The Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Eastern Utah- A

Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Plan B and other Reports Graduate Studies 5-2016 The Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Eastern Utah: A Comparison with the Coeval Burro Canyon Formation, Including New Measured Sections on the Uncompahgre Uplift Roger D Miller Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports Recommended Citation Miller, Roger D., "The Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Eastern Utah: A Comparison with the Coeval Burro Canyon Formation, Including New Measured Sections on the Uncompahgre Uplift" (2016) All Graduate Plan B and other Reports 829 https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gradreports/829 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Plan B and other Reports by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU For more information, please contact digitalcommons@usu.edu THE LOWER CRETACEOUS CEDAR MOUNTAIN FORMATION OF EASTERN UTAH: A COMPARISON WITH THE COEVAL BURRO CANYON FORMATION, INCLUDING NEW MEASURED SECTIONS ON THE UNCOMPAHGRE UPLIFT by Roger D Miller A report as a partial requirement for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Applied Environmental Geosciences, Plan B Approved: Dr Benjamin Burger Major Professor Dr Kenneth Carpenter Committee Member Dr Carol Dehler Committee Member Dr Benjamin Burger Committee Member UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2016 ii iii ABSTRACT The Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation of Eastern Utah: a Comparison with the Coeval Burro Canyon Formation, Including New Measured Sections on the Uncompahgre Uplift by Roger D Miller, Master of Science Utah State University, 2016 Department: Geology Program: Applied Environmental Geosciences The Early Cretaceous (Barremian-Albian) Burro Canyon Formation in Eastern Utah and Western Colorado is a dominantly fluvial system that resembles the Cedar Mountain Formation, a correlative unit that lies across the Colorado River and is famous for recent dinosaur discoveries The Burro Canyon Formation is arbitrarily split from the Cedar Mountain Formation using the Colorado River as a dividing line This nonstratigraphic means of splitting one unit from the other is largely due to convention and it has become entrenched in the literature iv Sections measured on Hotel Mesa and Buckhorn Mesa, both in eastern Grand County, Utah, were made in order to better delineate the contact between the two formations in this remote area on the Uncompahgre Plateau The section on Hotel Mesa is in the Poison Strip Sandstone Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation, as demonstrated by correlation to nearby established measured sections Multiple paleocurrents were taken on Buckhorn Mesa, along with three new measured sections These measured sections and paleoflows were then used to determine whether these rocks are likely to be in the Burro Canyon Formation or the Cedar Mountain Formation Facies were established for the outcrops, with preliminary facies associations then being developed and outlined on photographs Analyses show that these fluvial sandstones on this edge of the Uncompahgre Plateau are all in the Poison Strip Sandstone Member of the Cedar Mountain Formation Also, no other Early Cretaceous sediments are found on this entire portion of the Plateau, as illustrated using panoramic photographs (95 pages) v CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iii LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xi INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND GEOLOGIC SETTING THE BURRO CANYON FORMATION 14 THE CEDAR MOUNTAIN FORMATION 20 METHODS/ANALYSIS 26 Lithological Analysis 27 Stratigraphic Analysis 27 Paleocurrent Analysis 30 Facies Development 31 Data Synthesis 32 RESULTS 32 1) Lithology 32 2) Stratigraphy 37 A Hotel Mesa 37 B Buckhorn Mesa 39 3) Paleocurrents 44 4) Facies 48 DISCUSSION 51 Lithology 51 Stratigraphy 52 Paleocurrents 58 vi Facies Associations 63 CONCLUSIONS 66 REFERENCES CITED 71 APPENDIX Paleocurrent Azimuths 82 vii LIST OF TABLES Table Page Differences between the Cedar Mountain Formation and the Burro Canyon Formation 24 Comparison of known Cedar Mountain Formation lithologies with those found at my Hotel Mesa measured section 34 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page Google map of the Four Corners region with Cedar Mountain Formation outcrops in purple and Burro Canyon Formation outcrops in maroon 2 Google Earth screenshot, showing Eastern Utah and the locations of type sections for the Cedar Mountain Formation and the Burro Canyon Formation Paleotectonic map showing the Sevier orogeny along the western edge of the North American Plate Colorado Plateau Geosystems map of the situation in the Western United States during the Early Cretaceous 10 Cretaceous paleogeographic reconstruction, showing the transgression of the Western Interior Seaway from the north 11 Isopach map north of the Four Corners area, with thicknesses of the Cedar Mountain and Burro Canyon Formations 13 Google Earth screenshot of study area 15 General stratigraphic column for the Grand Valley in Western Colorado 17 Stratigraphic chart showing the various members of the Cedar Mountain Formation 23 10 Outcrop map of the Cedar Mountain Formation 25 11 Google Earth screenshot showing the location of measured sections on Buckhorn Mesa 29 12 Stratigraphic section on Hotel Mesa 38 13 Well-developed paleosol near Buckhorn Mesa Section #1 40 14 Chert bed at the top of Section #1, foreground, with a chert bed at the bottom of Section #2 seen in distance 41 15 Composite Sections #1 and #2 on Buckhorn Mesa 42 16 Photo showing Buckhorn Mesa Section #3 43 ix 17 Buckhorn Mesa measured Section #3 44 18 Rose diagram from paleocurrents associated with Buckhorn Mesa measured Section #1 45 19 Lesser numbers of paleocurrents nonetheless show a bimodal, bipolar distribution associated with Buckhorn Mesa Section #2 46 20 Combined rose diagram showing a bimodal, bipolar distribution for the composite of Sections #1 and #2 on Buckhorn Mesa 46 21 Rose diagram of paleocurrents associated with Buckhorn Mesa measured Section #3 47 22 Rose diagram with all Buckhorn Mesa paleocurrents combined 47 23 Facies found at Hotel Mesa and Buckhorn Mesa 48 24 Photos showing more facies found on Buckhorn Mesa 50 25 Comparison of my Hotel Mesa section, left (modified from Figure 12, this paper), with Stikes’ 2007 Dewey Bridge Section 52 26 A thick fluvial sandstone in Unaweep Canyon, Colorado 54 27 A thinner set of fluvial sandstones overlies mudstones on Buckhorn Mesa 54 28 Comparison of Buckhorn Mesa composite section with Section #3 55 29 Figures 28 and 25 combined 57 30 Rose diagrams from Figs 18-22, showing average trends 58 31 Lawrence Craig's paleoflow map of the eastern Cedar Mountain Formation and the Burro Canyon Formation 59 32 Paleoflow azimuths averaged and displayed on a rose diagram 60 33 Map showing Burro Canyon paleoflows discounted 61 34 Left: bipolar trend from Fig 33 Right: rose diagram from Fig 30 with bipolar trend indicated 62 69 Figure 39 Photos showing the lack of Burro Canyon and Cedar Mountain outcrops on the entire northwestern side of the Uncompahgre Plateau Top: photo from Buckhorn Mesa TOS #3, looking north The Colorado River flows between here and the Bookcliffs The northernmost flank of the Uncompahgre Plateau is seen to the right Center: photostitch showing the interfluve between Sections #1 and #3 The entire northwestern limb of the Uncompahgre Plateau is seen on the skyline Bottom: photo looking ESE, with the Uncompahgre Plateau, also known as Piñon Mesa, in the far distance Jurassic Morrison Formation seen in middle distance (blue arrow) Uppermost rocks on Piñon Mesa are of Jurassic age—likely Wingate, Kayenta, and Entrada Formations—as observed by the author using binoculars (photos by the author.) 70 The Cedar Mountain Formation and the Burro Canyon Formation, although correlative, have significant distinguishing characteristics Even though environments of deposition for the two formations were quite similar, differences in provenance and source terranes are enough to warrant separation of the two formations into distinct bodies By adding differences in stratigraphic stacking patterns and differences in paleotopographic constraints, the division of the Burro Canyon Formation from the Cedar Mountain Formation becomes even more pronounced My initial hypothesis that I would find the contact between the Burro Canyon Formation and the Cedar Mountain Formation in the study area has not been borne out; however, two perhaps more important discoveries have been outlined: the Cedar Mountain Formation is found across the Colorado River in the Dolores Triangle, requiring that the geologic map be re-drawn in this area; and there is no Burro Canyon Formation to be found on this entire portion of the Uncompahgre Plateau 71 REFERENCES CITED Arens, N.C and Harris, E.B., 2015, Paleoclimatic reconstruction for the Albian– 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Utah International Journal of Plant Sciences, V 153, No 3, Pt 1, September 1992, pp 513-528 Trujillo, K C., and Kowallis, B J., 2015, Recalibrated Legacy 40Ar/39Ar Ages for the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, Western Interior, U.S.A Geology of the Intermountain West, an open-access journal of the Utah Geological Association, (2): 1-8 Tschudy, R.H., Tschudy, B.D and Craig, L.C., 1984, Palynological evaluation of Cedar Mountain and Burro Canyon Formations, Colorado Plateau U.S Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1281, 24 p USGS Geolex, 'Burro Canyon Formation': http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/coloradoplateau/lexicon/burrocanyon.htm Accessed 4/12/2015 USGS Geolex, 'McElmo Formation': http://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Geolex/Units/McElmo_8770.html Accessed 4/12/2015 Young, R G., 1960, Dakota Group of Colorado Plateau American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin v 44, #2, February, 1960, pp 156-194 APPENDIX 81 82 Paleocurrent Azimuths: paleocurrents taken on 3-D ripple and dune sets, as well as a few (