Geologic Field Trips to the Basin and Range, Rocky Mountains, Snake River Plain, and Terranes of the U.S. Cordillera
The combination of a long geologic record and stunning scenery has attracted geologists to the Rocky Mountain and Cordilleran regions for two centuries. Past and ongoing geologic research in this region has resulted in a wealth of significant observations and paradigm shifts in interpretations. This field guide, compiled for the 2011 joint meeting of the GSA Rocky Mountain and Cordilleran Sections, provides a small and succulent appetizer to the full menu of remarkable geology of the Rocky Mountain and Cordillera regions. Field trips presented in this volume span geologic topics from Neoproterozoic deposits, late Paleozoic—early Mesozoic terrane accretion, Eocene mammals and climate, Eocene to middle Miocene extension, late Miocene and younger basin and river system evolution, and Pleistocene glaciers and pluvial lakes.
New descriptions of the cap dolostone and associated strata, Neoproterozoic Pocatello Formation, southeastern Idaho, USA
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Published:January 01, 2011
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CiteCitation
Carol M. Dehler, Kathleen Anderson, Robin Nagy, 2011. "New descriptions of the cap dolostone and associated strata, Neoproterozoic Pocatello Formation, southeastern Idaho, USA", Geologic Field Trips to the Basin and Range, Rocky Mountains, Snake River Plain, and Terranes of the U.S. Cordillera, Jeffrey Lee, James P. Evans
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Abstract
An ~90-m-thick interval of mixed siliciclastic-carbonate strata, including a cap dolostone unit, overlies diamictite of the upper Scout Mountain Member of the Pocatello Formation in the Fort Hall Mine area south of Portneuf Narrows, southeastern Idaho, and is ≤ ca. 665 Ma. Six facies comprise this interval: silty sandstone (reworked diamictite matrix), laminated dolomite, dolomite and sandstone, sandstone, dolomite-chip breccia, and argillite and limestone. Sedimentary structures and bedding geometries of facies indicate paleoenvironments ranging from below storm wave base to upper shoreface. The edgewise, mounded, and parallel-bedded dolomite-chip breccia indicates slope failure and reworking of the lower shoreface during large storms.
Facies relationships allow generalized division of these strata into three units. The lowermost unit, Unit A, comprises intimately interbedded laminated dolomite (“cap dolostone”), dolomite-chip breccia, and sandstone facies and is 17 m thick. Unit A apparently grades upward into Unit B, a 45-m-thick interval of the sandstone facies. Unit C, 28 m thick, rests sharply on Unit B, and comprises a basal laminated dolomite facies and the limestone and argillite facies. Units A and B may indicate a regressive wave-dominated coast that was influenced by large storms (highstand systems tract). Unit C indicates near storm wave base deposition and an overall deepening, as shown by dark argillite beds of the overlying upper member of the Pocatello Formation (transgressive systems tract).
δ13C and δ18O values from dolomite and limestone samples of Units A and C are similar to values from local, regional, and transglobal cap carbonate intervals. δ13C values range from −1.9 to −5.6‰ and δ18O values range from −10.2 to −17.4‰, with no systematic correlation between C- and O-isotope values. δ13C values are consistent with previously reported values from the Pocatello Formation and are similar to values from the alleged Marinoan Noonday Formation in Death Valley, California, and the Marinoan Maieberg Formation in Namibia.
Collective data from the cap dolostone and associated strata of the Pocatello Formation suggest protracted mixed siliciclastic-carbonate deposition on a stormdominated shelf at ca. 665 Ma.
- Bannock County Idaho
- bedding
- breccia
- C-13/C-12
- carbon
- carbonate rocks
- clastic rocks
- diamictite
- dolostone
- facies
- highstands
- Idaho
- isotope ratios
- isotopes
- Marinoan
- Neoproterozoic
- O-18/O-16
- oxygen
- paleoenvironment
- planar bedding structures
- Pocatello Formation
- Precambrian
- Proterozoic
- regression
- sea-level changes
- sedimentary rocks
- sedimentary structures
- siliciclastics
- slopes
- stable isotopes
- storms
- United States
- upper Precambrian
- southeastern Idaho
- Scout Mountain Member
- cap dolostone
- Portneuf Gap Idaho
- Fort Hall Mine