CHARTING COLORADO'S STRATIGRAPHY

Colorado’s stratigraphic record is revealed in three charts that show the chronology and facies patterns for the State’s sedimentary rocks. A full chart, published in 2016 by the Colorado Geological Survey in collaboration with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (CGS MS-53), is complemented by a Cretaceous chart published in 2022 as CGS MS-54. These two charts are joined by a Cenozoic chart that is currently nearing final editing. The three charts will be shown together for the first time in this poster session.

The charts build on a framework established by Richard H. Pearl and draw on the work of many geologists and stratigraphers. They show patterns of sedimentation and hiatuses across the entire State, underlining that much of our geologic history has passed unrecorded in our rock record. None-the-less, our history of passage from a passive margin to orogenic terrain, to peneplanation and inundation, to renewed orogeny and ultimately epirogenic uplift is clear.

Colorado’s history seen on the charts can be readily compared with records from adjacent states, and those from the Rocky Mountain West. Regional synthetic correlations of timing and facies changes will shed light on the genesis of our lithostratigraphy.