Introduction to the Green River Formation

Smith, M. Elliot; Carroll, Alan R.

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9906-5_1

Cited by 17 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Laser ablation – inductively coupled – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) was used as an in situ technique to analyse U–Pb isotope ratios in zircons, a tuff accessory mineral. Three tuff beds were selected for analysis, two samples from Spring City Cuesta (Coarse and Tawny tuffs) and one sample for quality control (Skyline Tuff, Smith & Carroll, 2015). Zircon U–Pb Tera‐Wasserburg Concordia and 207 Pb corrected error‐weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U crystallization ages are shown in Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of magnesium‐clay in a lacustrine microbialite‐bearing carbonate deposit, Eocene Green River Formation, Sanpete County, Utah

Cupertino,

Ramnani,

Vanden Berg

et al. 2023

Sedimentology

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Authigenic magnesium‐clays have been observed and documented in the Green River Formation, specifically as ooidal stevensite grains. Magnesian clays are a valuable proxy for reconstructing shallow‐water, saline‐alkaline lake palaeoenvironments due to their responses to chemical changes. Magnesium‐rich clay minerals are relatively common components in modern and ancient lake systems. A rare interaction of lacustrine magnesian clays, microbialites, carbonates and volcanoclastic deposits of the Eocene Green River Formation crop out in Sanpete Valley, Utah, USA. The characterization of this interaction, Mg‐rich clay and carbonate minerals genesis, the environmental controls on Mg‐rich clay minerals distribution and accumulation is still poorly understood. This study has identified various species of Mg‐clay minerals (stevensite, mixed‐layer kerolite‐stevensite, and sepiolite), along with calcite and dolomite, found in four Mg‐clay‐bearing lithofacies: (i) Mg‐clay stromatolites; (ii) Mg‐clay arenites; (iii) Mg‐claystone; and (iv) intraclastic Mg‐clay hybrid arenites and conglomerates. Magnesium‐clay bearing rocks from the Sanpete Valley area were deposited in a south‐western, shallow embayment of Eocene Lake Uinta along the margin of the Sevier fold and thrust belt. Sanpete Valley´s Mg‐clay‐bearing section shows syngenetic mineralogical paragenesis with neoformation of magnesian clays accompanied by calcite and silica. Regional chronostratigraphic correlation of Sanpete Valley´s Mg‐clay‐bearing section with the Uinta Basin was made by zircon U–Pb dating (laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry) of two tuff beds. Stevensite and kerolite are precipitated under very specific conditions. This study presents a depositional model, considering evidence from the authigenic mineralogy, facies, fossil evidence, and basin context. All these findings allow a comprehensive analysis of the lithostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic evolution of this isolated bay system, as well as texture classification. This study provides analogue for detailed correlation and comparison to other basins containing similar Mg‐clay and microbialite‐bearing deposits.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation of magnesium‐clay in a lacustrine microbialite‐bearing carbonate deposit, Eocene Green River Formation, Sanpete County, Utah

Cupertino,

Ramnani,

Vanden Berg

et al. 2023

Sedimentology

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“…2). Over a hundred air-fall ashes are documented but only the 51.98 ± 0.35 Ma (Smith et al 2008;Smith et al 2010;Smith & Carroll 2015) K-spar Tuff has been dated. The tuff is six meters above the 18-inch Layer (named for its average thickness) where the wasp was found.…”

Section: Geologic Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The second North American fossil horntail wood-wasp (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), from the early Eocene Green River Formation

Archibald

Aase

Nel

2021

Zootaxa

508

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Eoteredon lacoi gen. et sp. nov., is described from the early Eocene Green River Formation in Wyoming, the second fossil siricid genus and species described from North America. We propose Eoteredon as sister to the genus Teredon, whose sole species is one of the rarest of extant Siricidae. The majority of siricids today inhabit temperate Northern Hemisphere forests; Teredon cubensis, however, is one of its few species that live in megathermal tropical lowlands. The Eocene forest that Eoteredon inhabited had a mesothermal to megathermal climate. We place Eoteredon in the context of broad Cenozoic climate change.

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“…Ponded basins, such as the Uinta Basin, were common during the Laramide and were often filled with fresh or saline lakes that acted as efficient sediment traps (Carroll and Bohacs, 1999;Tanavsuu-Milkeviciene and others, 2017). The lakes and fluvial environments were also efficient traps for erupted volcanic material, and fallout tuffs have been found in many of the formations throughout the strata within the Uinta Basin and have been used to date the timing of volcanic, tectonic, and sedimentary events (Bryant and others, 1989;Remy, 1992;Smith and others, 2003;Kowallis and others, 2005;Smith and Carroll, 2015).…”

Section: Laramide Orogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

Fallout tuffs in the Eocene Duchesne River Formation, northeastern Utah—ages, compositions, and likely source

Jensen

Kowallis

Christiansen

et al. 2020

GIW

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Thin fallout tuffs are common in the terrestrial deposits of the Eocene Duchesne River Formation on the flanks of the Uinta Mountains of eastern Utah. Their ages and compositions provide new insight into the tectonic events and magmatic history of the western Cordillera and provide important constraints on the Cenozoic land mammal chronology. Whole-rock compositions of the volcanic ash show that they underwent post-emplacement argillic alteration, typical of a wetland/floodplain depositional setting. However, immobile element ratios and abundances, such as Zr/Ti, La/Nb, and Y are typical of rhyolites formed in a subduction-related setting. Glass shards preserved in one sample all had SiO2 values >75%, typical of high-silica rhyolite. Preserved phenocrysts in the ash beds include quartz, sanidine, plagioclase, and biotite with variable amounts of accessory zircon, apatite, titanite, and allanite. Biotite compositions have Fe/(Fe+Mg) ratios typical of calc-alkaline igneous rocks and clusters of chemical compositions suggest a genetic relationship to three or four separate eruptions. Sanidine compositions from five samples range from Or73 and Or79. Only one sample had preserved plagioclase with compositions ranging between An22 – An49. Allanite from the ash beds has lower total rare earth elements (REE) concentrations than allanite from other well-studied rhyolites. Titanite in one sample has lower concentrations of REE, Fe, and Al than expected of rhyolites and is probably detrital.Plagioclase and sanidine from two different tuff beds near the middle of the Duchesne River Formation yielded analytically indistinguishable 40Ar/39Ar ages of 39.47 ± 0.16 Ma and 39.36 ± 0.15 Ma, respectively. These dates, along with the compositional data seem to limit the eruptive source for these fallout tuffs to the northeast Nevada volcanic field, one of the few volcanically active regions of western North America at the time. These new radiometric ages, along with stratigraphic relations and previously published ages for tuffs in the Bishop Conglomerate (which unconformably overlies the Duchesne River Formation), constrain the timing of late Laramide uplift in the region from 39 to about 37 Ma and post-Laramide epeirogenic uplift from 34 Ma to 30 Ma. Finally, the ages also provide additional evidence that the Duchesnean North American Land Mammal Age ended in the Eocene, which was originally named and defined from the Duchesne River Formation.

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Introduction to the Green River Formation

Cited by 17 publications

References 47 publications

Formation of magnesium‐clay in a lacustrine microbialite‐bearing carbonate deposit, Eocene Green River Formation, Sanpete County, Utah

Formation of magnesium‐clay in a lacustrine microbialite‐bearing carbonate deposit, Eocene Green River Formation, Sanpete County, Utah

The second North American fossil horntail wood-wasp (Hymenoptera: Siricidae), from the early Eocene Green River Formation

Fallout tuffs in the Eocene Duchesne River Formation, northeastern Utah—ages, compositions, and likely source

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