrast, middle–late Cenozoic basins Oligocene, Middle Miocene, Late Miocene) or Appalachians, where little or no Cenozoic sedi- east of the Basin and Range province itself were for two combined deposodes (e.g., Late Paleo- mentary record exists. In some units, distinctive few. A series of extensional troughs connected cene, Middle and Late Eocene, Early Miocene). petrologic constituents or bulk composition help to form the larger Rio Grande Rift, extending High-frequency glacioeustasy and detailed connect specifi c fl uvial/deltaic axes to tributary from central Colorado almost to the Big Bend chronology made possible by high-resolution sources. Other interpreted connections are sim- area of Texas (Fig. 5). paleontology result in the recognition of mul- ply logical interpolations. tiple Pliocene and Pleistocene deposodes in the EVOLVING CONTINENTAL GOM. These are grouped to show the general Drainage Basin Paleogeographic Evolution PALEOGEOGRAPHY paleogeographic and depositional patterns that characterize and differentiate the Pliocene (pre- Overview of Cenozoic interior North Ameri- The fi nal goal of this discussion is to relate North American Ice Sheet) and Pleistocene can geologic evolution suggests differentiation the depositional elements and history of the (North American Ice Sheet). Each map displays of fi ve broad tectono-climatic eras (Fig. 1). northern Gulf of Mexico basin (the sink) to the a suite of paleogeographic elements as summa- Each is refl ected by a relatively homogeneous evolving North American interior tectonic and rized in Tables 2 and 3. Figure 6 provides the tectonic framework, paleoclimate pattern, and climatic framework (the source). explanation for the color scheme employed on consequent pattern of source areas, trunk fl u- the paleogeographic maps. vial transport systems, and depositional history. Drainage Basin Paleogeography Maps Maps were compiled from a variety of From oldest to youngest, they are: sources. The depositional basin paleogeography (1) Paleocene late Laramide era: Active Evolution of North American interior paleo- is based on Galloway et al. (2000) and Gallo- Laramide deformation created a family of geography and drainage systems is summarized way (2008). General paleoclimate data were subsiding basins and adjacent basement-cored in a suite of 11 maps (Fig. 1) compiled on the abstracted from Scotese (2009, www.scotese uplands. The climate framework included an North America Tapestry of Time and Terrain .com/climate.htm). For all maps, the greatest orographic tropical monsoonal belt along the east side of the Front Range, a subtropical Western Interior, a warm, subarid, seasonal TABLE 2. PALEOGEOGRAPHIC MAP ELEMENTS southwest, and a cool temperate northern West- Regional geomorphic/geologic province outlines ern Interior. C/AP Cumberland/Allegheny Plateau Rav Ridge and Valley (2) Early to Middle Eocene terminal Laramide BRM Blue Ridge Mountains era: Final pulses of Laramide deformation were Pmt Piedmont OP Ozark Plateau followed by an extended period of tectonic sta- OM Ouachita Mountains bility, upland erosion, and alluvial aggradation. EP Edwards Plateau LFTB Laramide Fold and Thrust Belt Climate remained warm and seasonally wet, BR Basin and Range becoming drier toward the northern Western RGR Rio Grande Rift Interior. Early Paleogene stratigraphic records CP Colorado Plateau RMOP Rocky Mountain Orogenic Plateau of major tributary systems to GOM-fl owing riv- MH Mogollon Highlands ers are best preserved in the Laramide Denver, SOB Sevier Orogenic Belt Igneous features and provinces Raton, San Juan, Galisteo, and Baca basins. Active volcanic center Elevated volcanic edifi ce with ongoing extrusive activity (3) Middle Cenozoic arid volcanogenic era: Caldera complex Active upland with explosive volcanism and ash generation From the Late Eocene through the Early Mio- Relict volcanic complex Potential upland source area Airborne volcanic ash transport General atmospheric transport direction cene regional igneous activity, including forma- Drainage basin elements tion of extensive volcanic edifi ces and caldera Mountain glaciers Area of active upland glaciation complexes as well as broad crustal uplift and Upland Elevated region providing both tributary runoff and sediment High-relief upland Highly elevated, tectonically active sediment source erosional rejuvenation of basin fi lls and uplands Subsiding alluvial basin Active, long-term repository of alluvial deposits spread from northern Mexico northward into Bypass alluvial basin Missing or condensed interval of alluvial deposits Lacustrine basin Subsiding basin substantially fi lled with lake deposits Colorado and Utah. Climate pattern developed Eolian basin fi ll or aggradational erg Substantial accumulation of wind-born deposits a strong east-to-west gradient. The southeastern Aggradational fl uvial fan/apron Geomorphically defi ned area of alluvial accumulation Drainage divide Separating the GOM drainage basin from adjacent drainage basins United States remained wet seasonal to subtrop- Fluvial channel systems Mapped and inferred tributary, trunk, and distributary river networks ical. The west-central Gulf margin and Western Bed-rock canyons Local areas of bedrock incised tributary channels Interior assumed a sub-arid to arid climate. Receiving basin elements Depositional coastal plain Landward and basinward extent of coastal accumulation (4) Middle Neogene arid extensional era: The Fluvial axes Principal entry points of extra-basinal river systems Middle through Late Miocene was characterized Rio Bravo RB Rio Grande RG by regional north-south extension and creation Guadalupe G of major tectonic provinces including the Basin Colorado C and Range and Rio Grande Rift. Tectonic and/ Houston-Brazos H-B Red R or climatic regime changes triggered erosional Mississippi M unroofi ng of the long stable Appalachian upland Tennessee T Deltaic depocenters provinces. An arid climate extended across the Maximum progradational shoreline western Gulf margin and throughout the Western

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Interior. Middle Cenozoic (late Eocene– Laramide orogenic activity was approaching Miocene) tributary systems are preserved as the fi rst of two early Cenozoic peaks (Fig. 8). TABLE 3. TECTONIC AND PHYSIOGRAPHIC aggradational canyon fi lls and alluvial aprons. Several uplands were undergoing uplift or FEATURES LABELED ON FIGURES 4 AND 5 (5) Late Neogene monsoonal epeirogenic were already high standing, including the Front Crustal structural elements uplift era: Return of seasonal monsoonal rain- Ranges, Sangre de Cristos, Rio Grande uplift, Rio Grande Rift fall across the southern Rockies, climate cool- and Mogollon High. Alamosa basin AlB Espanola basin EB ing, and, ultimately, initiation of cyclic mon- In contrast to the abbreviated sedimentary Albuquerque basin AbB tane and continental glaciation rejuvenated record in the Gulf, several large basins of the Socorro basin SB Tularosa basin TB erosional evacuation of sediment from the interior Rockies, notably the Denver, Raton, Hueco bolson HB Western Interior. Simultaneously, epeirogenic and San Juan, were actively fi lling with fl u- Laramide basins uplift and tilting along the central and south- vial sediment during this same time interval Parras-La Popa PLP Sabinas S ern Front Range created the east-sloping High (Fig. 8). Early Paleocene basins across eastern Magiscatzin M Plains. Plio-Pleistocene tributary elements are Utah, western Colorado, and Wyoming were Tornillo T Love Ranch LR sparsely preserved in rift basins and local can- also subsiding and accumulating fl uvial strata. Carthage-LaJoya CLJ yon and valley systems. Abundant lignite in the fl uvial sequences of Baca B Galisteo G Interestingly, sediment volume rate of sup- all these basins along with vegetation and soil San Juan SJ ply is typically quite variable within any one types record widespread distribution of wet Raton R San Luis SL tectono-climatic era. This suggests complex temperate to subtropical climate with shallow Echo/South Park ESP response and signifi cant lag times (millions water tables and voluminous runoff (Flores, Denver D North Park NP of years) as continental drainage systems 2003). Along the east side of the Front Range, Piceance P responded to changes in regional controls. orographic lifting of northwest fl owing atmo- Uinta U Table Cliffs TC Paleogeographic maps illustrate two or three spheric moisture from the Gulf of Mexico cre- Washakie W time steps for each era. Below is a discussion of ated a temperate rain forest (Ellis et al., 2003; Hannah-Carbon HC each mapped interval, reviewing (1) the GOM Sewall and Sloan, 2006). Green River GR Wind River WR depositional record, (2) the continental tectonic The paleogeographic map explains the rela- Big Horn BH framework, including specifi c areas of uplift tive sediment starvation of the Gulf at a time of Powder River PR Mountain belts and subsidence, (3) climate pattern, (4) recon- orogenic elevation of potential source areas. As Sangre de Cristo Mountains SdCM structed drainage basin paleogeography, and shown by paleocurrent analyses and preserved Front Range FR (5) source-to-sink relationships. trunk stream elements in the adjacent basins, Wet Mountains WM Uinta Mountains UM uplands of the northern Rockies drained north- Wind River Mountains WRM Late Laramide Era: Early Paleocene eastward into the Cannonball Embayment, an Granite Mountains GM Big Horn Mountains BHM unfi lled marine relict of the Cretaceous Interior Arches and uplifts The fi rst three million years of northern Gulf Seaway (Lillegraven and Ostresh, 1988; Flores, Sabine uplift Sbu margin history is one of regional marine inunda- 2003). The drainage divide between the Can- Monroe uplift Mu Wiggins uplift Wu tion of the northern basin margin and very low nonball and the Gulf extended across southern El Burro-Peyotes arches EBPa rates of sediment infl ux (Fig. 1). Shallow shelf Colorado (Fig. 7). On the south, uplands of Picachos arch Pa Tamaulipas arch Ta deposits extend to outcrop around most of the southern New Mexico and Arizona as well as Rio Grande uplift RGu coastal plain; shoreline position lay inboard of the southeast encroaching Mexican Laramide Tularosa uplift Tu Sierra Lucero uplift SrLu the outcrop (Fig. 7). Positions of fl uvial input Fold and Thrust Belt all shed sediment into Zuni uplift Zu axes are conjectural. In the Western Interior, tributaries that combined to fl ow southeast into Sandia uplift Su Nacamiento uplift Nu San Luis uplift SLu Defi ance uplift Du Monument uplift Mu Paleogeographic Map Explanation Kiabab uplift Ku Circle Cliffs uplift CCu Casper-Hartsville uplift CHu Drainage Basin Elements Igneous Features and Provinces Owl Creek uplift OCu San Rafael uplift SRu Mountain glaciers Active volcanic center Black Hills uplift BHu Relict or moderate relief upland Caldera complex Igneous features and provinces Yellowstone hotspot Ylh High-relief upland Relict volcanic complex Ocate-Raton volcanic fi eld O-Rvf Subsiding alluvial basin Springerville volcanic fi eld Svf Airborne volcanic ash Raton-Clayton volcanic fi eld R-Cvf Bypass alluvial basin Marysvale volcanic fi eld Mvf San Juan volcanic fi eld SJvf Lacustrine basin Central Colorado volcanic fi eld CCvf Receiving Basin Elements Great Basin volcanic fi eld GBvf Eolian basin fill or aggradational erg Mogollon volcanic fi eld Movf Aggradational fluvial fan/apron Trans-Pecos volcanic fi eld TPvf Depositional coastal plain Springerville volcanic fi eld Svf Drainage divide Fluvial axes Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic fi eld SMOvf Absaroka volcanic fi eld Avf Fluvial channel systems Deltaic depocenters Bedrock canyons Max. progradational shoreline Figure 6. Explanation for symbols used on paleogeographic maps (Figs. 7, 9–14, and 16–19).

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nd rela

Embayment e

id ? Cannonball m ra a L Figure 7. Early Paleocene paleogeography. Compiled from Tweto (1975), Fassett (1985), Smith et al. (1985), Cather (2004), Flore (1975), Fassett (1985), Smith et al. Cather Tweto Compiled from 7. Early Paleocene paleogeography. Figure 6. explanation see Figure (2009). For

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? Right column summarizes igne- rn Interior. f Mexico during at least part of the Cenozoic. ?

Fm. ? Dia. Tail Dia. Fm. Fm. Group ?

Santa Fe ? Espinaso ? ? ? Galisteo-El Rita Extrusive volcanics Extrusive sediments and volcaniclastic Datil Grp. Erg Baca Chuska Baca Fm. Eolian sand and silt ?? Erg Chuska ? San Jose Fm. Nacimiento Fm.

? ? ? Ojo Alamo Raton Fm. Poison Canyon Fm. Canyon Poison Alluvial conglomerate, and lignite sand, mud, ? Time scale of Luterbacher et al. (2004) Time scale of Luterbacher et al. (2009) GOM Cycle chronology of Paleo-Data D2 D1 ? (inferred) River Grp. River Tuffaceous ??? W.M. C.C. W.M. Tuff Congl. Tuff Loess of White Loess of Raynolds, 2002Raynolds, 2004 Cather, 2003 Cather, 2004 Cather, 2004 Cather, 2004 Cather, 2004a Chapin et al., Sparta Deposodes Denver Raton San Juan Galisteo

Pleistocene Pliocene Miocene U. Miocene M. Miocene 2 L. Miocene 1 L. Vicksburg / Frio Jackson Yegua Queen City Wilcox U. Wilcox M. Wilcox L. aecn oeeOioeeMoeePi.P. Plio. Miocene Oligocene Eocene Paleocene 0 5 Ma 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 basins that lie within drainage empty into the Gulf o Interior Western 8. Summary of depositional history in Figure Weste intensity in the curve summarizes Laramide orogenic The red Gulf depositional episodes. Left column shows the correlative (2004), and Chapin et al. (2004a, 2004b). Fm.—For Raynolds (2002), Cather primarily in New Mexico. Compiled from ous intensity,

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the Sabinas and Parras-La Popa basins at the cene clastic sediment along the Atlantic margin Terminal Laramide Era: Early Eocene north end of the narrow, elongate, Laramide (Poag and Sevon, 1989) makes the eastern U.S. foreland basin (Fig. 7). Here the drainage divide uplands unlikely sources. Further, the abundant Onset of Eocene deposition in the GOM extended northwest-southeast along the Mogol- presence of volcanogenic rock fragments in the is recorded by the Upper Wilcox deposode lon and Rio Grande uplands, east of the Tornillo Wilcox of Louisiana (Dutton, 2010, personal (Fig. 1). Paleogeography of the northern basin basin in Big Bend, and along the crest of the commun.) necessitates an exposed volcanic margin displays several major fl uvial/deltaic forebulge arch of the Mexican foreland basin. source. The Colorado Mineral Belt provides the systems. The principal fl uvial/deltaic axis Nested between these drainage divides with only volumetrically signifi cant candidate. shifted signifi cantly southward along the Texas the north- and south-fl owing systems remained Late Paleocene paleoclimate patterns con- coastal plain. Paleocurrent data and mapped only one large drainage basin that extended tinued to refl ect strongly monsoonal condi- paleochannel trends (Hamlin, 1988) show that across New Mexico and Arizona. Tributaries tions, with moisture drawn from the GOM the very large extrabasinal river feeding this to this fl uvial system, sourced by the Sangre de (Sewall and Sloan, 2006). Orographic lift of delta entered the paleocoastal plain from the Cristos, fl owed south across the San Juan basin moisture-laden air perpetuated the narrow belt north at the same position as the Late Paleocene and perhaps from the Raton Basin. However, of tropical rainforest along the east fl ank of the Colorado axis; it thus retains the Colorado name. both basins were actively subsiding; resultant Front Range and Sangre de Cristos (Ellis et al., Occupying the northeast part of the Paleocene fl uvial aggradation intercepted and retained 2003). Warm subtropical to subarid, seasonal Colorado location on the paleocoastal plain sediment otherwise destined for the GOM. Thus climates extended west and southwest across are deposits of a new fl uvial/deltaic axis, the the northeastern Gulf record similarly shows western Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Houston-Brazos. Though the trunk fl uvial axes that little sediment was derived from remnant Abundance of seasonal runoff nourished large are closely spaced, differences in bulk sandstone Appalachian or Ouachita uplands. The GOM trunk channels. This is, in turn, refl ected in composition (Loucks et al., 1986) show them to remained relatively sediment starved for the fi rst the very large dimensions of Wilcox meander have different sources and thus to record two three million years of the Cenozoic. belts seen in outcrop and the shallow subsur- contemporaneous drainage systems. A third face and in the large deltas they constructed. delta occupies the Rio Grande axis on the south Late Laramide Era: Late Paleocene Southeastern U.S. and Gulf coast paleoclimate Texas paleocoastal plain. It too is composition- was tropical monsoonal; the Paleocene Wilcox ally distinct. A small deltaic depocenter records At the beginning of the Late Paleocene, the Group contains extensive, commercial lignite the continued presence of the Mississippi axis. shallow marine shelf of the northern GOM was deposits in fl uvial, deltaic, and shore-zone However, this system was in decline; channel rapidly replaced by a broad fl uvial/deltaic coastal depositional systems. elements were small and the Upper Wilcox plain buttressed by two large fl uvially domi- Early Paleocene uplands remained high- records long-term transgression of the east- nated delta systems (Fig. 9). These deltas were standing. Closed, interior drainage networks central Gulf margin. A very small delta complex centered on the Colorado and Mississippi axes. developed to the east of the Sevier Orogenic in southern Mississippi is the only depositional The continental margin prograded tens of kilo- Belt in western Wyoming, Utah, and northwest- evidence for the presence of a drainage basin meters beyond its inherited Cretaceous position ern Arizona (Fig. 9). However, the Green River extending into the Appalachian uplands. (Galloway et al., 2000). Three principal changes basin gathered headwaters into an east-fl owing A second late Laramide tectonic pulse (Fig. 8) in the western source area triggered the deposi- trunk that drained between the north end of the signifi cantly affected the landscape of the West- tion of the lower–middle Wilcox deposodes, a Front Range and the Casper-Hartsville uplift. ern Interior (Fig. 10). In addition to continued record of one of the great pulses of sediment In contrast to the Early Paleocene, when this presence of the Front Range, Sangre de Cristo, supply in Gulf Cenozoic history (Table 1B). system fl owed northeast into the southern end Rio Grande, and Mogollon uplands, numerous First, the drainage divide between the Cannon- of the Cannonball seaway, it was now destined mountain ranges of Wyoming were uplifted ball and Gulf basins migrated northward more for the Mississippi fl uvial/deltaic axis. The and the series of arches and uplifts extending than 500 km into southern Wyoming. Second, Colorado Mineral Belt sourced volcanic rock from southeastern Utah to south-central New basins fl anking the Front Range and Sangre de fragments that are a signifi cant component of Mexico were elevated. Additional positive ele- Cristo mountains, including the Denver, Raton, both Colorado and Mississippi system sand- ments, including the San Luis and Nacimiento San Juan, and associated minor basins, entered stones. Their presence in the Wilcox fl uvial uplifts, expanded upland source areas along the a Late Paleocene phase of limited fl uvial accu- axes of the GOM coastal plain (Dutton, 2010, southern Rockies. Far-fi eld tectonic adjustments mulation, bypass, and/or extensive pedogenesis personal commun.) confi rms that the fl uvial of the intracontinental crust are refl ected in the (Fig. 8). Sediment from adjacent uplands previ- systems had tributaries extending into central rejuvenation of the Sabine and Monroe uplifts ously sequestered in these basins now continued Colorado. Detrital zircon U-Pb data document in the central Gulf margin. At the same time, on through the trunk streams to the northern Southern Rockies Laramide crystalline block, rejuvenated subsidence triggered or accelerated GOM. Third, integration of the Western Interior Cordilleran arc, and northern Mexico sources accumulation of at least some fl uvial or lacus- drainage network established two large rivers, for sediment transported by tributaries of the trine deposits in all of the basins adjacent to the one draining southeast to the Colorado axis and Colorado system (Hutto et al., 2009; Mackey, active mountain belts (Fig. 10). the second fl owing eastward across the Mid- 2009). To the south, fl uvial systems derived Early Eocene climate indicators and model- continent lowland before turning south into the from the southern fl anks of the Mogollon and ing suggest drier conditions across the Western Mississippi Embayment. The northerly system, Rio Grande and from the Laramide uplands Interior and Gulf Coast relative to the Paleocene stretching more than 1500 km across the conti- sourced fl uvial deltaic systems in the northern (Wilf, 2000; Davis et al., 2009). Warm temper- nental interior (Fig. 9), at fi rst seems unlikely. end of the narrow foreland basin. Little sedi- ate climate of the Gulf margin graded to warm However, the large size of Mississippi axis delta ment was supplied by the remnant Appalachian subarid along the Rockies. Peat accumulation, demands a large drainage basin with actively uplands to either the Gulf or to the Atlantic characteristic of Paleocene deposits from the eroding uplands. Absence of signifi cant Paleo- (Poag and Sevon, 1989). Wyoming basins to the Gulf Coast, ceased.

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Embayment Cannonball Figure 9. Late Paleocene paleogeography. Compiled from Fassett (1985), Smith et al. Dickinson (1988), Lillegrave Compiled from 9. Late Paleocene paleogeography. Figure 6. explanation see Figure For and Chapin (1990), Lehman (1991), Pazzaglia and Kelley (1998), Cather (2004), Flores (2003), Milner et al. (2005), Flowers a (2003), Milner (2004), Flores and Chapin (1990), Lehman (1991), Pazzaglia Kelley (1998), Cather

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However, suffi cient runoff existed to cre- the northern GOM. Indeed, sediment supply contrast, a family of new basins, mostly small ate large trunk streams that ultimately entered was appreciable. However, the grain volume rate in area, developed across western New Mexico. the GOM as the Rio Grande, Colorado, and of supply was on the order of fi ve times lower The largest of these, the Baca basin, extended Houston-Brazos axes. than that of the Late Paleocene Lower Wilcox westward into Arizona (Fig. 11). The Baca and Tectonic reorganization of the Western Inte- peak (Fig. 1). There are several reasons for this Galisteo basins accumulated thick successions rior and its more subtle infl uences within the decline in the face of the plethora of potential of Middle Eocene fl uvial sediment (Cather and adjacent intracontinental lowland resulted in sources. (1) Supply from the Wyoming Rock- Johnson, 1984) (Fig. 8). Basins surrounding the signifi cant reorganization of fl uvial drainage ies and from the southern Laramide foreland central Rockies fi lled and merged into a broad, systems. The tributary system extending from continued to be captured by drainage basins low-relief aggradational alluvial apron that central Arizona across southern New Mexico that did not discharge into the Gulf. (2) The onlapped the uplands. At the same time, several was diverted southward, greatly expanding area of closed, interior drainage expanded, million years of weathering and erosion sub- the headwaters of the previously insignifi cant removing the Greater Green River basin and dued the topography of the highlands, creating Paleocene trunk stream (Fig. 9). This newly its surrounding uplands from Gulf-bound riv- a combined depositional and erosional surface integrated and expanded river system trans- ers. (3) Much sediment derived from the Front that extended along the Front Range southward ported suffi cient load to initiate the Upper Wil- Range and associated uplifts was sequestered in into northern New Mexico. This surface trun- cox Rio Grande fl uvial/deltaic depocenter. The the family of subsiding basins that fl anked them. cated older Cenozoic strata, beveled crystalline drainage divide separating this system from a The signifi cant changes in drainage patterns— Precambrian cores, and extended eastward onto comparably large system that drained into the appearance of a distinct Rio Grande axis, south- the Great Plains (Epis and Chapin, 1975). northern end of the Laramide foreland basin ward shift of the Colorado axis, and diversion Climate across the paleocoastal plain was was little changed from its Paleocene position. of former Mississippi axis headwaters to initiate subtropical. Gulf moisture spread inland, creat- Uplands in Mexico were effectively separated the Houston-Brazos axis—suggest that changing warm temperate to subtropical conditions from drainage elements lying in the southwest- ing intraplate stress patterns caused by the along the eastern Rockies (Sewall and Sloan, ern United States, and their sediments were fi nal Laramide pulse effected broad, low-relief 2006). Warm temperate to subarid regimes diverted into a foreland trough that was equally adjustments in the continental platform that, characterized the Western Interior, as refl ected separated from the GOM basin by a continuous in turn, realigned trunk channel pathways con- in paleosoils and shallow lake deposits (Davis fore-bulge (Fig. 10). A tributary network with necting the Western Interior sources with Gulf et al., 2009). preserved elements in the Echo/South Park, San paleocoastal plain depocenters. Preserved tributary segments in the New Juan, Galisteo, and Raton basins (Fig. 8) con- Mexico basins and depocenter volumetrics verged eastward to source the Colorado axis Terminal Laramide Era: Middle Eocene suggest some modifi cation in patterns of tribu- (Fig. 10). Somewhere in north central Texas, this tary integration into the trunk streams. The Rio trunk stream turned southward to enter the Gulf The Middle Eocene was an extended Grande drainage basin is best documented by paleocoastal plain obliquely from the north. The period of tectonic quiescence at the end of the paleocurrent, compositional, and sand body eastern Front Range was the principal source Laramide era in the continental United States. trends in the Baca, Galisteo, Carthage-La Joya, for tributaries preserved in the Denver basin as This period was recorded in the northern GOM and Love Ranch basins. North-to-south trans- the D2 sequence (Fig. 8). The extensive east- by two minor deposodes, the Queen City and port along the Galisteo-Carthage-La Joya axis fl owing trunk stream that had connected to the Sparta, contained within a 10 Ma interval of indicates that drainage from the northern New Paleocene Mississippi axis (Fig. 9) was diverted very low sediment accumulation and extensive Mexico uplands was displaced southward to to or captured by the Houston-Brazos system, marine inundation (Fig. 1). Both deposodes join with the Baca basin overfl ow as principal and provided the principal sediment supply to have three small fl uvial/deltaic depocenters in sources of the Rio Grande axis. The Greater that system. This diversion is refl ected in the common: the Rio Bravo, the Rio Grande, and Green River basin fi lled with sediment and decline in sediment supply through the Missis- the Houston-Brazos (Fig. 11). Initially, the Mis- fl uvial tributaries collected there to fl ow south sippi axis combined with the appearance of the sissippi embayment was a broad marine bay around the east end of the Uinta Mountains new fl uvial/deltaic depocenter along the upper with no evidence of signifi cant fl uvial supply into the lacustrine Uinta basin (Fig. 11). To the Texas paleocoastal plain. By the end of Early during the Queen City deposode. Later, a mod- south, the Table Cliffs basin collected streams Eocene Wilcox deposition, the emergent Sabine est Mississippi fl uvial/deltaic system reclaimed draining northern Arizona. Thus, the continen- uplift and remnant Ouachita uplands appear the east-central Gulf margin from the sea dur- tal divide extended along the Front Range and to have provided local quartz-rich sediment ing the Sparta deposode. The Rio Bravo axis Wet Mountains, jumped westward to the Monu- sources for the remnant Mississippi drainage records sediment supply from northern Mexico ment uplift, and then ran diagonally southwest system (Dutton, 2010, personal commun.). uplands that entered the GOM following fi ll- across Arizona. To the east, reappearance of a A drainage divide separated western headwa- ing of the Parras-La Popa and Sabinas basins Mississippi axis fl uvial/deltaic system suggests ters of the Colorado and Houston-Brazos drain- and overfl ow through a saddle in the forebulge. reintegration and expansion of the Midcontinent age basins from an extensive system of closed Once formed, this fl uvial axis remained distinct drainage basin. Appalachian uplands provided interior basins that includes the fl uvio-lacustrine from the Rio Grande axis for much of Cenozoic no signifi cant fl uvial sediment supply to the greater Green River, Uinta, and Table Cliffs time (Fig. 3). northern Gulf margin or to the Atlantic. basins (Fig. 10). Uplands of central and north- Residual Laramide uplands and basins Sediment supply to the Gulf was derived ern Wyoming drained northward toward Canada largely defi ned the Western Interior physiogra- primarily from the eastern slopes of the Front (Lillegraven and Ostresh, 1988). phy of the Middle Eocene (Fig. 11). Principle Range, the local uplands of New Mexico, and Tectonically rejuvenated and expanded basins of the northern Rockies remained little Laramide uplands of northern Mexico (Fig. 11). uplands provided an ample source of sediment changed in outline, but many were largely fi lled The rate of sediment reaching the Gulf was fur- that could potentially have been transported to and accommodated little additional sediment. In ther reduced from the already low Early Eocene

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09), and Lawton et al. (2009). For 09), and Lawton et al. (2009). For

dation

Progra-

Coastal 00 500 km 500 mi M H-B RG RB explanation see Figure 6. explanation see Figure Figure 11. Middle Eocene paleogeography. Compiled from Scott (1975), Cather and Johnson (1984), Lehman (1991), Lozinsky (1994), Scott (1975), Cather Compiled from Middle Eocene paleogeography. 11. Figure (2004), Smith et al. (1985, 2008), Lawton (2008), Davis (20 Dickinson et al. (1988), Pazzaglia and Kelley (1998), Cather

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values by several factors. (1) The area of closed sediment, with only thin, local, or intermittent sandstones of the Houston-Brazos axis refl ects interior drainage expanded to the west slope of accumulation (Fig. 8). In contrast, southern, late its headwaters in the Front Range and through the Front Range and southward across Arizona. Laramide basins, notably the Baca, Galisteo, canyons that extended to eastern elements of the (2) Much of the sediment eroded from the Front Love Ranch, and Carthage La Joya, continued San Juan volcanic fi eld. The Mississippi fl uvial/ Range, Wet Mountains, and Sangre de Cristo to accumulate substantial alluvial and volcani- deltaic depocenter, which was well nourished mountains accumulated in the aggrading apron clastic successions. The most important change in the Yegua deposode, disappeared in the lat- around these uplands, reducing supply to the in sediment source areas was the emergence of est Eocene as increasing aridity in the northern Houston-Brazos system. (3) The Baca, Galisteo, several large igneous complexes, including the Rockies triggered aggradation of the extensive and additional small basins trapped and retained Trans-Pecos, Sierra Madre Occidental, Mogol- White River alluvial/eolian apron. Sediment a signifi cant proportion of sediment eroded lon, San Juan, and Great Basin volcanic fi elds storage in the apron, beginning ca. 37 Ma, from headwater sources of the Rio Grande sys- (Fig. 12). The fi rst of two great peaks in igneous resulted in downstream starvation and conse- tem. (4) Although its drainage basin grew, relief intensity across the southwestern United States quent transgression of the northern Gulf delta and, consequently, sediment yield to the Missis- culminated in the late Eocene to early Oligo- system during the contemporaneous Jackson sippi system remained low. Only the Rio Bravo cene (Chapin et al., 2004a, 2004b) (Fig. 8). deposode. As before, no appreciable sediment drainage basin was positioned to collect and Source areas were rejuvenated in several ways. was derived from the relict Appalachians. transport sediment from tectonic uplands of the (1) Regional heating was accompanied by In summary, the late Eocene history was one Laramide foreland; it emerges as the principal crustal uplift. This triggered rapid erosion of of thermally driven uplift and consequent ero- Middle Eocene depocenter of the northern Gulf the shallow, unconsolidated mid Eocene basin sional exhumation of old mountain belts, com- margin (Galloway et al., 2000). fi ll and apron surrounding the Front Range. bined with evacuation of the mid Eocene sedi- Renewed incision of canyons into and through ment apron, erosion of newly forming volcanic Middle Cenozoic Arid Volcanogenic Era: the mountain crystalline bedrock cores followed. uplands, and recycling of air-fall ash into fl uvial Late Eocene Among others, the ancestral Platt and Arkansas systems. However, the initial surge of sediment River canyons were cut. (2) The extrusive igne- supply was soon tempered as spreading volca- The continental landscape was dramatically ous complexes constructed formidable uplands nic fi elds disrupted and blocked tributary sys- altered by a series of middle–late Cenozoic composed of fl ows and erodible volcaniclastics. tems of New Mexico and northeastern Arizona tectonic and climatic events (Fig. 5). Laramide (3) Explosive volcanism and accompanying cal- and as increasing aridity limited erosion and basins and uplands were modifi ed, overprinted, dera formation spewed large volumes of ash into runoff. At the extreme, fl uvial outfl ow from the and occasionally rejuvenated by successive the upper atmosphere. This ash was transported northern Rockies was unable to remove avail- regional thermal, extensional, and climate- northeastward across the continental interior by able sediment, leading to aggradation of the induced processes. A variety of new landscapes, upper atmospheric winds. White River apron and consequent death of the including local and regional uplifts, volcanic A subtropical climate persisted across the Mississippi axis. edifi ces, subsiding basins, and aggradational northern Gulf coastal plain; lignite is abundant alluvial and eolian depositional systems, in both Yegua and Jackson delta and shore-zone Middle Cenozoic Arid Volcanogenic effected sediment yield and drainage patterns. strata. The interior lowlands and Appalachians Era: Oligocene The fi rst of these new eras, the middle Cenozoic remained warm to cool temperate. The Western arid volcanogenic era, was defi ned by regional Interior, in contrast, was increasingly dominated The Oligocene Frio/Vicksburg deposode is crustal heating, with associated uplift, volca- by arid to subarid conditions. one of the longest and volumetrically most impor- nism, and widespread air-fall ash dispersal, and Four Gulf-directed drainage basins evolved tant in GOM history (Fig. 1). Four major fl u- increasing aridity across the Western Interior, on this dynamic landscape (Fig. 12). In the vial/deltaic axes persisted for more than 10 Ma, all superimposed on the remaining vestiges of northwest Gulf margin, the Rio Bravo collected bringing, on average, more than 50,000 km3 Laramide basins and uplifts. tributary systems arising in the Sierra Madre of sediment into the Gulf each million years. Following the mid Eocene era of extremely Oriental and Trans-Pecos volcanic fi elds. This The largest fl uvial input axis was the Rio low sediment supply to the GOM basin, late system drained, in part into the Gulf, but may Grande, followed by the Mississippi, Houston- Eocene deposition displayed an abrupt 1–2 Ma have intermittently remained trapped as a longi- Brazos, and Rio Bravo (Fig. 3). Each axis is spike (Fig. 1). The high Yegua supply rate rap- tudinally fl owing river within the now in-fi lled distinguished by sand compositional attributes idly moderated during the latest Eocene Jack- Mexican foreland trough. The Rio Grande axis that further specify likely drainage basin sources son deposode. Three fl uvial/deltaic axes, the collected sediment through an extensive tribu- (Galloway, 1977; Loucks et al., 1986). Rio Bravo, Rio Grande, and Houston-Brazos, tary network that extended from the northeast The second great peak of volcanism in the occur in both deposodes; disappearance of the fl anks of the Trans-Pecos and Sierra Madre Ori- southwestern interior occurred in the middle to Mississippi axis and regional coastal retreat in ental volcanic fi elds across the Baca basin and late Oligocene (Chapin et al., 2004a) (Fig. 8). the central and eastern Gulf margin accompa- local central New Mexico basins, to remnant The volcanic uplands established in the late nied decreased accumulation rate in the Jackson sags in the Four Corners areas and San Juan Eocene, including the Sierra Madre Occidental, deposode (Fig. 12). basin. Volcaniclastic sediments increasingly Mogollon, Trans-Pecos, San Juan, and Basin In the western interior, most of the Laramide dominated the fi ll of these basins (Fig. 8). As and Range, grew in volume and area. Numer- Mountains remained elevated. Interior closed expected, abundance of feldspar and volcanic ous peripheral and outlier volcanic fi elds, such basins, including the greater Green River, Uinta, rock fragments in Yegua and Jackson sand- as the Marysvale and Springerville, further Piceance, and Table Cliffs fi lled with alluvial stones of South Texas attest to the importance expanded the footprint of volcanic uplands or fl uvio-lacustrine deposits (Fig. 12). Promi- of volcanic source areas for the Rio Grande (Fig. 13). Widespread caldera complexes contin- nent Laramide basins, including the Denver, system. The presence of lesser but signifi - ued to pour immense volumes of volcanic ash Raton, and San Juan, largely bypassed alluvial cant percentages of volcanic grains and ash in into the upper atmosphere, where the prevailing

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White River Apron Flowers et al. (2008), Lawton (2008), and Davis et al. (2009). For explanation see Figure 6. explanation see Figure Flowers et al. (2008), Lawton and Davis (2009). For Figure 12. Late Eocene paleogeography. Compiled from Epis and Chapin (1975), Evanoff (1990), Lillegraven and Ostresh (1988), Lo Epis and Chapin (1975), Evanoff (1990), Lillegraven Ostresh Compiled from 12. Late Eocene paleogeography. Figure (2004), Chapin et al. (2004a, 2004b), McMillan (1997), Steven et al. Larsen and Evanoff (1998), Holm (2001), Cather

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White River Apron Erg Chuska Figure 13. Oligocene paleogeography. Compiled from Clark (1975), Epis and Chapin Scott (1982), Evanoff (1990), Lillegra Compiled from 13. Oligocene paleogeography. Figure Ferrari et al. (1999), Steven (1997), Larsen and Evanoff (1998), Pazzaglia Kelley Holm (2001), Chapin 6. explanation see Figure et al. (2008). For (2006), and Cather

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circulation dispersed it eastward across the con- distal White River apron (Fig. 13). This system Rio Grande axes remained prominent features of tinental interior. Although the major Laramide- displays the largest drainage basin, but trans- the early Miocene paleogeography (Fig. 14). The created mountain belts remained as uplands, ported the least amount of sediment directly Houston-Brazos axis shifted to a position astrad- all topographic refl ection of Laramide basins from upland sources. It did, however, collect dle the Texas-Louisiana state line. This shift, disappeared. Subregional inversion and erosion reworked air fall volcanic ash and its argilla- together with the interpreted change in drainage of the Laramide foreland basin in northeastern ceous alteration products from an extensive area basin confi guration, suggests recognition of this Mexico disrupted the regional drainage pattern, of the northern and central Mid Continent. These axis as a new system, the ancestral Red River. but provided a local source for the Rio Bravo and same tributaries would also have benefi tted from The Mississippi axis persisted in its central Loui- smaller streams draining into the adjacent Gulf. runoff from the wet climate regimes of the east- siana location and increased in relative volumet- By the beginning of the Oligocene, the North ern United States. Together this reconstruction ric importance. By late Early Miocene, it was the American continent had established the strong explains why the Mississippi system depocenter, dominant depocenter (Galloway et al., 2000). east-to-west climate pattern seen today (Gallo- though large in volume, is mud rich in compari- Early Miocene was a time of transition in the way, 2008). A subtropical eastern Gulf margin son to its sand-rich contemporaries in Texas and Western Interior of North America. Volcanic transitioned across East Texas to a subarid south northern Mexico (Galloway et al., 2000). activity waned (Fig. 8); only the Trans-Pecos Texas. The temperate eastern Mid Continent To the south, quartzite cobbles found in the and Marysvale volcanic fi elds remained active graded into a subarid climate along the eastern outcropping Norma Conglomerate, the core (Fig. 14). Caldera formation ceased. However, Front Range, which gave way, in turn, to a hot fl uvial facies of the Rio Bravo axis, suggest extensive relict volcanic uplands extended from arid (south) to cool arid (north) Western Interior. basin-margin sourcing from the adjacent inver- southwestern Colorado into northern Mexico. Dry climate, abundant volcanic ash, and strong sion uplift. This uplift likely defl ected the late Basin and Range extension became the domi- west-to-east winds created the extensive Chuska Eocene tributary systems that drained northern nant theme of western North American tecton- erg across the Colorado Plateau, nested between Mexico (Fig. 12) into the Rio Grande trunk ics. Block faulting creating aligned uplands and the Springerville, San Juan, and Marysvale vol- system (Fig. 13), further augmenting its volu- adjacent narrow, subsiding basins extended from canic fi elds (Cather et al., 2008) (Figs. 8 and metric importance. western Utah, across western Arizona, and diag- 13). In the northern Rockies, the White River In summary, two competing controls deter- onally into central Mexico. Basin and Range apron continued to aggrade by accumulation of mined long-term Oligocene sediment yield and uplands extended across the modern Rio Grande ephemeral stream and eolian deposits. Limited transport to the GOM basin. Regional thermally into Trans-Pecos Texas and southern New Mex- runoff or fl uvial-borne sediment escaped these driven uplift, construction of volcanic edifi ces, ico, where local fi ll accumulated in grabens large, intracontinental depositional complexes. and dispersal of easily eroded volcanic ash all (Fig. 15). In addition, early extension along the Continued presence of three large fl uvial/ combined to enhance sediment yield to Oligo- north-trending Rio Grande Rift initiated several deltaic depocenters (Galloway et al., 2000; cene drainage basins. At the same time, how- small basins in central New Mexico (Fig. 14) Galloway, 2008), as seen in the late Eocene ever, increasing aridity across the Western Inte- where local volcanics and terrestrial sediments deposodes (Fig. 12), records three comparable rior limited the availability of runoff to remove collected (Fig. 15). Initial rift shoulder uplift continental drainage basins (Fig. 13). Sands that sediment to trunk streams and thence to the rejuvenated the southern Rockies. Between the of the Rio Grande axis, characterized by their GOM. Wind played an increased role in trans- Basin and Range and the Rio Grande Rift, the abundant volcanic rock fragments and feldspars port and deposition. As a result much sediment nearly circular, stable Colorado Plateau occu- (Galloway, 1977; Loucks et al., 1986), refl ect was sequestered near the source uplands as pied the Four Corners and surrounding area. The the dominance of the Trans-Pecos, southern vertically aggraded fl uvial and eolian deposi- Chuska erg, which had began to be reworked by New Mexico, and northern Mexico volcanic tional systems. Notably, and in contrast to the the late Oligocene, was eroded. At the northern centers. The presence of volcanic lithic frag- Laramide era that came before, basin subsid- end of the Rockies, a mixed alluvial and eolian ments but increased proportion of quartz and ence did not provide signifi cant sediment traps. apron, recorded fi rst by the Arikaree Group and feldspar in sands of the Houston-Brazos axis The result was an extended history of moderate then by broad valley fi lls of the northern Ogal- refl ect a mixed source; tributaries are shown accumulation in the GOM (Fig. 1) with textural lala Group accumulated across eastern Wyo- tapping the central Rockies, including the east and compositional gradients refl ecting the spe- ming and adjacent states (Fig. 16). The Edwards fl anks of the San Juan and Central Colorado cifi c interplay of area, source terrain composi- Plateau of central Texas was elevated, provid- volcanic fi elds (Fig. 13). Although the conti- tion and elevation, and paleoclimate of each ing a compositionally distinct (early Cretaceous nental drainage divide is placed along the Utah/ drainage basin. limestone) basin-margin source. The elevation Colorado and northern Arizona/New Mexico of the plateau, though modest, likely defl ected lines, it is likely little sediment derived from the Middle Cenozoic Arid Volcanogenic Era: the Houston-Brazos trunk stream northward west fl anks of the Rockies or of the San Juan, Early Miocene and eastward to a position more like that of the Springerville, or Mogollon volcanic fi elds ulti- modern Red River. In summary, only a few, mately reached the GOM. It would more likely Volume rate of sediment supply to the GOM small, moderately subsiding rift basin segments have remained trapped as stream fl ow dissipated initially decreased in the Early Miocene (LM 1, provided sediment sinks among or marginal to by evaporation and infi ltration into the Chuska Fig. 1 and Table 1A). However, in late Early Mio- the Western Interior uplands. Elsewhere, Early erg and White River apron. cene (LM 2, Fig. 1 and Table 1A) it again acceler- Miocene units are thin or occupy topographic Further east, sands of the Mississippi axis ated, presaging the high rates of the Middle–Late lows in a generally degradational landscape. are quartz rich and lack evidence of direct vol- Miocene. Distribution of lower Miocene fl uvial/ The pattern of continental aridity established canic input. The paleogeographic reconstruc- deltaic depocenter distribution and relative vol- in the Oligocene persisted through the Early tion shows an extensive network of east-fl owing umes presages the major shift of sediment sup- Miocene (Cather et al., 2008; Chapin, 2008). tributaries draining the east side of the northern ply from the northwestern to the east-central All of the Western Interior was arid; arid con- Rockies and collecting limited outfl ow from the GOM that defi nes the Neogene. Rio Bravo and ditions extended to the Northwest Gulf margin

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Arikaree Apron er (2003), Cather et al. (2008), McMillan et al. (2006), and Flowers et al. (2008). For explanation see Figure 6. explanation see Figure et al. (2008), McMillan (2006), and Flowers (2008). For (2003), Cather er Connell et al. (1999), Holm (2001), Bufﬂ Figure 14. Early Miocene paleogeography. Compiled from Bart (1975), Scott (1982), Cather et al. (1994), Chapin and Cather (1994 et al. (1994), Chapin and Cather Bart (1975), Scott (1982), Cather Compiled from 14. Early Miocene paleogeography. Figure

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Ma Deposodes Browns Park* N.R.G.R. C.R.G.R. S.N.M. N. Plains S. Plains 0 Pleistocene 1

5 Pliocene 2 ?

U. Miocene Ogallala Group 10 Santa Fe Browns Park Santa Fe Ogallala Group M. Miocene Fm. Group Group Multiple Fms.

15 Miocene Plio. P. ??? L. Miocene 2 Volcanics and Volcanics and Early Rift Fill Early Rift Fill 20 L. Miocene 1 Buffler, 2003 Chapin, 2008 Chapin, 2008 Chapin, 2008 Chapin, 2008 Chapin, 2008

1 Integration of through-flowing Rio Grande Time scale of Lourens et al. (2004) 2 Integration of central segment of Rio Grande GOM Cycle chronology of Paleo-Data (2009) * Includes several structural basins in N.W. Colo. and S. Central Wyo.

Figure 15. Neogene sedimentary record of the Western Interior basins, Rio Grande Rift, and High Plains. Left column shows the correlative Gulf depositional episodes. Compiled from Buffl er (2003) and Chapin (2008). Yellow indicates fl uvial deposition; light brown refl ects eolian strata.

(Galloway, 1982). To the east, warm temperate In summary, competing processes and strongly suggests equally signifi cant changes climate characterized the eastern Gulf coastal boundary conditions affected sediment supply in the source uplands and drainage basins. As plain and Appalachian uplands. rates and patterns of the Early Miocene. On the described below, they did indeed occur. The Tributaries from both sides of the northern negative side, easily eroded volcanic uplands Mississippi assumed its role as the dominant Rockies combined with fl ow gathered across decreased in elevation, ash dispersal was greatly fl uvial system in terms of sediment supply to the the upper Midcontinent and eastern plateaus to reduced, drainage basin area was somewhat Gulf. However, a new system, with a drainage form the axial Mississippi (Fig. 14). The Red decreased, local subsidence along the Rio basin approximating that of the modern Tennes- River trunk stream collected tributaries that Grande Rift began to sequester sediment, and see River (Galloway, 2005b) arose immediately largely drained Rocky Mountain and remnant the arid climate limited erosion and transport of to the east of the Mississippi. The delta systems volcanic uplands of northern New Mexico. The sediment from the Western Interior. On the plus of the two rivers commonly merged, but the nascent Rio Grande rift collected tributaries side, areas and rates of continental aggradation fl uvial axes are distinct where they entered the draining uplands of northwestern New Mexico generally decreased, the erg was dissected, and paleocoastal plain. Sands of both are quartz rich and south central Colorado. Sediment known extensive high-relief uplands remained as active (McBride et al., 1988), but those of the Tennes- collectively as the Santa Fe Group (Fig. 15) sediment source areas. At fi rst (LM 1), nega- see are slightly more lithic. Both refl ect mature, accumulated in these closed basins, including tive factors prevailed, and sediment supply to polycyclic continental source rocks. The Gua- the successor to the Laramide Galisteo. Surplus the GOM decreased (Fig. 1). Later in the Early dalupe axis, named for a modest, modern basin- sediment likely bypassed the small rift basins. Miocene (LM 2), however, the balance began margin counterpart, was characterized by its Headwaters of the Rio Grande fl uvial axis to tip in favor of accelerated supply. Concomi- more diverse composition that includes com- tapped remnant uplands of the Mogollon volca- tantly, the eastern interior emerged as the domi- mon carbonate rock fragments. nic fi eld, active volcanic uplands of Trans-Pecos nant source area. Middle Miocene North America was hot. Texas, and eastern fl anks of Basin and Range A warm temperate climate spread across the uplands (Fig. 14). Abundant volcanic rock frag- Middle Neogene Arid Extensional Era: East and upper Midwest; the southeastern ments refl ect these sources. The Rio Bravo con- Middle Miocene United States and lower Mississippi Valley tinued to drain remnant basin-margin uplands were subtropical. The entire Western Inte- and may have extended into the adjacent Basin Middle Miocene paleogeography refl ects the rior and northwestern Gulf coastal plain was and Range province. The Colorado Plateau was culmination of Basin and Range extensional hot and arid (Hoel, 1982; Chapin, 2008). The characterized by interior drainage, though little tectonics combined with a strong east-to-west middle Miocene deposode was coeval with the Early Miocene sediment is now found there. climate gradient. The patterns established per- onset of renewed global cooling, following the In central Arizona, a proto-Colorado drained sisted with only modest change for nearly 12 Mid-Miocene climatic optimum (Zachos et al., southward, capturing the westernmost tributar- million years. 2001). It has been suggested that global change ies of the Oligocene Rio Grande. The conti- The Middle Miocene Gulf coastal plain triggered regional climate attributes, such as nental divide likely extended along the axis of stratigraphy records three dominant fl uvial/ increase in storm intensity or frequency, in the the remnant Oligocene volcanic uplands before deltaic axes, two of which were new (Fig. 16) Appalachian uplands that, in turn, enhanced diverting westward to the edge of the Basin and (Galloway, 2008). Such a dramatic change mechanical erosion rates and consequent sedi- Range in Wyoming (Fig. 14). in the paleogeography of the receiving basin ment yield (Boettcher and Milliken, 1994).

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n o r

l l

g O

. N Figure 16. Middle Miocene paleogeography. Compiled from Seni (1980), Scott (1982), Boreman et al. (1983, 1984), Gustavson and W et al. (1983, 1984), Gustavson and Seni (1980), Scott (1982), Boreman Compiled from 16. Middle Miocene paleogeography. Figure (1994), Steven et al. (1997), Connell (1999), Holm (2001), Buf et al. (1994), Chapin and Cather and Gries (1994), Cather 6. explanation see Figure McMillan et al. (2006), Chapin (2008), and Flowers (2008). For

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The combination of tectonic and climatic uplands in Trans-Pecos Texas and east-central The strong east-west zonal climate zones events culminated in several responses that New Mexico. The Continental divide extended persisted. The Western Interior and northwest profoundly infl uenced drainage basin evolution south along the crest of the Rockies and eastern Gulf coastal plain remained arid, limiting run- and consequent pattern of sediment yield to the rift fl ank uplands (Fig. 16). The Colorado Pla- off and enhancing evaporation (Chapin, 2008). GOM. Three key elements of the continental teau contained several shallow closed lacustrine Warm temperate conditions characterized the interior drainage basins infl uenced ultimate sed- and alluvial basins; evaporation dominated. The Midcontinent and northeastern Gulf margin. iment yield and transport axes (Fig. 16): Browns Park basins of the Colorado-Wyoming Northward, along the Appalachian trend, cool (1) Accelerated extension rate and consequent border (Fig. 15) accumulated eolian and shallow temperate conditions replaced warm temperate subsidence along the length of the Rio Grande lake deposits. conditions of the earlier Miocene. Thus, drain- Rift (Fig. 5) created a series of closed basins. The middle Miocene deposode was a time age basins of the central and eastern continental This chain of basins extended from the Ala- of high sediment infl ux into the GOM (Fig. 1, interior received abundant discharge while river mosa basin in southern Colorado to the Hueco Table 1). At the same time, it records the full basins of the west were relatively runoff starved. bolson in Trans-Pecos Texas. It thus effectively extent of the long-recognized shift of sediment The Tennessee system continued to receive insulated the Gulf margin from any upland lying accumulation from the western to the eastern large volumes of runoff and quartz-rich sedi- west of the rift. The basins along the rift accu- Gulf. On the west, culmination of combined ment from the Cumberland Plateau and adjacent mulated thick successions of continental sedi- tectonic and climatic factors effectively reduced Appalachian terrains (Fig. 17). With headwaters ment, known collectively as the Santa Fe Group sediment supply. Western extent of Gulf-fl owing in the well-watered east, it was the largest of the (Fig. 15), derived from the adjacent rift shoul- drainage basins was truncated at the Rio Grande Late Miocene river systems in terms of sediment der uplifts and marginal volcanic uplands, both Rift. North of the Rift, extreme aridity created supply to the basin. The drainage basin of the active and remnant. an energy-defi cient alluvial regime; runoff was Mississippi remained about the same as its earlier (2) The arid climate and consequent low inadequate to the task of transporting coarse Miocene counterpart. However, overall supply runoff limited fl uvial sediment transport east- sediment more than a few hundred kilometers of sediment decreased, as refl ected in its devolu- ward from central and northern Rock Moun- beyond the mountain front. It remained trapped tion into the smaller of the central GOM systems. tain sources. A series of aggrading distributive in the continental interior as a broad alluvial This refl ects in part southward expansion of the fl uvial systems (terminology of Weissmann et apron. Contemporaneous climate change and/or aggrading Ogallala apron to include deposits of al., 2010) merged to form the northern Ogal- tectonic uplift rejuvenated long dormant Appa- the paleo Arkansas and Canadian river systems lala alluvial apron (Figs. 15 and 16). Sediment lachian uplands. The outpouring of sediment (Figs. 16 and 17). Development of an aggrading aggraded, fi lled, and overfl owed early Miocene more than compensated for loss of sediment distributive alluvial system by the Pecos deprived erosional valleys as streams lost discharge to supply from the west. On balance, overall sup- the paleo Guadalupe of runoff and sediment evaporation and infi ltration and consequently to ply was nearly doubled, but the locus of accu- supply, resulting in its slow demise. Along the transport capacity (Chapin, 2008). mulation was dramatically relocated. breadth of the Ogallala apron, sediments accu- (3) Rejuvenated mechanical erosion of the mulated as runoff was lost to infi ltration and Cumberland Plateau and Blue Ridge, which Middle Neogene Arid Extensional Era: evaporation as rivers fl owed out of canyons onto had remained insignifi cant sediment sources Late Miocene the adjacent plains. The arid climate river sys- throughout the Paleogene, resulted in ~1 km tems were, in effect, energy defi cient. of erosional unroofi ng of these uplands in the The upper Miocene deposode mainly records As in the Middle Miocene, the Rio Grande early Neogene (Boettcher and Milliken, 1994). an evolution of patterns that were well estab- Rift created a moat and dam that together pre- A similar order-of-magnitude increase in sedi- lished in the middle Miocene (Fig. 17). The cluded sediment from the central and south- ment supply occurred on the Middle Atlantic combined Mississippi and Tennessee axes pro- ern Western Interior from reaching the GOM margin (Poag and Sevon, 1989), demonstrat- duced the basin margin depocenter. The Gua- (Fig. 17). To the west, drainage elements were ing the regional impact of the erosional event. dalupe axis, though still present, declined in trapped in closed lacustrine and eolian basins Indeed, the Middle–Upper Miocene was a time importance. Further southwest, the Rio Grande and in local grabens of the Basin and Range of dynamic global tectonic and climate reorga- and Rio Bravo axes again reemerged as modest, province. Rio Bravo presumably records inte- nization (Cather et al., 2009; Potter and Szat- but signifi cant elements. gration of a basin-margin drainage basin in the mari, 2009). North American physiography was much adjacent Basin and Range province. The rejuvenated Appalachian uplands pro- the same, primarily refl ecting distribution of In summary, sediment supply to the GOM vide the runoff and sediment that elevated the uplands and basins established by earlier Mio- decreased signifi cantly from its Middle Mio- Tennessee axis to prominence. As the Tennessee cene tectonism and climate (Fig. 17). The Rio cene peak (Fig. 1). The decrease refl ects con- drainage basin matured, the Mississippi likely Grande rift continued to subside, creating a cordant effects of several factors: (1) Unroofi ng collected tributaries derived largely from the series of closed basins that accumulated a mix and uplift of Appalachian uplands was waning. west. Central plains tributaries tapped the “left- of lacustrine, fl uvial, and eolian fi ll. A northeast- (2) The Rio Grande Rift and remnant central overs” of the paleo North and South Platte sys- southwest–trending belt of small to medium Rocky Mountain uplands combined to insu- tems, which together built much of the Ogallala volcanic centers extended from the Springer- late the GOM from any sediment supply from apron (Fig. 16). To the south, a paleo Red River ville center in southeast Arizona to the Raton- uplands of the Western Interior. (3) Along the tapped the east fl ank of the southern Rockies. Clayton in northeast New Mexico (Figs. 5 and eastern Rocky Mountain front limited precipi- The Guadalupe axis peaked as a supplier of sedi- 17). The central and southern Rocky Mountain tation and upland drainage basin area created ment to the northwestern GOM. The volumetric front ranges continued to be elevated by rift energy-defi cient rivers that deposited much of importance of this depocenter suggests a river shoulder uplift. Basin and Range uplift and their entrained sediment along a 1500-km allu- that had integrated its drainage basin far beyond faulting dominated the far west. Unroofi ng of vial apron. Together the Miocene deposodes are the nearby Edwards Plateau to incorporate distal the Appalachian uplands continued in the east. an instructive example of the dynamic interplay

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between tectonism and climate in modulating the High Plains are more than 1 km above sea Texas. Tributaries arising along the east side of sediment supply from a large and complex con- level. Here, the western margin of the plains (the the Rocky Mountain drainage divide aggres- tinental interior. depositional surface of the Ogallala apron) was sively eroded and removed large areas of the a focus for deep incision (Fig. 18) (McMillan et subjacent Miocene Ogallala apron, particularly Late Neogene Monsoonal/Epeirogenic al., 2006). In general, widespread erosion fol- in Colorado and northeastern New Mexico Uplift Era: Pliocene lowed the middle–late Miocene era of fl uvial (Fig. 18). Canyons and precursors of drainage and eolian aggradation. Cutting north-to-south elements, including the North and South Platte, The Plio-Pleistocene ushered in an era of along the spine of the orogenic plateau, the and Arkansas can be recognized. The combined landscape evolution across the North American Rio Grande Rift was the exception to the pat- paleo Platte River fl owed east, down the slope of interior. The confi guration of uplands, drain- tern. Basins along the rift continued to subside the tilted high plains, providing a principal trib- age basins, and depositional elements assumed and effi ciently store sediment from adjacent utary to the axial Mississippi. The paleo Arkan- a modern aspect (Fig. 18). Critical changes rift fl anks. As the time passed, basins of the sas may also have followed the path of its mod- included (1) modifi cation of the climate regimes central rift began to fi ll and overfl ow south. ern counterpart to the Mississippi. However, by introduction of Pacifi c moisture from the However, this nucleus of what would become Figure 18 suggests that it instead trended south newly opening Gulf of California (Thompson, the modern Rio Grande River still terminated eastward and merged with a paleo Canadian/ 1991; Chapin, 2008), (2) broad domal uplift of in closed basins, including the Hueco bolson Red river system to source the newly formed the Western Interior culminating in the broad, (Fig. 5), at its southern end. At the north end of and prominent Red fl uvial axis and depocen- elevated Rocky Mountain Orogenic Plateau the rift, the Alamosa basin also remained closed. ter. Capture of the Arkansas drainage would (Fig. 5) (McMillan et al., 2006; Eaton, 2008), Small volcanic centers, including the Raton- have directed sediment from the area of great- and (3) global as well as local climatic cool- Clayton, were active across northern New Mex- est erosional incision in southeast Colorado ing that led to glacioeustatic sea-level changes ico (Fig. 5). into the prominent Red fl uvial/deltaic axis. This that increased in both frequency and amplitude The climate zones of the North Ameri- depocenter appeared at ca. 4 Ma. Although still (Molnar, 2004) and to formation of montane can interior and Gulf Coast, as noted above, present on the northeast Gulf margin, the Ten- and then continental ice bodies across North changed signifi cantly relative to their Miocene nessee fl uvial/deltaic axis continued to shrink. America. Change (1) enhanced seasonal runoff, precursors. Late Neogene global cooling was As supply from the Appalachians to the Atlan- providing suffi cient fl uvial energy to both erode refl ected in the spread of cool temperate condi- tic increased in the Pliocene (Poag and Sevon, earlier Cenozoic alluvial and eolian basin fi lls tions across the Rockies, Great Plains, Interior 1989), the decrease is interpreted to refl ect and aprons and to again transport sediment to Lowland, Mississippi Valley, and Appalachians expansion of the Mississippi drainage basin at the ultimate receiving basin, the GOM. Change (Thompson, 1991). Tall grass prairie covered the expense of that of the Tennessee. (2) further rejuvenated erosion in and around the the interior plains of the continent (Retallack, The Pliocene saw a modest increase in sedi- Rocky Mountains, adjacent plains and basins, 1997). The Gulf Coast remained warm, with a ment supply to the GOM (Fig. 1, Table 1). Cli- and Colorado Plateau. Change (3) enhanced strong east-to-west zonation from wet temperate mate change, by providing increased moisture, climate instability, increased base-level change to warm subarid climates. Opening of the Gulf of runoff, and seasonal fl ooding, enhanced the ero- at the distal end of the drainage systems, and, California at ca. 6.4 Ma enhanced the spread of sional and transport capacity of tributaries. Pre- fi nally, added ice to the mix of erosional agents Pacifi c moisture northeastward across the Colo- viously aggradational alluvial aprons along the supplying sediment to northern tributaries. rado Plateau and Rocky Mountains (Chapin, Rocky Mountain front were dissected. Across Deposition in the northern GOM was focused 2008). As the moist air encountered high eleva- the Colorado Plateau, streams incised the land- along the north-central basin margin where tions of the orogenic plateau, orographic lift cre- scape. Erosion and effective eastward transport three extra-basinal rivers and their associated ated the summer monsoonal climate still present may also have been aided by further epeirogenic delta systems merged into a single regional today. The rain shadow on the east side of the uplift of the Rocky Mountain Orogenic Plateau, depocenter (Fig. 18). The paleo Rio Bravo, Rio Rockies created a subarid climate. with consequent tilting of the proximal High Grande, and Guadalupe rivers, though present, Drainage basins responded in several ways Plains (McMillan et al., 2002). These tributar- contributed proportionally little sediment to the to the mixture of climate and tectonic signals. ies rejuvenated the nascent Red River fl uvial/ basin. A new fl uvial axis, however, appeared on The combination of the Rocky Mountain belt, deltaic axis and augmented supply to the Missis- the west fl ank of the Mississippi. It is named crestal high of the orogenic plateau, and closed sippi axis from the Appalachians. The balance the Red River axis because its position on the moat created by the still-active Rio Grande Rift tipped slightly to greater sediment yield as the Texas/Louisiana line approximates that of the insulated the GOM from all uplands further to locus of source and supply shifted back some- late Quaternary Red River (before its perma- the west (Fig. 18). The Pliocene saw the inte- what to the west. nent capture by the Mississippi Valley in the late gration of the west-fl owing Colorado River Pleistocene [Saucier, 1994]). system across the Colorado Plateau. Tributar- Late Neogene Monsoonal/Epeirogenic Magnitude, timing, and cause of uplift of ies fl owing to the Gulf arose on the east side of Uplift Era: Pleistocene the Rocky Mountain orogenic plateau continue the Rockies and plateau. The axial Rio Grande, to be discussed and debated (see McMillan et though further integrated, terminated in the The Pleistocene would likely be undifferenti- al., 2006; Eaton, 2008). Regardless of specif- closed basins at the southern end of the rift ated from the Pliocene in this paper were it not ics, the broad upland so defi ned is centered in system. The south-fl owing Pecos River drain- for one additional geologic agent: ice. Ice in the southwestern Colorado and northwest New age system, now a major tributary to the Rio form of mountain glaciers and a continental ice Mexico, where intermontane elevations exceed Grande, did develop along the east rift fl ank sheet became a primary erosional agent, modu- 2 km above sea level (Fig. 18). Along the east in southeastern New Mexico. However, source lated runoff, and, through its impact on intrac- side of the Rocky Mountain chain, extending area and runoff remained inadequate to source ontinental geomorphology, reshaped the drain- from eastern Wyoming to eastern New Mexico, a Rio Grande fl uvial/deltaic depocenter in South age systems of North America.

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v e l E Flowers et al. (2008). For explanation see Figure 6. explanation see Figure Flowers et al. (2008). For (1994), Connell et al. (1999), Perkins and Nash (2002), Dallege (2003), Chapin (2004a), Mack (2004), McMillan Figure 18. Pliocene paleogeography. Compiled from Scott (1975, 1982), Cather et al. (1994), Chapin and Cather (1994), Collins a et al. (1994), Chapin and Cather Scott (1975, 1982), Cather Compiled from 18. Pliocene paleogeography. Figure

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Pleistocene depositional elements include Plains, created a ramp that directed rivers from of glaciation in uplands for many of these rivers, continuations of the three central Gulf margin the Platte to the Red more than 1000 km east- other climate factors dramatically enhanced ero- fl uvial/deltaic axes: the Red, Mississippi, and ward from their headwater uplands. sion and bypass of sediment from diverse upland Tennessee (Figs. 3 and 19). Through time, the (2) The ice sheet remolded drainage basin sources to the GOM sediment sink. Mississippi evolved into the prominent element, geomorphology across the upper Midwest, as the Red and Tennessee rivers were diverted northern Great Plains, and Allegheny Plateau. CONCLUSIONS into and captured by the incised Mississippi val- Rivers were forced to drain south, away from ley. A small, but identifi able Rio Grande system or along the periphery of the ice sheet (Fig. 19). The Gulf of Mexico has served as the prin- redeveloped on the south Texas coastal plain. The modern Missouri and Ohio systems were cipal repository of sediment derived from the The tectonic framework of North America created. Consequently, the east-west drainage interior continental United States for the past was little changed from that of the Pliocene. divide separating rivers fl owing south into the 65 million years. Because it is a relatively small The Rio Grande Rift remained a prominent GOM and north toward the Arctic shifted dra- ocean basin with limited additional continental structural feature, but sediment accumulation matically northward. sediment source areas, the contribution from fi nally exceeded subsidence. All but the north- (3) Cycles of ice sheet advance and retreat North America can be reasonably well delim- ernmost Alamosa basin was integrated into a caused sympathetic cycles in water and sediment ited within the total basin fi ll. Regional well single, through-fl owing fl uvial system (Figs. 15 discharge through all glacially derived tributar- and seismic databases together document the and 19). Initial Pleistocene erosion was fol- ies. These were collected by the Missouri and distribution and thickness of age-defi ned stratal lowed by a later phase of mixed aggradation and Ohio, which fed, in turn, into the Mississippi. packages and provide the basis for interpreting down cutting. Small volcanic fi elds, including Cycles of river incision and valley aggradation and mapping their coastal plain paleogeogra- the Ocate-Raton and Yellowstone refl ected the along the upper Mississippi ensued. From these phy. Volumetric calculations for each package ongoing deep crustal processes that perpetuated cycles, a permanently entrenched Mississippi provide a fi rst-order tabulation of sediment sup- Basin and Range extension. ultimately emerged, and this valley lowland ply rates. The changing distribution of fl uvial/ The climate history was dominated by the repeatedly trapped fl anking rivers, including deltaic sediment input axes and depocenters, in development of the North American ice sheet the Red, Arkansas, and Tennessee (by the lower turn, provides a picture of the evolving location and its repetitious advance and retreat from Ohio, which was in turn graded to the Missis- and relative importance of major extra-basinal Canada (Fig. 19). Montane glaciation extended sippi Valley), creating the modern integrated rivers draining the various continental source along the Rockies as far south as the Sangre drainage network (Saucier, 1994). As the differ- areas. The sink component of a large and com- de Cristo Mountains of northern New Mexico. ent rivers merged into one, the composite Red/ plex continental-scale source-to-sink couple Glacial outliers also covered the San Juans of Mississippi/Tennessee delta merged into the is thus well defi ned. The delineation of the southwestern Colorado, Uintas of northeastern single Mississippi delta system seen in the late evolving source component, though compli- Utah, and the Big Horn and Yellowstone Moun- Pleistocene–Holocene (Galloway et al., 2000). cated by limited preservation of the continental tains of Wyoming. Although the northern Gulf The Platte, Arkansas, and Red rivers con- sedimentary record, has become increasingly margin retained a warm temperate climate, tinued to actively erode the Ogallala and older possible with publication of critical syntheses most of the continental interior and uplands alluvial aprons of the eastern Front Range of North American tectonic history, intraconti- were cool to cold. Continental glaciation com- (Fig. 19). With integration of an axial river fl ow- nental sedimentation patterns, and geomorphic menced at ca. 2.4 Ma (Thompson, 1991), and is ing along the Rio Grande Rift, the continental evolution. Compositional attributes further aid documented by the fi rst appearance of meltwa- divide shifted ~100 km west, to its present posi- correlation of fl uvial/deltaic axes to source ter runoff in the GOM (Galloway et al., 2000). tion on the western edge of the Colorado Pla- areas. Both zircon dating and apatite fi ssion The upper Midwest was proglacial tundra dur- teau. The newly integrated Rio Grande emerged track analysis have added new insights and ing times of ice sheet advance. Precipitation from the south end of the rift and turned toward show considerable promise. amount, seasonality, and geographic patterns the GOM. Along the way, it collected the Pecos Integration of the source elements and their changed repeatedly during glacial/interglacial and tributaries from northern Mexico; the Rio history with depositional elements and history cycles. At the same time, high-amplitude sea- Grande and Rio Bravo became a single river. provides a picture of evolving Cenozoic conti- level changes pushed fl uvial/deltaic coastlines The combined system was adequate to produce nental sediment dispersal systems. The interplay from near modern positions in interglacial peri- a small fl uvial/deltaic depocenter (Fig. 19). of tectonics, climate, and geomorphic evolution ods to positions near modern shelf edges, more Pleistocene sediment accumulation rates in can all be examined in the context of this inter- than a hundred kilometers seaward, during full the GOM are typical of global oceans in their preted history. Several conclusions and general- glacial intervals. record of extremely high values, more than izations emerge. The dominant themes in Pleistocene drain- double Pliocene rates (Fig. 1, Table 1) (Molnar, (1) Sediment supply rate to the GOM, inte- age basin evolution were the integration of 2004). This increase is at least partly explained grated over several million year intervals, has numerous large drainage basins into a single by the enhanced erosive capacity of ice. The varied by as much as an order of magnitude axial Mississippi system and northward expan- upper Mississippi and the tributary Ohio and through Cenozoic time. Supply rate has com- sion of the Mississippi headwaters (Fig. 19). Missouri were repeatedly choked with braided monly varied by twofold between successive Several factors led to this convergence of drain- glacial outwash, especially during periods of deposodes. Though absolute magnitudes are age across the length and breadth of the conti- glacial retreat (Saucier, 1994; Rittenour et al., greater, refl ecting greater basin and source area nental interior. 2008). Glaciers sculpted the western mountains dimensions, this range of variability between (1) The long history of uplift of the West- into their modern, rugged peaks. Tributaries and depositional episodes is comparable to that seen ern Interior, culminating in the emergence of trunk channels of the Platte, Arkansas, Red, and in the Cenozoic North Sea basin fi ll (Liu and the Rocky Mountain Orogenic Plateau and Rio Grande remained or became dominantly ero- Galloway, 1997). Sediment supply is a signifi - the resultant tilting uplift of the western High sional (Dethier, 2001). Given the minimal area cant, independent variable in the development

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Cenozoic North American drainage basin evolution n

McMillan et al. (2006). For McMillan et al. (2006). For a

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of stratigraphic sequences within the GOM These are interdependent variables. Variables (3) Climate has played an important and com- basin (Galloway, 1989), older basins (Carva- 1–3 encompass the fundamental controls of plex role in modulating supply. Precipitation jal and Steel, 2009), and globally (Thorne and fl uvial sediment load: area, elevation, runoff, rate determined overall runoff. In wet tropical to Swift, 1991; Catuneanu et al., 2009). and temperature (Syvitski and Milliman, 2007). temperate climate regimes, abundant runoff effi - (2) Sediment supply to the GOM refl ects The fourth refl ects the balance between bedrock ciently removed entrained sediment. Arid cli- the interplay of fi ve variables: 1) areal extent erosion versus recycling of older but unconsoli- mate limited runoff; resultant transport-limited of river drainage basins, 2) source area relief, dated sediments. The fi fth is a product of the (Syvitski and Milliman, 2007) tributaries and 3) climate of the source areas and tributary sys- continental scale of the Gulf drainage basins and trunk streams deposited aggradational alluvial tems, 4) lithology of the sediment sources, and the geomorphic diversity of the landscapes upon aprons, storing sediment in the drainage basin 5) sediment storage within the drainage basin. which they are developed. even in the absence of a structural depression.

Grain volume Ma Deposodes rate of supply Drainage area Elevation / volc. Sed. Bed rock Temp. Arid Wet Sediment repository 0 Pleistocene S W E 5 Pliocene S W E U. Miocene W 10

M. Miocene W WE 15 E L. Miocene 2 W E 20 L. Miocene 1 V

Frio / Vicksburg V 30

35 Jackson V Yegua S

40 Sparta

45 Queen City

50 U. Wilcox

55 M. Wilcox

60 L. Wilcox Paleocene Eocene Oligocene Miocene Plio. P. 65 0 50 100 150 Time scale of Luterbacher et al. (2004) and Lourens et al. (2004) km3 / Ma x 103 GOM cycle chronology of Paleo-Data (2009) 142 3 = Increase = Decrease V = Volcanic S = Sedimentary

Figure 20. Summary chart for changes in variables potentially affecting overall sediment supply to the Gulf of Mexico basin. W or E in a cell indicates that the generality applies to the western or eastern interior drainage basins. Circles in the arid versus wet column indicate general climate during the depositional episode; arrows indicate direction of climate change relative to the preceding episode. Sediment repositories include: 1—Subsiding basins; 2—Fault-bounded rift basins; 3—Aggradational alluvial aprons; 4—Aggradational erg.

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Eolian deposition commonly accompanied such ment accumulation for deposodes in the Gulf of Mexico (3) Hand-drawn isopach contours derived from using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. both well and shot point data used to refl ect regional alluvial aggradation. In contrast, seasonality knowledge of Gulf of Mexico geology. and consequent runoff variability favored ero- Methodology sion and effi cient sediment evacuation from the Choose a Coordinate System upper parts of drainage basins. In general, the methodology involves interpolat- Data were stored in a geographic coordinate sys- (4) Tectonism has played a prominent but ing volumes of sediment accumulation from existing tem with thickness values in units of feet. These data must be transformed to an equal area projection. The equally complex role. Elevation of uplands by information in the form of borehole logs from wells and seismic survey data. Additional information projection used units of feet to be consistent. The compression, crustal heating, or extrusive vol- comes in the form of literature published about the Albers Equal Area projection using the North Ameri- canism created primary loci of erosion and high region and derived products such as isopach contours. can Datum of 1983 (NAD83) is a common projection sediment yield. At the same time, accompany- In GIS format, these data become the inputs to volu- used for North American applications (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008; U.S. Geological Survey, 2005), and ing subsidence sometimes created long-term metric calculations. Because data sets such as borehole logs and isopach was chosen for this analysis. The three main proper- sediment repositories adjacent to sources. These contours provide estimates of deposode thickness ties that infl uence the appearance of the Albers Equal structural depressions intercepted and seques- rather than volume, this methodology incorporates an Area projection are the Central Meridian, Standard tered much of that sediment. Regional patterns intermediate step of interpolating rasters representing Parallel 1, and Standard Parallel 2. The center of the of uplift and subsidence relocated continen- deposode thickness. One thickness raster is produced Gulf Basin Depositional Synthesis (GBDS) Project data base is roughly at −92° long, and so this value tal and regional drainage divides, reorganized for each deposode. The thickness value for each grid cell within a given raster is then multiplied by the cell was used as the Central Meridian. drainage basin confi gurations, and diverted or area (i.e., the raster cell size) to produce a raster where One method to calculate the standard parallels is redirected trunk stream paths to new points of each cell’s value represents the volume of sediment by determining the range in latitude in degrees north entry along the Gulf margin. in that cell for the given deposode. These values are to south and dividing this range by six. The “one-sixth rule” places the fi rst standard parallel at one-sixth the (5) As predicted by modern sediment dis- then summed to give a total volume for a given deposode. Because calculations utilizing grid cell areas are range above the southern boundary and the second persal systems, large, integrated river systems involved in this geospatial analysis, a projected coor- standard parallel minus one-sixth the range below emerging from continental drainage basins pro- dinate system that preserves area was used. the northern limit. Study area data points are bound duce proportionally large shelf, slope, and basin- The methodology for computing the volume of sedi- roughly by latitudes of 19.5° and 32°. One-sixth of fl oor submarine fan systems (Sømme et al., ment accumulation for a given deposode was as follows. this range is ~2°, so the standard parallels chosen are 21.5° and 30°. 2009). Indeed, such large geomorphic elements (1) Compile sources of deposode thickness in GIS format. The remaining Albers Equal Area parameters characterized northern Cenozoic GOM subma- (2) Choose an equal area coordinate system for (False Easting, False Northing, Latitude of Origin), rine paleogeographies (Galloway et al., 2000). the analysis. along with the Central Meridian, only affect x and y Figure 20 summarizes qualitative changes in (3) Project all GIS data for the analysis into the values of the coordinate grid; therefore, the choice of values for this parameters does not affect the analysis. aggregate drainage basin size, source elevation, chosen coordinate system. (4) Defi ne the spatial extent of the analysis. This The properties of the coordinate system are summa- bedrock composition, paleoclimate of principal extent represents the areal extent of sediment in rized in Table A1. source area(s), intracontinental sediment reposi- the deposode. tories, and corresponding change in rate of sedi- (5) Interpolate from deposode thickness values to Project Data to the GBDS Albers Equal ment infl ux to the GOM. Infl ux rate is clearly produce a raster providing continuous values of thick- Area Projection A convenient way to set a projection in ArcGIS a composite of multiple changes that may rein- ness for the areal extent of the deposode. (6) Multiply each cell in the thickness raster by the is to defi ne the projection on a feature data set and force or diminish the fi nal result. In general, the cell size to create a raster representing volume. then store geospatial features within the feature data overview suggests that continental tectonics (7) Sum the values for all cells in the volume raster set. When features are imported into the feature data played a dominant role in the Paleocene– Middle to produce a total volume for sediment accumulation set, ArcGIS automatically reprojects the data to match Eocene deposodes, that climate became a sig- for the deposode. the feature data set’s coordinate system. This approach The resulting volume is uncorrected for compac- was used. The steps are: nifi cant control by late Eocene time, and that tion. To foster a better comparison of volumes across (1) Open ArcCatalog, the data management appli- climate commonly dominated supply rate in the different units, one can use a general compaction fac- cation in ArcGIS. Neogene deposodes. tor such as current porosity, refl ecting age and depth (2) Create a new geodatabase named Analysis for of burial for each unit. The grain volume, V , can then the volumetric analysis. Finally, we emphasize that the reconstructions G (3) Create a new feature data set named GbdsAl- presented here remain a work in progress. Large be computed and can be considered a corrected volume for the purposes of volume comparison. Alterna- bers within the geodatabase. parts of the tributary and axial trunk elements tively, general compaction factors for age and/or depth (4) Apply the study-specifi c Albers Equal Area pro- left no preserved geologic record. The record of burial can be used. Derivation of compaction fac- jection to the feature data set. of most source areas is fragmented and incom- tors was beyond the scope of this study. The database (5) Copy and paste the original data into the fea- plete. There is, and will remain, much educated used here does not contain information necessary for ture data set. This automatically reprojects the data to the calculation of GOM-specifi c compaction factors; match the feature data set’s coordinate system. guesswork in connecting GOM fl uvial/deltaic generalized compaction factors were used. depocenters to likely continental sources. How- Defi ning Analysis Extent ever, there are many data to constrain choices Application Procedure For each deposode, the areal extent of analysis must and make such reconstructions worthwhile. New be defi ned. This extent refl ects what is presumed to observations will continue to guide modifi cation Compile Sources of Deposode Thickness be the extent of the deposode based on known data, literature, and expert knowledge. The analysis extents and improvement of such reconstructions. This project includes three data sets in geodatabase format, an Earth System Research Institute (ESRI) were manually digitized and stored as polygons in the proprietary GIS format, pertinent to determination of GbdsAlbers feature data set. These extents exhibit APPENDIX: SEDIMENT VOLUME deposode thickness: themselves as the boundaries of the resulting thickness CALCULATION METHODOLOGY (1) Locations of wells and their corresponding rasters, as shown in subsequent fi gures in this text. borehole logs from which deposode thickness values Introduction have been tabulated (Fig. A1). Interpolate Thickness Rasters (2) Discrete points sampled from seismic transects, The study database includes point locations (wells This appendix describes the methodology and pro- for which seismic data have been interpreted and cor- and shot points) and linear features (isopach contours) cedure of application for computing volumes of sedi- related to deposodes identifi ed in wells (Fig. A1). recording thickness values that can be used to drive an

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(3) Calculate VolCubicFt = Sum * 3281 * 3281. REFERENCES CITED TABLE A1. ALBERS EQUAL AREA PROJECTION PROPERTIES (3281 ft was the raster cell size.) Results of the volume calculation are shown in Bart, H.A., 1975, Miocene sediment dispersal for western Property Value Table 1A. Nebraska and south-eastern Wyoming: Contributions Projection Albers to Geology (Copenhagen), v. 14, p. 27–39. False Easting 0.0 Boettcher, S.S., and Milliken, K.L., 1994, Mesozoic- False Northing 0.0 Appendix References Cited Cenozoic unroofi ng of the southern Appalachian Central Meridian −92.0 Basin: Apatite fi ssion track evidence from Middle Standard Parallel 1 21.5 Standard Parallel 2 30.0 ESRI, 2007, Hydrologically correct surfaces: Topo Pennsylvanian sandstones: The Journal of Geology, Latitude of Origin 23.0 to Raster: http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/ v. 102, p. 655–663, doi: 10.1086/629710. Linear unit Foot index.cfm?TopicName=Hydrologically_correct_ Bolroyd, D.W., 1997, Late Cenozoic history of the North- Datum NAD83 surfaces%3A_Topo_to_Raster (Accessed February ern Colorado Front Range, in Colorado Front Range guidebook: Denver, Colorado, Rocky Mountain Asso- 12, 2011). ciation of Geologists, p. 125–133. ESRI, 2008, Albers Equal Area Conic: http:// Boreman, R.G., Lindner, J.B., Bryn, S.M., and Rutledge, J., webhelp.esri.com/ARCGISDESKTOP/9.3/index. 1983, The Ogallala aquifer in the Northern High Plains interpolation. It was necessary to include the contours cfm?TopicName=Albers_Equal_Area_Conic of Colorado-saturated thickness in 1980; saturated- in the analysis because they not only provide con- (Accessed February 12, 2011). thickness changes, predevelopment to 1980; hydraulic trol beyond the point data, but also take into account U.S. Census Bureau, 2008, Projection information conductivity; specifi c yield; and predevelopment and expert knowledge that cannot be gleaned from the for the cartographic boundary fi les: Geography Divi- 1980 probable well yields: U.S. Geological Survey point data alone. sion, Cartographic Products Management Branch: Hydrologic Investigations Atlas HA-671. ArcGIS includes a tool called Topo To Raster, which Boreman, R.G., Meredith, T.S., and Bryn, S.M., 1984, Geol- http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cob/projection.html ogy, altitude, and depth of the bedrock surface; altitude can interpolate from both point and contour data. The (Accessed February 12, 2011). of the water table in 1980; and saturated thickness algorithms used by this tool were originally developed U.S. Geological Survey, 2005, Decision support of the Ogallala aquifer in 1980 in the southern High to compute digital elevation models suitable for hydro- system for map projections of small scale data: http:// Plains of Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Hydro- logic analysis, but the tool has found good application mcmcweb.er.usgs.gov/DSS/ImgHTML/Albers.html logic Investigations Atlas HA-673. in other domains as well. Details of the algorithm are (Accessed February 12, 2011). Brister, B.S., and Gries, R.R., 1994, Tertiary stratigraphy provided by ESRI (2007). In setting up the Topo To and tectonic development of the Alamosa basin (northern San Luis Basin), Rio Grande rift, south-central Raster tool for a given deposode, the well and shot ACKNOWLEDGMENTS point data were selected as point elevation inputs, and Colorado, in Keller, G.R., and Cather, S.M., eds., Basins of the Rio Grande Rift: Structure, stratigraphy, the isopach contours were selected as contour inputs. This project made use of a database created over and tectonic setting: Boulder, Colorado, Geological The polygon representing areal extent of the deposode a period of 15 years under the auspices of the Gulf Society of America Special Paper 291, p. 39–58. is selected as the boundary for the interpolation. Addi- Basin Depositional Synthesis Project, which has been Buffl er, R.T., 2003, The Browns Park Formation in the tional parameters are shown in Table A2. The Topo To supported by a consortium of companies includ- Elkhead region, northwestern Colorado-south central Wyoming: Implications for late Cenozoic sedimenta- Raster tool was then run for each deposode, resulting ing: Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, BP America, in a suite of deposode thickness rasters. tion, in Raynolds, R.G., and Flores, R.M., eds., Ceno- Chevron Corporation, Cobalt International Energy, zoic systems of the Rocky Mountain region: Denver, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy Corporation, ENI Compute Volume Colorado, Rocky Mountain SEPM, p. 184–212. Petroleum Co., ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Carroll, A.R., Chetel, L.M., and Smith, M.E., 2006, Feast The output of the Topo To Raster tool is a raster Hess Corporation, Marathon Oil Company, Nexen, to famine: Sediment supply control on Laramide depicting the thickness of the given deposode, which Noble Energy, Petrobras America, Repsol E&P USA, basin fi ll: Geology, v. 34, p. 197–200, doi: 10.1130/ was then multiplied by the raster cell size to compute Shell Oil Company, Statoil, Stone Energy, Total, and G22148.1. volume. The procedure to compute volume for a given Woodside Energy (USA). Support of these companies Carvajal, C., and Steel, R., 2009, Shelf-edge architecture and bypass of sand to deep water: Infl uence of shelf- deposode using ArcMap, the analysis application in and their many representatives over the years of the ArcGIS, is outlined below. edge processes, sea level, and sediment supply: Jour- GBDS program is gratefully acknowledged. Thanks nal of Sedimentary Research, v. 79, p. 652–672, doi: (1) Use the ArcGIS Zonal Statistics tool to compute to Jeffrey Horowitz, our draftsman and cartographer, zonal statistics using the deposode thickness raster 10.2110/jsr.2009.074. for an exceptional suite of maps. Robert Raynolds Cather, S.M., 2004, Laramide orogeny in central and north- as the input values and the boundary polygon as the and Steve Cather provided critical insights and data ern New Mexico and southern Colorado, in Mack, zone. The output is a table with a fi eld called Sum that sources for the Colorado and New Mexico basins and G.H., and Giles, K.A., eds., The geology of New Mex- contains the sum of all thickness values in feet. uplifts. Kitty Milliken and Shirley Dutton helped with ico: A geologic history: New Mexico Geologic Society (2) Add a fi eld to this table called VolCubicFt. petrographic data compilation and interpretation. Special Publication 11, p. 203–248.

TABLE A2. TOPO TO RASTER PARAMETERS FOR DEPOSODE THICKNESS INTERPOLATION Parameter Value Notes Cell size 3281 ft (1 km) This cell size is less than the typical spacing of wells in the Gulf of Mexico, yet not so fi ne as to be computationally prohibitive. Output extent Same as boundary polygon Margin in cells 20 Analysis will extend this number of cells beyond the boundary to produce a smoother result at the boundary. Smallest z value 0 Thickness values less than zero do not make sense, so a minimum thickness value of zero is set to constrain the interpolation. Largest z value 20% above the largest input value This is the default value. Drainage enforcement NO_ENFORCE This fl ag indicates that hydrologic drainage should not be enforced. Enforcing drainage patterns would not make sense for thickness interpolations. Primary type of input CONTOUR Because contours refl ect expert knowledge as well as known data, they are given more weight in data the interpolation. Maximum number of 40 Values higher than this default value are only recommended for hydrologic analyses involving sinks iterations or if better defi ned streams and ridges are desired. Roughness penalty Default Lower values produce artifi cial peaks and troughs, while higher values result in smoother interpolation results. Leave as the default, which lets the software decide on a value based on the primary type of input data. Discretization error factor 0.5 Higher values mean more smoothing. Use the minimum recommended value of 0.5. Vertical standard error 0 This takes into account random error in the data, typically resulting in smoother elevation shifts for higher values of error. For this analysis, the resulting raster should strictly honor wells and contours, so this parameter is left as the default of zero. Tolerance 1 / Tolerance 2 Default Irrelevant since sinks are not enforced.

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