Author(s): Kelsee Frodsham
Mentor(s): Alex Tye
Institution UTech
The Rio Grande Rift is a complex system of half-grabens and sediment-filled basins. To better understand the evolution of drainage networks and sediment provenance of the area, a multi-institution research group collected multiple samples of the sediments, clast counts, stratigraphic, and imbrication data in the Santa Fe and Dry Union Formations. This in turn will give us a better understanding of the depositional and tectonic history of the Rio Grande Rift. Here, we will present new detrital zircon U-Pb age data from the Dry Union and Santa Fe Formations that constrain sediment provenance and the maximum depositional ages of samples. The data will show us the provenance of the sediments found in the River system and give us a better picture of how the Arkansas River has evolved to be the way it is now. This data are important because they give us more information to be able to better understand how rift systems influence sediment pathways of the Santa Fe and Dry Union Formations. It will also be able to help us constrain the basin evolution of the Santa Fe and Dry Union Formations and how it relates to the Rio Grande Rift. The provenance of Rio Grande Rift sediments and how they relate to rift tectonics will have implications for Earth resources, geologic hazards, and crustal dynamics.