River incision histories of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Unaweep Canyon: Interplay between late Cenozoic tectonism, climate change, and drainage integration in the western Rocky Mountains
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Published:January 01, 2008
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CiteCitation
Andres Aslan, Karl Karlstrom, William C. Hood, Rex D. Cole, Thomas W. Oesleby, Charles Betton, M. Magdalena Sandoval, Andy Darling, Sam Kelley, Adam Hudson, Bryan Kaproth, Shane Schoepfer, Mary Benage, Rachel Landman, 2008. "River incision histories of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Unaweep Canyon: Interplay between late Cenozoic tectonism, climate change, and drainage integration in the western Rocky Mountains", Roaming the Rocky Mountains and Environs: Geological Field Trips, Robert G. Raynolds
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Abstract
The Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Unaweep Canyon in western Colorado have long been viewed as classic examples of post-Laramide Plio-Pleistocene uplift, which in the case of Unaweep, is thought to have forced the Gunnison River to abandon the canyon. Ongoing field studies of the incision histories of these canyons and their surrounding regions, however, suggest that post-Laramide rock uplift has been regional, rather than local in nature. River incision rates calculated using ca. 10 Ma basaltic lava flows as a late Miocene datum suggest that long-term incision rates range from 61 to 142 m/m.y. with rates decreasing...
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Roaming the Rocky Mountains and Environs: Geological Field Trips

Prepared following the 2007 GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, these 15 guides illustrate the latest geological and archeological thinking on a variety of current research themes. Regional-scale topics include landscape responses to dynamic processes of volcanism and uplift in Yellowstone and western Colorado, geomorphic evolution along the Front Range of Colorado and on the High Plains of South Dakota, and geoarchaeological research in central Colorado and western Nebraska. A series of papers illustrates tectonic and stratigraphic processes through time and space, with discussions of Precambrian structures in western Colorado, Jurassic deposition in south-central Colorado, and near-shore stratigraphic patterns in the Cretaceous strata of the Book Cliffs. One paper reviews potential seismic signatures in Cretaceous and Early Tertiary strata in northern Wyoming and Montana, and another discusses patterns of extension in southern Nevada and adjacent portions of California. Other topics in this well-rounded volume include the history of volcanism and gold mineralization at Cripple Creek, development of coalbed methane resources in the Powder River Basin, and a long-lived subsurface coal fire in western Colorado. Follow in the footsteps of these field trips, and see for yourself the patterns and evidence discussed.
GeoRef
- breccia
- Colorado
- Cripple Creek Colorado
- epithermal processes
- field trips
- gold ores
- host rocks
- hydrothermal alteration
- hydrothermal conditions
- metal ores
- metasomatism
- mineral composition
- mineral deposits, genesis
- mineralization
- production
- resources
- Teller County Colorado
- tellurides
- tonnage
- United States