TERTIARY ROCK UPLIFT, EROSION, AND EXHUMATION ACROSS THE COLORADO PLATEAU

ROY, Mousumi, Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, mroy@unm.edu

Geodynamic models provide a powerful, physics-based context within which to interpret disparate geologic, geomorphic, and geophysical data on the structure, kinematics, and evolution of lithospheric columns. In this presentation I will summarize available data relevant to the tectonic and physiographic evolution of the Colorado Plateau to test geodynamic scenarios for the Tertiary evolution of this enigmatic region. The datasets to be discussed include Tertiary tectonic and magmatic patterns, xenolith data, rock exhumation and cooling, erosion, and present-day seismic velocity structure. The rock exhumation and cooling histories are part of an ongoing project and will be presented as available. The geodynamic models presented explore rock uplift and exhumation scenarios during Tertiary thermal modification of the compositionally distinct upper mantle of the Colorado Plateau.

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Earth System Processes 2 (8–11 August 2005)

TERTIARY ROCK UPLIFT, EROSION, AND EXHUMATION ACROSS THE COLORADO PLATEAU