The Oligocene Creede Formation, Colorado: The sedimentary record of a deep lake within a resurgent caldera
- Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences
The Oligocene Creede Formation is the sedimentary fill of the Creede caldera in the Tertiary San Juan volcanic field in southern Colorado. Scientific drill core and outcrop studies of Creede strata allow an evaluation of the post-collapse sedimentary environments present within a caldera. Although the Creede Formation is structurally disrupted, correlation of fallout tuffs in exposed strata to those in the cores has clarified stratigraphic relationships. Following ash-fallout from the caldera-forming eruption, up to 121 meters of coarse grained debris-flow strata and rockfall debris with interstratified basinward ephemeral lake deposits were deposited. The presence of pseudomorphs after ikaite and up-section increase in carbonate facies suggest that the lake water was somewhat alkaline and cold (near freezing), and evolved chemically with time. A late-stage drop in lake level combined with integration of basin-feeding drainages and decreased subsidence lead to basinward progradation of coarser deltaic and lacustrine fan deposits. Sedimentation patterns suggest that subsidence occurred largely in the northern half of the caldera, and decreased late in the lake's history allowing the basin to fill with sediment.
- OSTI ID:
- 5099765
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9305259-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:5; Conference: 89. annual meeting of the Cordilleran Section and the 46th annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America (GSA), Reno, NV (United States), 19-21 May 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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