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GSA Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, USA - 2016

Paper No. 228-13
Presentation Time: 5:10 PM

FLUVIAL CONTROLS ON SOIL MOISTURE TRENDS OBSERVED IN NACIMIENTO FORMATION PALEOSOLS, SAN JUAN BASIN, USA


HOBBS, Kevin M., Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, MSC03 2040, Albuquerque, NM 87131 and FAWCETT, Peter J., Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, 220 Northrop Hall, MSC 03 2040, Albuquerque, NM 87131, khobbs84@unm.edu

The Paleocene Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, preserves deposits of fluvial systems draining the emerging Southern Rocky Mountain Laramide highlands as well as well-developed paleosols throughout the outcrop area and the ~450 m-thick section. Most paleosols in the middle Nacimiento Formation display vertic properties, suggesting strong seasonality of moisture, but current paleoclimate estimates from the area are unable to suggest a seasonality of precipitation. When considered in basin stratigraphic context, these vertic paleosols are potentially explained as the products of pedogenesis in a seasonally or episodically flooded floodplain. Here we present the first basin-scale section of Nacimiento Formation paleosols and interpretations of the potential fluvial discharge, climate, and pedogenic explanations for the observed drying-upwards trend.

Session No. 228

T206. The Effects of Discharge Variability on Alluvial Stratigraphy: Toward a New Facies Model
Tuesday, 27 September 2016: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM
Room 401 (Colorado Convention Center)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7
doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-284994
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