Laramide basin subsidence and basement uplift in Rocky Mountain foreland of Wyoming
- Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie (USA)
The Wind River Range in western Wyoming is an excellent natural laboratory for studying a Laramide uplift. A COCORP seismic profile provides geometric control, and tectogenic sediments record the history of uplift and erosion. The stratigraphy and provenance of these sediments indicate a complex Laramide and later tectonic history for the range and identify the timing and position of individual faulting events. These events are (1) main uplift of the range by motion on the Wind River fault and the formation of an erosion surface of low relief (Late Cretaceous through early Eocene), (2) elevation of this erosion surface as much as 3,000 ft by motion on imbricates and associated tear faults in the hanging wall of the Wind River fault (end of early Eocene), (3) collapse of the tip of the Wind River fault into sedimentary fill of the Green River basin (between middle Eocene and late Oligocene), (4) uplift of the crest of the range by nearly 3,000 ft (914 m) forming the highest peaks in the Wyoming foreland (late Oligocene), and (5) collapse of the southern part of the range along normal faults (Neogene). Basin modeling in two distinctly different structural setting points to several driving mechanisms for subsidence in Laramide basins. Subsidence of the northern Green River basin was a flexural response to sediment loading and the intracrustal and topographic loads imposed by uplift of the adjacent Wind River Range. In contrast, the Hanna basin subsided when a rigid crustal block rotated downward as the Rawlins uplift was raised on the other end. Both flexure and rigid block rotation likely are operative to varying degrees in most Laramide basins. A schematic cross section through central Wyoming suggests that deep basins, where both rotation and tectonic loading are important, support structurally low ranges. Where rotation is not an important component of subsidence, basins support structurally high ranges.
- OSTI ID:
- 5111423
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Vol. 72:12; ISSN AABUD; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Post-Laramide (Oligocene) uplift in the Wind River Range, Wyoming
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Related Subjects
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
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58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
CENOZOIC ERA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC MODELS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEISMIC SURVEYS
SURVEYS
TECTONICS
TERTIARY PERIOD
USA
WYOMING