U-Pb dating of detrital zircons in fluvial sandstones provides a method for reconstruction of drainage basin and sediment routing systems for ancient sedimentary basins. This paper summarizes a detrital-zircon record of Cenomanian paleodrainage and sediment routing for the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. midcontinent. Detrital zircon data from Cenomanian fluvial deposits of the Gulf of Mexico coastal plain (Tuscaloosa and Woodbine formations), the Central Plains (Dakota Group), and the Colorado Front Range (Dakota Formation) show the Appalachian-Ouachita orogen represented a continental divide between south-draining rivers that delivered sediment to the Gulf of Mexico, and west- and north-draining rivers that...