Award Abstract # 1919179
TIMING OF COOLING AND EXHUMATION OF LARAMIDE UPLIFTS INFORMS MODELS OF FLAT-SLAB SUBDUCTION

NSF Org: EAR
Division Of Earth Sciences
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
Initial Amendment Date: July 19, 2019
Latest Amendment Date: May 17, 2023
Award Number: 1919179
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: Colin A. Shaw
cshaw@nsf.gov
 (703)292-7944
EAR
 Division Of Earth Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: August 1, 2019
End Date: August 31, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $398,013.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $427,413.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2019 = $398,013.00
FY 2023 = $29,400.00
History of Investigator:
  • Barbara Carrapa (Principal Investigator)
    bcarrapa@email.arizona.edu
  • Peter DeCelles (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of Arizona
845 N PARK AVE RM 538
TUCSON
AZ  US  85721
(520)626-6000
Sponsor Congressional District: 07
Primary Place of Performance: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona
1040 E 4th
Tucson
AZ  US  85721-0001
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
07
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): ED44Y3W6P7B9
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): Tectonics,
XC-Crosscutting Activities Pro
Primary Program Source: 01002324DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 097Z, 102Z
Program Element Code(s): 157200, 722200
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

This project intends to determine the ages of uplift of the major mountain ranges that together constitute the Rocky Mountains of the western interior United States. These ranges are referred to in the geological literature as "Laramide uplifts", after the city and county of Laramie, Wyoming, which is situated in the region where these uplifts are notably developed. The timing of uplift of the Laramide ranges is poorly understood, but critical for assessing the shape and movement direction of tectonic plates in the eastern Pacific basin and western regions of the North American plate. This work is important to the public for several reasons: (a) The Rocky Mountains are the definitive landscape of the mountain west, a landscape that has inspired writers, artists, entrepreneurs, emigrants, and scientists for more than 200 years; yet, no consensus exists among geologists to explain the origins of these mountains. (b) By virtue of its high elevation and north-south orientation, this spectacular landscape impacts the ecology and climate of the entire U.S. (c) The Laramide region is of enormous economic importance to the U.S., containing strategically important groundwater, mineral, and hydrocarbon resources. (d) Although the Laramide uplifts are no longer "active", results of this project will useful for understanding seismic hazards in regions on Earth today where similar tectonic processes are still active (for example, western South America and southern Alaska). Finally, a group of undergraduate and graduate students will be trained in the context of this project.

The primary objective of this project is to determine the timing of exhumation of Laramide uplifts in Montana, Wyoming and Utah. This is essential to inform tectonic and geodynamic models of the Laramide orogeny, which is generally attributed to flat-slab subduction. Such models rely heavily on spatio-temporal patterns of Laramide uplift. Flat-slab subduction of oceanic plateaus and aseismic ridges are important geodynamic phenomena in convergent margins, with respect to regional plateau uplift, termination of arc magmatism, and active seismicity in the overriding plate. This project will apply a multi-component dating approach, including apatite fission track and (U-Th-Sm)/He thermochronology, which, when combined with thermo-kinematic modeling and the record of sedimentation, will constrain the cooling and erosion histories of the Laramide region. Regional patterns in timing and distribution of uplift events will provide constraints for plate tectonic models of the western U.S. Knowledge gained by this research will be exportable to other active and ancient flat-slab tectonic systems such as southern Alaska, Central America and western Argentina.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Caylor, E and Carrapa, B and Jepson, G and Sherpa, TZL and DeCelles, PG "The Rise and Fall of Laramide Topography and the Sediment Evacuation From Wyoming" Geophysical Research Letters , v.NA , 2023 Citation Details
Caylor, Emilia and Carrapa, Barbara and Jepson, Gilby and Sherpa, Tshering_Z_L and DeCelles, Peter_G "The Rise and Fall of Laramide Topography and the Sediment Evacuation From Wyoming" Geophysical Research Letters , v.50 , 2023 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103218 Citation Details
Jepson, Gilby and Carrapa, Barbara and George, Sarah W.M. and Triantafyllou, Antoine and Egan, Shana M. and Constenius, Kurt N. and Gehrels, George E. and Ducea, Mihai N. "Resolving mid- to upper-crustal exhumation through apatite petrochronology and thermochronology" Chemical Geology , v.565 , 2021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2021.120071 Citation Details

PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT

Disclaimer

This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.

This study produced new ages on the timing of topographic development of Western North America between ~90-40 million years ago. This is a critical time in the development of the North America Cordillera associated with low angle subduction of the oceanic plate under the North American continent which produced deformation and topography in Western North America responsible for the cration of high mountain ranges (Laramide ranges such as the Wind River Range in WY) and sedimentary basins (Laramide basins) hosting important natural resources (coal, oil and gas and critical minerals). Tectonic models for North America make specific predictions on the timing of deformation and uplift of the Laramide ranges. Our study was able to constrain the timing of exhumation of Laramide ranges in WY, MT, UT and AZ hence testing these tectonic models and show that significant topography was present in Western North America in the Cretaceous, 90-80 million years ago. Knowledge gained by this research can be exported to other active and ancient flat-slab tectonic systems such as southern Alaska, Central America and the Sierras Pampeanas in the Central Andes of Argentina. Our results contribute to a better understanding of how deep Earth’s and surface processes respond to subduction, impacting fields such as Geophysics, Tectonics and Geomorphology. Also, because high topography can affect climate and biodiversity over geological time scales, this study provides new data that can further our understanding of the feedback relationships between tectonics, biological changes and climate. This project also contributed to the professional development of graduate and undergraduate students and one post-doctoral scholar and contributed to society via the creation of new and significant knowledge in Geosciences.

 


Last Modified: 11/13/2024
Modified by: Barbara Carrapa

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