Late Cenozoic Drainage History of the Southwestern Great Basin and Lower Colorado River Region: Geologic and Biotic Perspectives

Age, distribution, and formation of late Cenozoic paleovalleys of the lower Colorado River and their relation to river aggradation and degradation
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Published:January 01, 2008
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CiteCitation
Keith A. Howard, Scott C. Lundstrom, Daniel V. Malmon, Simon J. Hook, 2008. "Age, distribution, and formation of late Cenozoic paleovalleys of the lower Colorado River and their relation to river aggradation and degradation", Late Cenozoic Drainage History of the Southwestern Great Basin and Lower Colorado River Region: Geologic and Biotic Perspectives, Marith C. Reheis, Robert Hershler, David M. Miller
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Distinctive far-traveled fluvial sediment of the lower Colorado River fills 20 paleovalleys now stranded by the river downstream of Grand Canyon as it crosses the Basin and Range Province. These sediments resulted from two or more aggradational episodes in Pliocene and Pleistocene times following initial incision during the early Pliocene. Areview of the stratigraphic evidence of major swings in river elevation over the last 5 m.y. from alternating degradation and aggradation episodes establishes a framework for understanding the incision and filling of the paleovalleys. The paleovalleys are found mostly along narrow bedrock canyon reaches of the river, where divides of...
- aggradation
- basalts
- Basin and Range Province
- basins
- bedrock
- canyons
- carbonate rocks
- Cenozoic
- Colorado River
- elevation
- erosion
- gneisses
- Grand Canyon
- granites
- igneous rocks
- incised valleys
- landform evolution
- limestone
- metamorphic rocks
- Neogene
- North America
- paleoenvironment
- paleorelief
- Pleistocene
- Pliocene
- plutonic rocks
- Quaternary
- sedimentary rocks
- sedimentation
- Tertiary
- uplands
- valleys
- volcanic rocks
- Boulder Basin
- Palo Verde Valley
- Cottonwood Valley
- Mohave Valley
- Chemehuevi Valley
- Temple Basin
- Gregg Basin
- Grand Wash Trough
- Detrital-Virgin Basin