Rise of the Colorado Plateau: A Synthesis of Paleoelevation Constraints From the Region and a Path Forward Using Temperature-Based Elevation Proxies

Abstract

The Colorado Plateau’s complex landscape has motivated over a century of debate, key to which is understanding the timing and processes of surface uplift of the greater Colorado Plateau region, and its interactions with erosion, drainage reorganization, and landscape evolution. Here, we evaluate what is known about the surface uplift history from prior paleoelevation estimates from the region by synthesizing and evaluating estimates 1) in context inferred from geologic, geomorphic, and thermochronologic constraints, and 2) in light of recent isotopic and paleobotanical proxy method advancements. Altogether, existing data and estimates suggest that half-modern surface elevations were attained by the end of the Laramide orogeny (∼40 Ma), and near-modern surface elevations by the mid-Miocene (∼16 Ma). However, our analysis of paleoelevation proxy methods highlights the need to improve proxy estimates from carbonate and floral archives including the ∼6–16 Ma Bidahochi and ∼34 Ma Florissant Formations and explore understudied (with respect to paleoelevation) Laramide basin deposits to fill knowledge gaps. We argue that there are opportunities to leverage recent advancements in temperature-based paleoaltimetry to refine the surface uplift history; for instance, via systematic comparison of clumped isotope and paleobotanical thermometry methods applied to lacustrine carbonates that span the region in both space and time, and by use of paleoclimate model mediated lapse rates in paleoelevation reconstruction.

Basin record of a Miocene lithosphere drip beneath the Colorado Plateau

“…Existing paleorelief data from the Arizona transition zone 55 and thermometry-based paleoelevation evidence from the Bidahochi Basin 56 do not require (nor do they rule out) significant post-Miocene uplift. With improvements in the past decade in carbonate clumped isotope thermometry instrumentation and calibrations, as well as the development of model-mediated lapse rates and evaporative fractionation corrections using triple oxygen isotope analysis, higher-resolution paleoaltimetry data 57 paired with the evidence presented here could possibly allow the quantification of uplift attributable to individual lithospheric drips.…”

Soil pore water evaporation and temperature influences on clay mineral paleothermometry

“…27, would also fall along arrays parallel to clay lines (Box 1). Such changes due to elevation on tectonic timescales, however, are also likely to be accompanied by changes in temperature 68 .…”

Timing of Brittle Deformation in the Cañon City Embayment, Co: Laser Ablation U-Pb Dating of Carbonate Fractures

“…3.2 km respectively, reflect multiple periods of uplift (e.g., Aslan et al 2010;Karlstrom et al, 2012). The underlying causes of uplift are a subject of debate, different hypotheses are summarized by Heitmann et al (2021). To reiterate the review by Heitmann et al (2021), suggested causes of uplift include lower-crustal flow, removal of the Farallon slab during the Laramide orogeny, lithospheric foundering, hydration during the mid-Cenozoic and mantle upwelling, or as an isostatic response from denudation during the late Cenozoic.…”

“…The underlying causes of uplift are a subject of debate, different hypotheses are summarized by Heitmann et al (2021). To reiterate the review by Heitmann et al (2021), suggested causes of uplift include lower-crustal flow, removal of the Farallon slab during the Laramide orogeny, lithospheric foundering, hydration during the mid-Cenozoic and mantle upwelling, or as an isostatic response from denudation during the late Cenozoic. The Laramide orogeny occurred during the time frame of approximately 70 Ma to 40 Ma (e.g., Karlstrom et al, 2012), some studies propose that impacts of the Laramide orogeny were exhibited earlier, closer to 100 Ma, west of the Rocky Mountain belt (e.g., Carrapa et al, 2019).…”