Quaternary studies in the Paradox Basin, southeastern Utah

Technical Report · Sat Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6163854

Biggar, N

Studies have included paleoclimatic assessments and evaluation of the Needles Fault zone, and an assessment of geologic age dating results and techniques. Fossil pollen, snail shells, pack rat middens, and Holocene stratigraphic units have been examined as potential paleoclimatic indicators. Of these, the most definitive data have been an interpreted 13,000-year vegetation record found in the pack rat middens. This record defines the late Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition at approximately 10,000 years ago, and indicates that temperature decreased and precipitation increased during the late Pleistocene relative to the present. In the Needles Fault zone, age dating results and geomorphic studies indicate that the northeastern grabens may be the youngest and that the system is at least 65,000 years old. Using this date and an assumed Colorado River incision rate, the maximum rate at which grabens have spread eastward from the river canyon can be estimated. The most useful age dating techniques for the Paradox Basin are the accumulation of pedogenic carbonate in the soil profile, radiocarbon dating, thermoluminescence dating, amino acid diagenesis of mollusk shells, paleomagnetic analysis of early Pleistocene deposits, and topographic position of deposits and surfaces. Method applicability depends on the datable materials present, the estimated age of the sample or deposit, and potential contaminants that could affect analysis. 108 refs., 64 figs., 35 tabs.

• Research Organization: Woodward-Clyde Consultants, San Francisco, CA (USA); Battelle Memorial Inst., Columbus, OH (USA). Office of Nuclear Waste Isolation
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10140
• OSTI ID: 6163854
• Report Number(s): BMI/ONWI-622; ON: DE87014716
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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