Late Triassic paleogeography of southern Laurentia and its fringing arcs: Insights from detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotope geochemistry, Auld Lang Syne basin (Nevada, USA)
Links
- More information: Publisher Index Page (via DOI)
- Data Release: USGS data release - Detrital zircon U-Pb data for Upper Triassic sandstones of the Auld Lang Syne basin, northwest Nevada, USA
- Open Access Version: External Repository
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Abstract
Fluvial strata of the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation and Dockum Group, exposed across the Western Interior of North America, have long been interpreted to record a transcontinental river system that connected the ancestral Ouachita orogen of Texas and Oklahoma, USA, to the Auld Lang Syne basin of northwestern Nevada, USA, its inferred marine terminus. Fluvial strata are well-characterized by existing detrital zircon data, but the provenance of the Auld Lang Syne basin is poorly constrained. We present new detrital zircon U-Pb and Hf isotopic data that characterize the provenance of Norian siliciclastic strata that dominate the Auld Lang Syne basin. Mixture modeling of Auld Lang Syne basin data identifies the Alleghany−Ouachita−Marathon belt of eastern Laurentia as a dominant source of sediment, but the presence of Triassic detrital zircon grains in Auld Lang Syne basin strata indicates that at least one peri-Laurentian arc segment had to have also contributed sediment. A comparison of new Hf isotopic data with those characterizing various peri-Laurentian volcanic arcs demonstrates that although multiple arc segments may have simultaneously contributed zircons to the Auld Lang Syne basin, the west Pangean arc of northern Mexico stands out as a unique source of highly evolved Permian to Triassic detrital zircon grains in samples from the Auld Lang Syne basin. Altogether, our data and analyses demonstrate source-to-sink connectivity between the Late Triassic (Norian) Cordilleran margin and remnant late Paleozoic highlands of southern to eastern Laurentia, which ultimately framed a Mississippi River−scale, transcontinental watershed that traversed the topographically subdued Laurentian continental interior.
Study Area
Publication type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Title | Late Triassic paleogeography of southern Laurentia and its fringing arcs: Insights from detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology and Hf isotope geochemistry, Auld Lang Syne basin (Nevada, USA) |
Series title | GSA Bulletin |
DOI | 10.1130/B37454.1 |
Volume | 136 |
Issue | 11-12 |
Year Published | 2024 |
Language | English |
Publisher | Geological Society of America |
Contributing office(s) | Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center |
Description | 21 p.; Data Release |
First page | 4595 |
Last page | 4615 |
Country | United States |
State | Nevada |
Other Geospatial | Auld Lang Syne basin |
Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |