colorado plateau uplift

GSA TODAY, AUGUST 2002 5 Isostatic response to the erosional ex-humation of the plateau over the middle-late Cenozoic should itself result in sig-nificant rock uplift, but this has not been adequately considered in evaluating the above ideas. We suggest that warming of heterogeneous lithosphere is a powerful mechanism for driving epeirogenic rock uplift of the Colorado Plateau and may be of general importance in plate-interior settings. The ~1.9 km uplift of the Colorado Plateau since the Late Creta-ceous is a prime example of this problem. In particular, the model matches the encroachment of Cenozoic magmatism from the margins towards the plateau interior at rates of 3-6 km Myr(-1) and is consistent with lower seismic velocities and more negative Bouguer gravity at the margins than in the plateau interior. While the adjacent Basin and Range province and Rio Grande rift province underwent Cenozoic shortening followed by extension, the plateau experienced approximately 2 km of rock uplift without significant internal deformation.

Their results do not exclude earlier uplift. Both studies are significant in advancing potentially important and viable mechanisms to explain key features of the plateau. Do the proposed models accurately describe the true origin and evolution of Colorado Plateau elevation? Colorado Plateau magmatism and uplift by warming of heterogeneous lithosphere. The proposed dynamic topography model can account for ∼1.2 km of uplift in the southwestern plateau in Late Cretaceous through Eocene time. We used apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry (230 analyses; 36 samples) to provide the fi rst single-system, regional-scale proxy for the unroofi ng history of the southwestern quad-rant of the plateau. When integrated, they would predict a complex spatio-temporal progression of uplift migrating from southwest to northeast in Late Cretaceous through mid-Cenozoic time, with a late Cenozoic uplift phase and development of differential topography along the plateau edges.The other obvious question that emerges from these efforts is both more important and far more difficult to answer.

Colorado Plateau uplift and erosion evaluated using GIS. This portion of the history does not preclude later uplift, although Liu and Gurnis propose mid-Tertiary mantle upwelling to account for much of the remaining elevation gain to generate the modern ∼2 km plateau elevation.

Thus, to first order, the results of these two studies do not appear to be mutually exclusive.

Topographic map of the Colorado Plateau and adjacent provinces.One question arising from these two studies is: are their conclusions compatible? mroy@unm.edu The forces that drove rock uplift of the low-relief, high-elevation, tectonically stable Colorado Plateau are the subject of long … However, determining the extent to which these models approximate reality must in part await additional constraints on the uplift history with which to further test the predictions of each study. Here we propose that warming of the thicker, more iron-depleted Colorado Plateau lithosphere over 35-40 Myr following mid-Cenozoic removal of the Farallon plate from beneath North America is the primary mechanism driving rock uplift. Nature , 472, 461-465 (27 April 2011) DOI: 10.1038/nature1000 Cite This Page :

In our model, conductive re-equilibration not only explains the rock uplift of the plateau, but also provides a robust geodynamic interpretation of observed contrasts between the Colorado Plateau margins and the plateau interior. Continuing Colorado plateau uplift by delamination-style convective lithospheric downwelling. can explain several hundred meters of differential plateau margin uplift by edge-driven convection in the late Cenozoic.

Present day streams established their courses at this time and because they were lifted high above base level (sea level) they began to rigorously downcut. Van Wijk et al. The forces that drove rock uplift of the low-relief, high-elevation, tectonically stable Colorado Plateau are the subject of long-standing debate. Uplift of the Colorado Plateau The mechanism for the uplift of the Colorado Plateau remains enigmatic. Author information: (1)Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA. They are therefore serious contenders among the suite of competing models for plateau elevation gain. How and when the Colorado Plateau attained its current mean elevation of ∼2 km has puzzled scientists for nearly 150 yr.

Roy M(1), Jordan TH, Pederson J.

On the Colorado Plateau, uplift was facilitated by reactivation of preexisting faults and accompanied by tilting of the plateau toward the north.

This problem is most dramatically manifest when standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, viewing the extraordinary 1500-m-deep gorge carved into nearly horizontal sedimentary rocks that were deposited during the 500 m.y.

Deep entrenchment of streams and differential erosion of the plateau began at this time.

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