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dc.contributor.authorBarbeau, David Longfellow Jr.
dc.creatorBarbeau, David Longfellow Jr.
dc.date.accessioned2012-10-19T16:46:11Z
dc.date.available2012-10-19T16:46:11Z
dc.date.issued2000
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10150/249616
dc.description.abstractThe Paradox Basin is a large (200 km x 265 km) asymmetric basin that developed along the southwestern flank of the basement-involved Uncompahgre uplift during the Pennsylvanian-Permian (Desmoinesian-Wolfcampian) Ancestral Rocky Mountain (ARM) orogenic event. Traditionally interpreted as a pull-apart basin, the Paradox Basin more closely resembles intraforeland flexural basins such as those that developed between the basement-cored uplifts of the Late Cretaceous-Eocene Laramide orogeny. The width, shape, subsidence history, facies architecture, and structural relationships of the Uncompahgre-Paradox system are exemplary of typical 'immobile' foreland basin systems. Along the southwest-vergent Uncompahgre thrust, ~5 km of coarse-grained syntectonic Desmoinesian-Wolfcampian sediments were shed from the Uncompahgre uplift by alluvial fans and were reworked by fluvial megafan deposystems in the proximal Paradox Basin. The coeval rise of an uplift-parallel barrier ~250 km southwest of the Uncompahgre front restricted reflux from the open ocean south and west of the basin, and promoted deposition of thick evaporite-shale and biohermal carbonate facies in the medial and distal, submarine parts of the basin, respectively. Nearshore carbonate shoal and terrestrial siliciclastic deposystems overtopped the basin during the late stages of subsidence during the Missourian through Wolfcampian. Reconstruction of an end-Permian two-dimensional uplift-basin profile from seismic, borehole, and outcrop data depicts the relationship of these deposystems to the differential accommodation space (i.e., foreland basin depozones) generated by Pennsylvanian-Permian subsidence. Flexural modeling of the restored basin profile indicates that the Paradox Basin can be described by flexural loading of a fully broken continental crust (Te = 25 km; D = 10²³ N m) by a model Uncompahgre uplift (A(c-s) = 214 km², ρ = 2670 kg /m³) and accompanying synorogenic sediments (ρ = 2325 kg /m³). The Paradox Basin's lack of flexural interference by competing loads, its location on the relatively undeformed Colorado Plateau, and its well-exposed and well-studied basin-fill provide a rare glimpse into a Paleozoic intraforeland flexural basin. Other thrust-bounded basins of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains are not so optimal for study. However, similarities in basin profiles, structural relationships and facies architectures suggest that many ARM basins share a geodynamic and tectonic history similar to the Paradox Basin's. Therefore, plate tectonic models that attempt to explain the development of ARM uplifts need to also consider the province's intraforeland flexural basins.
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherThe University of Arizona.en_US
dc.rightsCopyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Antevs Library, Department of Geosciences, and the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author or the department.en_US
dc.subjectbasement tectonicsen_US
dc.subjectbasin analysisen_US
dc.subjectbasinsen_US
dc.subjectbiogenic structuresen_US
dc.subjectbiohermsen_US
dc.subjectbiostratigraphyen_US
dc.subjectCarboniferousen_US
dc.subjectCenozoicen_US
dc.subjectchemically precipitated rocksen_US
dc.subjectColoradoen_US
dc.subjectcorrelationen_US
dc.subjectcyclesen_US
dc.subjectdataen_US
dc.subjectdeformationen_US
dc.subjectdepositional environmenten_US
dc.subjectDesmoinesianen_US
dc.subjectevaporitesen_US
dc.subjectfaultsen_US
dc.subjectflexureen_US
dc.subjectforeland basinsen_US
dc.subjectfossilsen_US
dc.subjectFour Cornersen_US
dc.subjectgeophysical methodsen_US
dc.subjectichnofossilsen_US
dc.subjectInvertebrataen_US
dc.subjectLaramide Orogenyen_US
dc.subjectlithofaciesen_US
dc.subjectlithostratigraphyen_US
dc.subjectMesozoicen_US
dc.subjectMiddle Pennsylvanianen_US
dc.subjectmodelsen_US
dc.subjectNorth Americaen_US
dc.subjectoil wellsen_US
dc.subjectpaleoenvironmenten_US
dc.subjectpaleogeographyen_US
dc.subjectPaleozoicen_US
dc.subjectParadox Basinen_US
dc.subjectParadox Memberen_US
dc.subjectPennsylvanianen_US
dc.subjectPermianen_US
dc.subjectpetroleumen_US
dc.subjectpetroleum explorationen_US
dc.subjectreconstructionen_US
dc.subjectreservoir rocksen_US
dc.subjectRocky Mountainsen_US
dc.subjectsedimentary rocksen_US
dc.subjectsedimentary structuresen_US
dc.subjectsedimentationen_US
dc.subjectseismic methodsen_US
dc.subjectstratigraphic unitsen_US
dc.subjectstratigraphic wedgesen_US
dc.subjectsubsidenceen_US
dc.subjecttectonicsen_US
dc.subjectTertiaryen_US
dc.subjectthicknessen_US
dc.subjectthrust faultsen_US
dc.subjectUncompahgre Upliften_US
dc.subjectUnited Statesen_US
dc.subjectupliftsen_US
dc.subjectUtahen_US
dc.subjectwell logsen_US
dc.titleA Flexural Model for the Paradox Basin: Implications for the Tectonics of the Ancestral Rocky Mountainsen_US
dc.typetexten_US
dc.typeThesis-Reproduction (electronic)en_US
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Arizonaen_US
thesis.degree.levelmastersen_US
dc.contributor.committeememberDickinson, William R.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberDeCelles, Peter G.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberChase, Clement G.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberDemko, T.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberGeslin, Jeff K.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberGarzione, C.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberSussman, A.en_US
dc.contributor.committeememberBump, A.en_US
thesis.degree.disciplineGraduate Collegeen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineGeosciencesen_US
thesis.degree.nameM.S.en_US
dc.description.noteAntevs Libraryen_US
dc.description.collectioninformationThis item is part of the Geosciences Theses collection. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by the Antevs Library, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please email the Antevs Library, antevs@geo.arizona.edu.en_US
dc.identifier.georef2003-062449
refterms.dateFOA2022-12-14T22:41:40Z
html.description.abstractThe Paradox Basin is a large (200 km x 265 km) asymmetric basin that developed along the southwestern flank of the basement-involved Uncompahgre uplift during the Pennsylvanian-Permian (Desmoinesian-Wolfcampian) Ancestral Rocky Mountain (ARM) orogenic event. Traditionally interpreted as a pull-apart basin, the Paradox Basin more closely resembles intraforeland flexural basins such as those that developed between the basement-cored uplifts of the Late Cretaceous-Eocene Laramide orogeny. The width, shape, subsidence history, facies architecture, and structural relationships of the Uncompahgre-Paradox system are exemplary of typical 'immobile' foreland basin systems. Along the southwest-vergent Uncompahgre thrust, ~5 km of coarse-grained syntectonic Desmoinesian-Wolfcampian sediments were shed from the Uncompahgre uplift by alluvial fans and were reworked by fluvial megafan deposystems in the proximal Paradox Basin. The coeval rise of an uplift-parallel barrier ~250 km southwest of the Uncompahgre front restricted reflux from the open ocean south and west of the basin, and promoted deposition of thick evaporite-shale and biohermal carbonate facies in the medial and distal, submarine parts of the basin, respectively. Nearshore carbonate shoal and terrestrial siliciclastic deposystems overtopped the basin during the late stages of subsidence during the Missourian through Wolfcampian. Reconstruction of an end-Permian two-dimensional uplift-basin profile from seismic, borehole, and outcrop data depicts the relationship of these deposystems to the differential accommodation space (i.e., foreland basin depozones) generated by Pennsylvanian-Permian subsidence. Flexural modeling of the restored basin profile indicates that the Paradox Basin can be described by flexural loading of a fully broken continental crust (Te = 25 km; D = 10²³ N m) by a model Uncompahgre uplift (A(c-s) = 214 km², ρ = 2670 kg /m³) and accompanying synorogenic sediments (ρ = 2325 kg /m³). The Paradox Basin's lack of flexural interference by competing loads, its location on the relatively undeformed Colorado Plateau, and its well-exposed and well-studied basin-fill provide a rare glimpse into a Paleozoic intraforeland flexural basin. Other thrust-bounded basins of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains are not so optimal for study. However, similarities in basin profiles, structural relationships and facies architectures suggest that many ARM basins share a geodynamic and tectonic history similar to the Paradox Basin's. Therefore, plate tectonic models that attempt to explain the development of ARM uplifts need to also consider the province's intraforeland flexural basins.


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