Birth of the lower Colorado River—Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California

House, P. Kyle; Pearthree, P.A.; Howard, John W; Bell, Keith; Perkins, Michael E.; Faulds, James E.; Brock, Amy L.

doi:10.1130/2005.fld006(17)

Cited by 33 publications

(43 citation statements)

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“…How could the head of a single drainage along a desert escarpment have the necessary stream power or mass-movement activity to erode headward and shift its divide hundreds of kilometers, when none of its neighbors could lengthen measurably at all? On the other hand, although House et al (2005) have shown that the lower Colorado River corridor was integrated by spilling over topographic divides, there are problems in applying this mechanism to the drainage in the Grand Canyon region. Specifically, why are there no distinctive lacustrine and deltaic sedimentary remnants in the southern plateau like the younger examples that record basin spillover along the lower Colorado corridor?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If this is true, then the Muddy Creek would be a slightly older analog for a series of units along the lower Colorado River corridor and the Salton Trough, which record the progressive southward arrival and deltaic sedimentation of the early Pliocene Colorado River (cf. Lucchitta, 1972;Buising, 1990;House et al, 2005;Dorsey et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introduction-the Grand Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

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The mystery of the pre–Grand Canyon Colorado River—Results from the Muddy Creek Formation

Pederson¹

2008

Gsa Today

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The Colorado River's integration off the Colorado Plateau remains a classic mystery in geology, despite its pivotal role in the cutting of Grand Canyon and the region's landscape evolution. The upper paleodrainage apparently reached the southern plateau in the Miocene, and recent work supports the longstanding idea that the river was superimposed over the Kaibab uplift by this time. Once off the plateau, the lower river integrated to the Gulf of California by downstream basin spillover from ca. 6-5

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction-the Grand Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

The mystery of the pre–Grand Canyon Colorado River—Results from the Muddy Creek Formation

Pederson¹

2008

Gsa Today

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“…Eastern and western Grand Canyon fault blocks are restored to their 6 Ma position by pinning the Lake Mead block at its current elevation; movement on the Wheeler fault initiates differential incision. At 4-3 Ma, slip on the Wheeler fault waned and slip on the Hurricane-Toroweap system increased, initiating differential incision between eastern and western Grand Canyon blocks; aggradation of ~250 m of Bullhead gravels between 5.5 and 3.3 Ma in the Lake Mojave area (House et al, 2005) was facilitated by combined slip on the Wheeler and Hurricane-Toroweap system. At 0 Ma, the eastern Grand Canyon block has been uplifted 440 m (110 m/Ma × 4 Ma) relative to the western Grand Canyon block and an additional 240 m relative to the Lake Mead block.…”

Section: Figure 1 Map Showing Modern Hydrologic System In Grand Canymentioning

confidence: 99%

Model for tectonically driven incision of the younger than 6 Ma Grand Canyon

Karlstrom

Crow

Crossey

et al. 2008

Geol

147

169

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Accurate models for the incision of the Grand Canyon must include characterization of tectonic infl uences on incision dynamics such as active faulting and mantle to surface fl uid interconnections. These young tectonic features support other geologic data that indicate that the Grand Canyon has been carved in the past 6 Ma. New U-Pb dates on speleothems are reinterpreted here in terms of improved geologic constraints and understanding of the modern aquifer. The combined data suggest that Grand Canyon incision rates have been relatively steady since 3-4 Ma. Differences in rates in the eastern (175-250 m/Ma) and western (50-80 m/Ma) Grand Canyon are explained by Neogene fault block uplift across the Toroweap-Hurricane system. Mantle tomography shows an abrupt step in mantle velocities near the Colorado Plateau edge, and geodynamic modeling suggests that upwelling asthenosphere is driving uplift of the Colorado Plateau margin relative to the Basin and Range. Our model for dynamic surface uplift in the past 6 Ma contrasts with the notion of passive incision of the Grand Canyon due solely to river integration and geomorphic response to base-level fall.

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“…Instead of redirecting a stream into a steeper channel, overfl ow requires that the drainage end in a closed basin before spilling across the lowest divide of the basin rim. In extensional tectonic settings, several transverse gorges can develop along the same river through overfl ow, developing a through-fl ow channel in several stages (Meek and Douglass, 2001;House et al, 2005). Douglass and Schmeeckle (2007) physically modeled both the overfl ow and piracy mechanisms, including the four subtypes of piracy: aggradation, headward erosion, lateral erosion, and sapping.…”

Section: Overfl Owmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In overfl ow, sediment is stored in a closed basin until the basin is breached by an overfl owing lake. The drop in base level that propagates headward upstream of the breach forces the trunk channel and its tributaries to incise into the accumulated fi ll, rapidly transferring sediment downstream (Meek, 1989;House et al, 2005). Arrival of the basin sediment downstream fundamentally alters the preoverfl ow landscape.…”

Section: Overflowmentioning

confidence: 99%

A criteria-based methodology for determining the mechanism of transverse drainage development, with application to the southwestern United States

Douglass

Meek

Dorn

et al. 2009

Geological Society of America Bulletin

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The study of how rivers cross obstructing mountains, once popular in the early twentieth century, has seen a dramatic resurgence in the last decade. Since Hutton's scholarly introduction to a possible cause for transverse drainage, however, no single study has compiled all of the various criteria that can be used to discriminate among the four possible mechanisms of antecedence, superimposition, overfl ow, and piracy. This paper presents the fi rst such compilation and related methodology to apply these criteria both in tabular and graphical formats, as well as an online interactive tool in the data repository. Combining nominal and ordinal data sources, this methodology generates an objective, reproducible assessment for the mechanism most likely to have established the transverse drainage at fi ve ordinal levels of confi dence. When applied to southwestern U.S. sites, randomly selected through an objective spatial procedure, four general observations emerged on the relationship between the development of transverse drainage and landscape evolution. (1) Streams persisting through lengthy periods of extension develop antecedent canyons. (2) In order to reestablish through-fl owing channels, streams overfl ow closed basins as active extension wanes.(3) Following a drop in base level related to the newly developed trunk channels, streams tributary to the trunk channels incise into basin-fi ll deposits-sometimes leading to the development of superimposed drainages.(4) Tributaries eroding headward, in response to the integration of two or more closed basins, can capture and redirect drainage; this permits transverse drainage through both piracy and superimposition upstream of the capture event. Because extant criteria use nominal and ordinal data almost entirely, considerable potential exists to refi ne this approach through future strategies that incorporate interval data. Future use of a criteria-based method has the potential to inform on prior geomorphic studies by providing a new perspective with which to study how basins evolve in active tectonic regions, the analysis of related basin sedimentation, the hydrological and biological aspects of drainage evolution, and transverse drainage found in Martian crater fi elds.

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Birth of the lower Colorado River—Stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence for its inception near the conjunction of Nevada, Arizona, and California

Cited by 33 publications

References 0 publications

The mystery of the pre–Grand Canyon Colorado River—Results from the Muddy Creek Formation

The mystery of the pre–Grand Canyon Colorado River—Results from the Muddy Creek Formation

Model for tectonically driven incision of the younger than 6 Ma Grand Canyon

A criteria-based methodology for determining the mechanism of transverse drainage development, with application to the southwestern United States

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