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Low-temperature thermochronometric constraints on fault initiation and growth in the northern Rio Grande Rift, upper Arkansas River valley, Colorado, USA

Alyssa L. Abbey and Nathan A. Niemi
Low-temperature thermochronometric constraints on fault initiation and growth in the northern Rio Grande Rift, upper Arkansas River valley, Colorado, USA
Geology (Boulder) (July 2018) 46 (7): 627-630

Abstract

Continental rifting models predict a variety of spatiotemporal patterns of rift initiation, fault development, and time scales of rift integration. The Rio Grande rift (southwestern United States) is an example of a rift for which both synchronous opening and propagation models have been proposed and, hence, offer differing predictions for the timing of rift development. Low-temperature thermochronometry data from six vertical transects in the upper Arkansas River valley reveal exhumation histories that delineate the initiation, growth, and linkage of rift-bounding faults. Extension initiates on separate fault segments between ca. 22 and 18 Ma, and spatial patterns in fault initiation and exhumation rate suggest that individual fault segments linked to form a coherent approximately 75-km-long fault system by ca. 13 Ma. Our results, combined with data from throughout the northern Rio Grande rift, support a model of synchronous early Miocene rift initiation, with full rift integration occurring no earlier than ca. 10 Ma. Densely spaced sampling transects and slow extension rates in the Rio Grande rift allow us to resolve differences in the timing of fault initiation and rates of exhumation that yield insight into the processes of fault growth and linkage that cannot be easily discerned in rapidly evolving rift systems.


ISSN: 0091-7613
EISSN: 1943-2682
Coden: GLGYBA
Serial Title: Geology (Boulder)
Serial Volume: 46
Serial Issue: 7
Title: Low-temperature thermochronometric constraints on fault initiation and growth in the northern Rio Grande Rift, upper Arkansas River valley, Colorado, USA
Affiliation: University of Michigan, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ann Arbor, MI, United States
Pages: 627-630
Published: 201807
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of America (GSA), Boulder, CO, United States
References: 27
Accession Number: 2018-057675
Categories: Structural geologyGeochronology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Annotation: GSA Data Repository item 2018216
Illustration Description: illus. incl. geol. sketch maps
N37°00'00" - N41°00'00", W109°00'00" - W102°00'00"
N31°30'00" - N37°00'00", W107°30'00" - W105°30'00"
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute. Reference includes data from GeoScienceWorld, Alexandria, VA, United States. Reference includes data supplied by the Geological Society of America, Boulder, CO, United States
Update Code: 201814
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