Geologic map of the Peach Springs 30' x 60' quadrangle, Mohave and Coconino counties, northwestern Arizona

Billingsley, George H.; Block, Debra L.; Dyer, Helen C.

doi:10.3133/sim2900

Cited by 13 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The exotic Music Mountain Formation arkose and intercalated gravel beds are thickest, most completely preserved, and best exposed in paleocanyons near the Music Mountains on the Hualapai Plateau, but they also occur as remnants of widespread braidplain deposits extending eastward across the Coconino Plateau and extensive Kaibab surface north of the Mogollon Rim. The separations between adjacent outcrops across this broad region are much shorter than might be assumed as can be seen on the improved maps by Billingsley et al (2006aBillingsley et al ( , 2006b.…”

Section: Summary Of Evidence For Stratigraphic Range Of the Music Moumentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Koons (1948aKoons ( , 1948bKoons ( , 1964) described 150-250 ft (~45.7-76.2 m) of deeply weathered exotic Blue Mountain gravel on the eastern Hualapai Indian Reservation that extends eastward onto the Coconino Plateau and beneath the Mount Floyd volcanic fi eld to Long Point and beyond ( Fig. 1) (Billingsley et al, 2006a(Billingsley et al, , 2006b. Koons (1948b) correctly inferred that the gravels were the result of either Basin and on October 2, 2014 geosphere.gsapubs.org Downloaded from Range or pre-Basin and Range drainage fl owing northward from the Prescott, Arizona, region.…”

Section: Gravels Incorrectly Attributed To Reworked Shinarump Conglommentioning

confidence: 97%

“…1). The arkosic sediments are widely distributed across the uplifted and erosionally beveled edge of the Colorado Plateau, as remnants of extensive braidplain deposits and in incised paleovalleys (Young, 1966(Young, , 2011Billingsley et al, 2006aBillingsley et al, , 2006b.…”

Section: In Situ Rim Gravel: the Music Mountain Formationmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Paleogene rim gravel of Arizona: Age and significance of the Music Mountain Formation

Young

Hartman

2014

Geosphere

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The early Tertiary exotic rim gravel scattered across the Colorado Plateau in Arizona (USA) provides the only widespread evidence concerning the nature of the regional Paleogene drainage system that preceded the emergence of the modern Colorado River. The term "rim gravel" includes a wide range of Laramide (herein ca. 85-40 Ma) and younger reworked quartzite-dominated, arkosic sediments with diverse origins and ages that have been clarifi ed only recently. The parent arkoses, with subordinate gravel lenses, contain volcanic clasts with ages ranging from Late Jurassic to early Eocene. The Laramide-age arkoses were shed off uplifted Precambrian terranes to the south and west; they are separated from their reworked derivatives and younger sediments by a disconformity that is best preserved in the structurally isolated paleocanyons of the Hualapai Plateau. Younger generations of reworked gravels continued to evolve during and following the widespread eruption of basalts of late Oligocene to Pleistocene age. Basaltic clasts in the reworked gravels attest to their much younger ages. Combined paleontologic, stratigraphic, paleomagnetic, K-Ar, U-Th/He, and zircon studies of the parent arkoses indicate that the tectonic framework corresponds to the Laramide orogeny, the concurrent regional erosion of the Colorado Plateau margin, and ensuing widespread deposition. The overall time frame coincides with the similar tectonic history recorded in the early Tertiary strata of southern Utah. Comparable but unrelated quartzite-dominated gravels, reworked southward from the Utah source rocks, are widespread on strath terraces north of the Colorado River.

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Section: Summary Of Evidence For Stratigraphic Range Of the Music Moumentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Gravels Incorrectly Attributed To Reworked Shinarump Conglommentioning

confidence: 97%

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Paleogene rim gravel of Arizona: Age and significance of the Music Mountain Formation

Young

Hartman

2014

Geosphere

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“…Ultimately, a more definitive conclusion about longer-term incision rates could be made if the extent to which the Bullhead Alluvium filled Grand Canyon was known, and independent measures of long-term Grand Canyon incision could be obtained. This may be possible if any Bullhead Alluvium is found in extensive travertine deposits in western Grand Canyon (Billingsley and Wellmeyer, 2003;Billingsley et al, 2006) (Fig. 4), as travertine is datable by U-Pb and U-series techniques.…”

Section: Long-term Incision Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into post-Miocene uplift of the western margin of the Colorado Plateau from the stratigraphic record of the lower Colorado River

et al. 2019

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The spatial and temporal distribution of Pliocene to Holocene Colorado River deposits (southwestern USA and northwestern Mexico) form a primary data set that records the evolution of a continental-scale river system and helps to delineate and quantify the magnitude of regional deformation. We focus in particular on the age and distribution of ancestral Colorado River deposits from field observations, geologic mapping, and subsurface studies in the area downstream from Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA). A new 4.73 ± 0.17 Ma age is reported for a basalt that flowed down Grand Wash to near its confluence with the Colorado River at the eastern end of what is now Lake Mead (Arizona and Nevada). That basalt flow, which caps tributary gravels, another previously dated 4.49 ± 0.46 Ma basalt flow that caps Colorado River gravel nearby, and previously dated speleothems (2.17 ± 0.34 and 3.87 ± 0.1 Ma) in western Grand Canyon allow for the calculation of long-term incision rates. Those rates are ∼90 m/Ma in western Grand Canyon and ∼18–64 m/Ma in the eastern Lake Mead area. In western Lake Mead and downstream, the base of 4.5–3.5 Ma ancestral Colorado River deposits, called the Bullhead Alluvium, is generally preserved below river level, suggesting little if any bedrock incision since deposition. Paleoprofiles reconstructed using ancestral river deposits indicate that the lower Colorado River established a smooth profile that has been graded to near sea level since ca. 4.5 Ma. Steady incision rates in western Grand Canyon over the past 0.6–4 Ma also suggest that the lower Colorado River has remained in a quasi–steady state for millions of years with respect to bedrock incision. Differential incision between the lower Colorado River corridor and western Grand Canyon is best explained by differential uplift across the Lake Mead region, as the overall 4.5 Ma profile of the Colorado River remains graded to Pliocene sea level, suggesting little regional subsidence or uplift. Cumulative estimates of ca. 4 Ma offsets across faults in the Lake Mead region are similar in magnitude to the differential incision across the area during the same approximate time frame. This suggests that in the past ∼4 Ma, vertical deformation in the Lake Mead area has been localized along faults, which may be a surficial response to more deep-seated processes. Together these data sets suggest ∼140–370 m of uplift in the past 2–4 Ma across the Lake Mead region.

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“…Uplift to the south related to the beginning of Cenozoic magmatism is another possible tectonic explanation for the input of coarse clastic material. This magmatism is represented by 19.9-19.6 Ma thin basalt flows exposed more than 60 km south of the White Hills and on the Colorado Plateau margin (Billingsley et al, 2006;Faulds et al, 2001) and by the thick (~1-2 km), ca. 18.5-16 Ma Dixie Queen Mine stratovolcano in the southernmost White Hills, ~75 km SSW of the Horse Spring area (Faulds, 1995;Faulds et al, 2001).…”

Section: Implications Of Change In Sedimentation At Ca 19 Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance and paleogeography of the 25–17 Ma Rainbow Gardens Formation: Evidence for tectonic activity at ca. 19 Ma and internal drainage rather than throughgoing paleorivers on the southwestern Colorado Plateau

et al. 2018

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The paleogeographic evolution of the Lake Mead region of southern Nevada and northwest Arizona is crucial to understanding the geologic history of the U.S. Southwest, including the evolution of the Colorado Plateau and formation of the Grand Canyon. The ca. 25-17 Ma Rainbow Gardens Formation in the Lake Mead region, the informally named, roughly coeval Jean Conglomerate, and the ca. 24-19 Ma Buck and Doe Conglomerate southeast of Lake Mead hold the only stratigraphic evidence for the Cenozoic pre-extensional geology and paleogeography of this area. Building on prior work, we present new sedimentologic and stratigraphic data, including sandstone provenance and detrital zircon data, to create a more detailed paleogeographic picture of the Lake Mead, Grand Wash Trough, and Hualapai Plateau region from 25 to 18 Ma. These data confirm that sediment was sourced primarily from Paleozoic strata exposed in surrounding Sevier and Laramide uplifts and active volcanic fields to the north. In addition, a distinctive signal of coarse sediment derived from Proterozoic crystalline basement first appeared in the southwestern corner of the basin ca. 25 Ma at the beginning of Rainbow Gardens Formation deposition and then prograded north and east ca. 19 Ma across the southern half of the basin. Regional thermochronologic data suggest that Cretaceous deposits likely blanketed the Lake Mead region by the end of Sevier thrusting. Post-Laramide northward cliff retreat off the Kingman/Mogollon uplifts left a stepped erosion surface with progressively younger strata preserved northward, on which Rainbow Gardens Formation strata were deposited. Deposition of the Rainbow Gardens Formation in general and the 19 Ma progradational pulse in particular may reflect tectonic uplift events just prior to onset of rapid extension at 17 Ma, as supported by both thermochronology and sedimentary data. Data presented here negate the California and Arizona River hypotheses for an "old" Grand Canyon and also negate models wherein the Rainbow Gardens Formation was the depocenter for a 25-18 Ma Little Colorado paleoriver flowing west through East Kaibab paleocanyons. Instead, provenance and paleocurrent data suggest local to regional sources for deposition of the Rainbow Gardens Formation atop a stripped low-relief western Colorado Plateau surface and preclude any significant input from a regional throughgoing paleoriver entering the basin from the east or northeast.

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Geologic map of the Peach Springs 30' x 60' quadrangle, Mohave and Coconino counties, northwestern Arizona

Cited by 13 publications

References 11 publications

Paleogene rim gravel of Arizona: Age and significance of the Music Mountain Formation

Paleogene rim gravel of Arizona: Age and significance of the Music Mountain Formation

Insights into post-Miocene uplift of the western margin of the Colorado Plateau from the stratigraphic record of the lower Colorado River

Provenance and paleogeography of the 25–17 Ma Rainbow Gardens Formation: Evidence for tectonic activity at ca. 19 Ma and internal drainage rather than throughgoing paleorivers on the southwestern Colorado Plateau

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