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Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on July 11, 2011 Geological Society of America Bulletin Sedimentology, detrital zircon geochronology, and stable isotope geochemistry of the lower Eocene strata in the Wind River Basin, central Wyoming Majie Fan, Peter G. DeCelles, George E. Gehrels, David L. Dettman, Jay Quade and S. Lynn Peyton Geological Society of America Bulletin 2011;123;979-996 doi: 10.1130/B30235.1 Email alerting services click www.gsapubs.org/cgi/alerts to receive free e-mail alerts when new articles cite this article Subscribe click www.gsapubs.org/subscriptions/ to subscribe to Geological Society of America Bulletin Permission request click http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/copyrt.htm#gsa to contact GSA Copyright not claimed on content prepared wholly by U.S. government employees within scope of their employment. 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Notes © 2011 Geological Society of America Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on July 11, 2011 Sedimentology, detrital zircon geochronology, and stable isotope geochemistry of the lower Eocene strata in the Wind River Basin, central Wyoming Majie Fan†, Peter G. DeCelles, George E. Gehrels, David L. Dettman, Jay Quade, and S. Lynn Peyton Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA ABSTRACT upsection. Rapid source terrane unroofi ng Snyder, 1978; Bird, 1988; DeCelles, 2004). The is also suggested by the upsection changes deformation partitioned what had been a conti- Shallow subduction of the Farallon plate in detrital zircon U-Pb ages. Detrital zircons nental-scale foreland basin that developed east of beneath the western United States has been in the upper Wind River Formation show the Cordilleran thrust belt, ~1000–1500 km in- commonly accepted as the tectonic cause for age distributions similar to those of modern land from the subduction zone. Modern regional the Laramide deformation during Late Cre- sands derived from the Wind River Range, elevation is ~1.5 km with the range summits at taceous through Eocene time. However, it re- with up to ~20% of zircons derived from the >4 km. Similar basement-involved uplifts in the mains unclear how shallow subduction would Archean basement rocks in the Wind River foreland of a major Cordilleran-style orogenic produce the individual Laramide structures. Range, indicating that the range was largely system are present in the Sierras Pampeanas in Critical information about the timing of in- exhumed by ca. 53–51 Ma. The rise of these South America, where fl at-slab subduction is in- dividual Laramide uplifts, their paleoeleva- ranges by 51 Ma formed a confi ned valley in timately associated with the region of intrafore- tions at the time of uplift, and the temporal the northwestern part of the basin, and pro- land basement deformation (Jordan et al., 1983; relationships among Laramide uplifts have moted development of a meandering fl uvial Wagner et al., 2005). Although shallow sub- yet to be documented at regional scale to ad- system in the center of the basin. The modern duction of the Farallon plate underneath North dress the question and evaluate competing paleodrainage confi guration was essentially America is the commonly accepted tectonic tectonic models. The Wind River Basin in established by early Eocene time. cause for the Laramide deformation (e.g., Dick- central Wyoming is fi lled with sedimentary Carbon isotope data from paleosols and inson and Snyder, 1978; Bird, 1988; Saleeby, strata that record changes of paleogeog raphy modern soil carbonate show that the soil CO2 2003; Sigloch et al., 2008; Liu et al., 2010), it and paleoelevation during Laramide defor- respiration rate during the early Eocene was remains unclear how shallow subduction would mation. We conducted a multidisciplinary higher than at present, from which a more produce the individual Laramide structures and study of the sedimentology, detrital zircon humid Eocene paleoclimate is inferred. At- the extent to which Laramide deformation may geochronology, and stable isotopic geochem- mosphere pCO2 estimated from paleosol be viewed as an eastward propagation of the istry of the lower Eocene Indian Meadows carbon isotope values decreased from 2050 ± greater Cordilleran strain front (Erslev, 1993; and Wind River formations in the northwest- 450 ppmV to 900 ± 450 ppmV in the early DeCelles, 2004). Critical information about ern corner of the Wind River Basin in order Eocene, consistent with results from previ- the timing of individual Laramide uplifts, their to improve understanding of the timing and ous studies. Oxygen isotope data from paleo- paleo elevations at the time of uplift, and the tem- process of basin evolution, source terrane un- sol and fl uvial cement carbonates show that poral relationships among Laramide uplifts have roofi ng, and changes in paleoelevation and the paleoelevation of the Wind River Basin yet to be documented at regional scale to address paleoclimate. was comparable to that of the modern Great such questions. Depositional environments changed from Plains (~500 m above sea level), and that local Many previous structural, sedimentological, alluvial fans during deposition of the In- relief between the Washakie and Wind River thermochronological, and paleoelevation stud- dian Meadows Formation to low-sinuosity ranges and the basin fl oor was 2.3 ± 0.8 km. ies have shown that deformation and uplift in the braided river systems during deposition of Up to 1 km of post-Laramide regional net up- Laramide region is highly variable in time and the Wind River Formation. Paleocurrent lift is required to form the present landscape space (e.g., Love, 1939; Keefer, 1957; Soister, directions changed from southwestward to in central Wyoming. 1968; Seeland, 1978; Gries, 1983; Winterfeld mainly eastward through time. Conglomer- and Conard, 1983; Flemings, 1987; Dickinson ate and sandstone compositions suggest that INTRODUCTION et al., 1988; DeCelles et al., 1991; Gregory and the Washakie and/or western Owl Creek Chase 1992; Cerveny and Steidtmann, 1993; ranges to the north of the basin experienced The eastern portion of the Cordilleran oro- Crews and Ethridge, 1993; Omar et al., 1994; rapid unroofi ng ca. 55.5–54.5 Ma, producing genic belt in the western interior USA consists of Strecker, 1996; Hoy and Ridgway, 1997; Wolfe a trend of predominantly Mesozoic clasts the Laramide structural province, a region of Pre- et al., 1998; Dettman and Lohmann, 2000; Crow- giving way to Precambrian basement clasts cambrian basement-involved uplifts, and inter- ley et al., 2002; Fricke, 2003; Peyton and Rein- vening sedimentary basins that developed during ers, 2007; Fan and Dettman, 2009). Tectonic †E-mail: [email protected] Late Cretaceous–Eocene time (Dickinson and models explaining deformation during shallow GSA Bulletin; May/June 2011; v. 123; no. 5/6; p. 979–996; doi: 10.1130/B30235.1; 12 fi gures; 2 tables; Data Repository item 2011013. For permission to copy, contact [email protected] 979 © 2011 Geological Society of America Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on July 11, 2011 Fan et al. slab subduction include basal shear traction Figure 1. (A) General map of the United States showing location of study area relative to the (Bird, 1988), thrust and back thrust connected major tectonic features and source terranes of detrital zircons (modifi ed from Dickinson and to a master detachment in lower crust, which is Gehrels, 2009). Black area stands for the Wind River Basin. (B) General map of Wyoming possibly linked to the Sevier thrust belt (Erslev, showing the age of Precambrian basement surrounding the Wind River Basin (Frost et al., 1993), lateral injection by mid-crustal fl ow from 2000; Kirkwood, 2000). Gray lines represent the Wind River and its tributaries. Stars rep- the overthickened Sevier orogenic hinterland resent locations of modern river sand for detrital zircon U-Pb age analysis: (a) East Fork; (McQuarrie and Chase, 2001), lithospheric buck- (b) Little Popo Agie River. (C) Geological map of northwestern Wind River Basin. Squares ling in response to horizontal endload (Tikoff represent locations of measured sections (modifi ed from Love and Christiansen, 1985). and Maxson, 2001), and isostatic rebound by removing the ecologized Shatsky conjugate pla- teau on the Farallon plate (Liu et al., 2010). Post- Laramide modifi cation of the lithosphere in the tiansen, 1985; Flemings, 1987). Among them, (Wa1–Wa3, 55.5–54.5 Ma), and the presence of Laramide region may have played a vital role in only Courdin and Hubert (1969) and Flemings Heptodon and Lambdotherium places the Wind shaping the modern landscape. Mechanisms of (1987) presented modal petrographic analysis River Formation in the late Wasatchian (Wa6– modifi cation include: (1) thermal uplift due to of Late Cretaceous and Paleocene strata in the Wa7, ca. 53–51 Ma) (Clyde et al., 1997; Robin son asthenospheric upwelling by removing the sub- western and southern basin. Flat-lying, lower et al., 2004; Smith et al., 2008). The youngest ducted slab or thickened mantle lithosphere be- Eocene, Wind River Formation occupies the U-Pb ages of detrital zircons collected from neath the western USA (Dickinson and Snyder , center of the basin, with the greatest thick- fl uvial sandstones in this study cluster at 62.3 ± 1978; Humphreys, 1995; Sonder and Jones, ness along the east-northeastern basin margin 1.3 Ma, which is older than the mammalian age 1999); (2) subcontinental-scale dynamic sub- (Keefer, 1965).