Collaborative Research: Late Cenozoic Evacuation of the Rocky Mountain Orogenic Plateau

Williams College, Williamstown MA

Investigators

Abstract

0106029 Heller 0106223 Dethier Widespread remnants of Cenozoic sedimentary rocks in the central Rocky Mountains may indicate the former presence of a large post-Laramide basin fill that has subsequently been largely removed. If such a regional basin fill can be demonstrated, it would provide a regional marker for determining the extent and rate of sediment removal and provide a marker for vertical tectonic movement during the late Cenozoic. This project will combine mapping fission-track and cosmogenic nuclide geochronometry to attempt to determine the former extent and continuity of the post-Laramide basin fill, and to search for possible tectonic or geologic causes of the observed changes. Results will help clarify the competing effects of tectonic verses climatically driven uplift.