Magmatism, migrating topography, and the transition from Sevier shortening to Basin and Range extension, western United States

ABSTRACT The paleogeographic evolution of the western U.S. Great Basin from the Late Cretaceous to the Cenozoic is critical to understanding how the North American Cordillera at this latitude transitioned from Mesozoic shortening to Cenozoic extension. According to a widely applied model, Cenozoic extension was driven by collapse of elevated crust supported by crustal thicknesses that were potentially double the present ~30–35 km. This model is difficult to reconcile with more recent estimates of moderate regional extension (≤50%) and the discovery that most high-angle, Basin and Range faults slipped rapidly ca. 17 Ma, tens of millions of years after crustal thickening occurred. Here, we integrated new and existing geochronology and geologic mapping in the Elko area of northeast Nevada, one of the few places in the Great Basin with substantial exposures of Paleogene strata. We improved the age control for strata that have been targeted for studies of regional paleoelevation and paleoclimate across this critical time span. In addition, a regional compilation of the ages of material within a network of middle Cenozoic paleodrainages that developed across the Great Basin shows that the age of basal paleovalley fill decreases southward roughly synchronous with voluminous ignimbrite flareup volcanism that swept south across the region ca. 45–20 Ma. Integrating these data sets with the regional record of faulting, sedimentation, erosion, and magmatism, we suggest that volcanism was accompanied by an elevation increase that disrupted drainage systems and shifted the continental divide east into central Nevada from its Late Cretaceous location along the Sierra Nevada arc. The north-south Eocene–Oligocene drainage divide defined by mapping of paleovalleys may thus have evolved as a dynamic feature that propagated southward with magmatism. Despite some local faulting, the northern Great Basin became a vast, elevated volcanic tableland that persisted until dissection by Basin and Range faulting that began ca. 21–17 Ma. Based on this more detailed geologic framework, it is unlikely that Basin and Range extension was driven by Cretaceous crustal overthickening; rather, preexisting crustal structure was just one of several factors that that led to Basin and Range faulting after ca. 17 Ma—in addition to thermal weakening of the crust associated with Cenozoic magmatism, thermally supported elevation, and changing boundary conditions. Because these causal factors evolved long after crustal thickening ended, during final removal and fragmentation of the shallowly subducting Farallon slab, they are compatible with normal-thickness (~45–50 km) crust beneath the Great Basin prior to extension and do not require development of a strongly elevated, Altiplano-like region during Mesozoic shortening.

Cambrian trilobites from the Glossopleura walcotti Zone (Miaolingian Series, Wuliuan Stage) of Mendoza, western Argentina

The Museo de La Plata houses numerous Miaolingian and Furongian fossils from the southern Precordillera of Mendoza, western Argentina, collected by Ángel V. Borrello during the 1960s. Early Miaolingian (Wuliuan) trilobites from these collections are described herein. The specimens studied come from allochthonous limestone blocks (San Isidro Olistoliths) of key fossiliferous localities of the San Isidro area (Cerro Martillo, Quebrada Oblicua, Quebrada Empozada, Quebrada San Isidro). Taxa comprise Athabaskia anax (Walcott), Glossopleura leona Lochman, Kootenia aff. K. incerta (Rusconi), Kootenia crassa Fritz, Oryctocephalites reynoldsi (Reed), Zacanthoides sp., Spencia? sp., Amecephalus normale? (Resser), Amecephalus laticaudum? (Resser), and Amecephalus sp. This assemblage is representative of the North American Glossopleura walcotti Zone, and closely allied to faunas from the Great Basin (Spence Shale), Sonora, and to a lesser extent from northwestern Idaho.

Snowmelt rate and continuity determine the intra-annual variability and magnitude of streamflow in three alpine watersheds in the western U.S.

In semiarid to arid regions of the western U. S., the availability and variability of river flow are highly subject to shifts in snow accumulation and ablation in alpine watersheds. This study aims to examine how shifts in snowmelt rate (SMR) and snow continuity, an indicator of the consistent existence of snow on the ground, affect snow-driven streamflow dynamics in three alpine watersheds in the U.S. Great Basin. To achieve this end, the coupled hydro-ecological simulation system (CHESS) is used to simulate river flow dynamics and multiple snow metrics are calculated to quantify the variation of snowmelt rate and snow continuity, the latter of which is measured, respectively, by snow persistence (SP), snow residence time (SRT) and snow season length (SSL). Then, a new approach is proposed to partition streamflow into snow-driven and rain-driven streamflow. The statistical analyses indicate that the three alpine watersheds experienced a downward trend in SP, SRT, SSL and SMR during the study period of 1990-2016 due to regional warming. As a result, the decrease in SMR and the decline in snow continuity shifted the day of 25% and 50% of the snow-driven cumulative discharge as well as peak discharge toward an earlier occurrence. Besides, the magnitudes of snow-driven annual streamflow, summer baseflow and peak discharge also decreased due to the declined snow continuity and the reduced snowmelt rate. Overall, by using multiple snow and flow metrics as well as by partitioning streamflow into snow-driven and rain-driven flow via the newly proposed approach, we found that snowmelt rate and snow continuity determine the streamflow hydrographs and magnitudes in the three alpine watersheds. This has important implications for water resource management in the snow-dominated region facing future climate warming given that warming can significantly affect snow dynamics in alpine watersheds in semiarid to arid regions.