Eastern Boulder-Weld fault zone, Colorado: A gravity slide with pop-up structures

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-198
Author(s):  
Richard H. Groshong ◽  
Ken Kittleson
Keyword(s):  
Fault Zone ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Contour Map ◽  
Pierre Shale ◽  
Structural Style ◽  
Transport Direction ◽  
Gravity Slide

The Boulder-Weld fault zone, located southeast of Boulder, Colorado, is about 10 km (6 mi) wide, 34 km (21 mi) long, and involves at least 335 m (1100 ft) of upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks. It affects the Cretaceous upper Pierre Shale, Fox Hills Sandstone, and the coal–bearing lower Laramie Formation. This study is a detailed examination of the eastern portion of the fault zone which consists of undisturbed areas separated by three long, narrow, fault-bounded uplifts that have received a variety of interpretations over the years. The fault zone geometry is determined from 21 closely spaced cross sections that use more subsurface data than previous studies, incorporate the elevations of the major economic coal seam derived from a published composite structure-contour map, and are area balanced using area-depth-strain (ADS) analysis. The most common structural style is a pop-up structure in which the uplifts are bounded on both sides by reverse faults. At larger-displacement the pop-ups are at the tip of the ramp and a second fault has formed close to the base of the ramp. A few sections show simple ramp anticlines developed above listric thrusts. The lower detachment for all structures is the distinctive Kp2 marker in the upper Pierre Shale. ADS analysis of the best-controlled uplifts shows that the uplifts are area balanced and confirms the lower detachment to be near Kp2. The structures are interpreted to have formed as a gravity slide because they formed in a break-back sequence, a characteristic of gravity gliding, and because the transport direction is approximately down the current southeast dip of the Kp2 detachment.

Structure and genesis of the Boulder-Weld allochthon, Denver Basin, Colorado - Gravity slide or Laramide thrust sheet?

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-304
Author(s):  
Edward J. Sterne
Keyword(s):  
Hanging Wall ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Normal Faults ◽  
Front Range ◽  
Denver Basin ◽  
Thrust Sheet ◽  
Pierre Shale ◽  
Transport Direction ◽  
Tear Fault ◽  
Gravity Slide

This study was undertaken to determine the structure and genesis of the Boulder-Weld allochthon (BWA), the 216 mi2 (559 km2) remnant of a once larger feature, that moved east from the flank of the Front Range into the western part of the Denver Basin. This review of surface and subsurface data revealed new aspects of the BWA, especially in its western part. There, the decollement of the BWA ramps 900 feet up-section to the east from a near bedding-parallel detachment low in the upper transition member of the Pierre Shale to a bedding-parallel detachment near the base of the Fox Hills Formation. Repeated sections found in wells east of the decollement ramp demonstrate up to two miles of translation in the system. Secondary faults in the hanging wall of the allochthon include antithetic thrusts bounding pop-up structures and occasional normal faults that almost exclusively overprint the decollement ramp. The hanging wall is also cut by a postulated tear fault separating areas exhibiting different amounts of translation. The western, trailing edge of the decollement shows attenuation in its hanging wall that increases to the west. This part of the decollement either represents a very low-angle breakaway normal fault or a thrust fault cutting slightly down-section in the direction of transport. Past studies perceived a southeast transport direction for the BWA in contrast to the northeast slip directions on nearby Laramide thrusts, a difference used to interpret the allochthon as a gravity slide. However, similar east-west oriented slickenlines on thrusts across the western part of the allochthon and into the neighboring Front Range leave open the possibility the BWA originated as a Laramide thrust sheet. Furthermore, both the BWA and Laramide thrusts in the neighboring Front Range utilized detachments near the top of the Pierre Shale, suggesting a possible common genesis. Given the available data, both the gravity slide and Laramide thrust models provide viable explanations for the BWA.

CASE HISTORY OF WILD GOOSE GAS FIELD, BUTTE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Geophysics ◽  
1954 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 509-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wallace L. Matjasic
Keyword(s):  
Cross Sections ◽  
Seismic Reflection ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Contour Map ◽  
Seismic Reflection Data ◽  
Reflection Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
Further Development ◽  
Wild Goose

The discovery well of the Wild Goose gas field was drilled and completed in 1951 on a structure located by a reflection seismograph survey conducted in 1950. An additional seismograph survey was made subsequent to discovery to define the structure better for further development. The illustrations include two seismic cross sections, a contour map based on the original seismic reflection data, an aeromagnetic map, a structure contour map, and an electric log of the discovery well. The producing sands are in an interval between the Forbes shale of Upper Cretaceous age and the overlying Capay shale of Eocene age.

Electron Irradiation Effects in Polyoxymethylene Crystals Grown Inside Trioxane Crystals

1971 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 78-79
Author(s):  
J. P. Colson ◽  
D. H. Reneker
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
The Other ◽  
Electron Micrograph ◽  
Irradiation Effects ◽  
Threefold Axis ◽  
Typical Sample ◽  
Polymer Crystals ◽  
Chain Axis

Polyoxymethylene (POM) crystals grow inside trioxane crystals which have been irradiated and heated to a temperature slightly below their melting point. Figure 1 shows a low magnification electron micrograph of a group of such POM crystals. Detailed examination at higher magnification showed that three distinct types of POM crystals grew in a typical sample. The three types of POM crystals were distinguished by the direction that the polymer chain axis in each crystal made with respect to the threefold axis of the trioxane crystal. These polyoxymethylene crystals were described previously.At low magnifications the three types of polymer crystals appeared as slender rods. One type had a hexagonal cross section and the other two types had rectangular cross sections, that is, they were ribbonlike.

Late Mesozoic—Cenozoic clay mineral successions of southern Iran and their palaeoclimatic implications

Clay Minerals ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Khormali ◽  
A. Abtahi ◽  
H. R. Owliaie
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Late Mesozoic ◽  
Southern Iran ◽  
Transmission Electron

AbstractClay minerals of calcareous sedimentary rocks of southern Iran, part of the old Tethys area, were investigated in order to determine their origin and distribution, and to reconstruct the palaeoclimate of the area. Chemical analysis, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thin-section studies were performed on the 16 major sedimentary rocks of the Fars and Kuhgiluyeh Boyerahmad Provinces.Kaolinite, smectite, chlorite, illite, palygorskite and illite-smectite interstratified minerals were detected in the rocks studied. The results revealed that detrital input is possibly the main source of kaolinite, smectite, chlorite and illite, whilein situneoformation during the Tertiary shallow saline and alkaline environment could be the dominant cause of palygorskite occurrences in the sedimentary rocks.The presence of a large amount of kaolinite in the Lower Cretaceous sediments and the absence or rare occurrence of chlorite, smectite, palygorskite and illite are in accordance with the warm and humid climate of that period. Smaller amounts of kaolinite and the occurrence of smectite in Upper Cretaceous sediments indicate the gradual shift from warm and humid to more seasonal climate. The occurrence of palygorskite and smectite and the disappearance of kaolinite in the late Palaeocene sediments indicate the increase in aridity which has probably continued to the present time.

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