Genesis, architecture, and numerical modeling of intraparasequence discontinuity surfaces in wavedominated deltaic deposits. Descriptions of the mancos shale and mesaverde group along cross section aa mancos shale the mancos shale is dominated by mudrock that. To shed light upon lithofacies and grain size in shaledominated successions, so that they can be incorporated into shelfwide depositional models, the blackhawk formation of the mancos shale campanian age, exposed in the book cliffs, utah was investigated using combined field, wholerock geochemical, optical, and electron optical methods. The blackhawk formation and castlegate sandstone are campanian fluvialdeltaic and shoreline deposits within the sevier forelandbasin fill along the wasatch plateau and book cliffs in utah.
Space in upper campanian strata, eastern book cliffs, co and ut. Thus, the existing stratigraphic framework of the shallowmarine blackhawk formation in the book cliffs balsley 1980. Highfrequency sequence stratigraphy and paleogeography of. It was developed from a peatforming swamp on the upper surface of the sheetlike sands of the aberdeen member. Sedimentary features of the blackhawk formation cretaceous in. Sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture of the grassy member, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, usa. N2 the upper campanian grassy member of the blackhawk formation, mesa verde group, utah, consists of two highfrequency, unconformitybounded sequences within the upper part. Reevaluating the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy. The regional extent of this facies transition across the charlestonnebo salient and book cliffs figs. Upper cretaceous sunnysode member, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, u.
Pdf distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within. Permeability values were assigned to each biogenic structure model. The impact of parasequence stacking patterns on vertical. Reevaluating the campanian desert member blackhawk formation to lower castlegate sandstone interval, book cliffs, utah. The star point sandstone, blackhawk formation and lower part of the. Reevaluating the campanian desert member blackhawk formation to lower castlegate sandstone interval, book cliffs, utah and colorado, usa. The mesaverde group in the book cliffs area, utah is a molasse of upper cretaceous campanian to maastrichtian age that prograded from the sevier orogenic belt in central utah eastward across the western interior basin. Coal clinker site in the late cretaceous blackhawk. The blackhawk formation and associated rocks at the mouth of whitmore canyon, sunnyside, utah. Tidal deposits of the campanian western interior seaway. Point sandstone, blackhawk formation, lower castlegate sandstone and related strata exposed in the wasatch plateau and book cliffs, utah and colorado, usa,from which widelyapplied conceptual models of highresolution sequence stratigraphy that invoke a. Although the type section is well exposed, it consists of a monotonous succession of braided fluvial sandstones and no.
In the northern part of the study area, however, where the star point sandstone to blackhawk formation transition is complex, aggradationally stacked shallowmarine sandbodies i. Middlelate campanian strata of the book cliffs record the deposition of three clastic wedges in the foreland basin east of the sevier foldthrust belt. The mancos shale, book cliffs, eastern utah, represents the open marine mudstones of the cretaceous western interior seaway and contains a number of detached sandstone bodies open quotesmancos bclose quotes which are located 30150 km down depositional dip from contemporaneous highstand shoreline deposits in the blackhawk formation. The campanian book cliffs strata of eastern utah and western colorado has been used to develop, test and refine sedimentological and stratigraphic ideas and models over the years, including the principles and concepts of sequence stratigraphy.
Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous mancos shale upper. The late santonian and early campanian strata of the book cliffs of eastern utah fig 1 largely comprise the blackhawk formation, together with the. Discriminating sediment supply versus accommodation controls on foreland basin stratigraphic architecture in the book cliffs, central utah using detrital double dating 62nd annual report on research under sponsorship of the american chemical society petroleum research fund. This study presents detailed highresolution correlations of the upper cretaceous stratigraphy between the book cliffs, the wasatch plateau, and the western henry mountains syncline in utah with emphasis on the campanian interval. The studied outcrops are located in the book cliffs and the wasatch plateau in central utah, usa figure 1, and are part of the campanian blackhawk formation and star point sandstone figure 2 young, 1955. T1 sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture of the grassy member, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, usa.
Detrital zircon upb geochronology and paleodrainage. Owing to the lack of type specimens and a welldefined. Paleoecology of delta and coastal plain plant communities in the upper cretaceous blackhawk formation of utah. Shallowmarine strata within the campanian kenilworth member of the. Upper cretaceous strata exposed in the book cliffs of eastcentral utah are widely used as an archetype for the sequence stratigraphy of marginalmarine and shallowmarine deposits. From a reservoir perspective, a 36mthick subset of the alaska succession within the rogers creek member is compared to 36 and 34mthick wavedominated successions of the kenilworth and grassy members of the blackhawk formation in the book cliffs in eastern utah. Campanian blackhawk and castlegate formations of the book cliffs, utah.
Taylor dr, lowell rww 1995 highfrequency sequence stratigraphy and paleogeography of the kenilworth member, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, usa. Blackhawk and castlegate formations along salina canyon in utah. Sequence stratigraphic reinterpretation of open quotes. A multidecadelong highresolution outcrop study has revealed that the campanian desert member blackhawk formation to lower castlegate sandstone interval in the book cliffs of utah and colorado western usa does not fit the conventional sequence stratigraphic model. Middlelate campanian strata of the book cliffs, utah, usa, archive three clastic wedges of the north american cordilleran foreland basin east of the sevier fold and thrust belt.
Sequence and facies architecture of the upper blackhawk. A succession of sandstone, shale, and coal beds of kinds common in mesaverde group. The time span of the mesaverde group is therefore 4. Hampson 2010 can be extended into the star point sandstone and blackhawk formation of the wasatch plateau to provide a. Dinosaur footprints from a coal mine in eastcentral utah.
Near price the section is up to 700 m thick, which indicates an average sedimentation rate of 0. No evidence for sea level fall in the cretaceous strata of the book. Distribution of discontinuous mudstone beds within wave. The intensely studied book cliffs consist of formations deposited in terrestrial. Discriminating sediment supply versus accommodation. Van wagoner jc, bertram gt eds sequence stratigraphy of foreland basin deposits outcrops and subsurface examples from the cretaceous of north america, aapg memoir 64. And with the exception of a few privately held parcels of land, almost 96% of the 2. This member represents one of several major deltas in the formation which prograded. Cliffface exposures of the campanian g2 parasequence, grassy member, blackhawk formation in the book cliffs of eastcentral utah, usa, allow detailed characterisation of one hundred and.
Cretaceous blackhawk formation within the book cliffs coalfields. Book cliffs, utah and colorado, usa, from which widely applied conceptual. The top is placed at 79 ma, and the top of the castlegate is middle campanian, at 77 ma. Bioturbation and its effects on permeability in wave. Paleoecology of the fluvial coalforming swamps and associated floodplain environments in the blackhawk formation of central utah. The upper campanian grassy member of the blackhawk formation. This section provides a unique opportunity to study highfrequency clastic sequence s and their systems tract s, and includes the sediments of fluvial to estuarine. High resolution correlation of the upper cretaceous. Outcrop sections of 31 localities were measured, recording fades, stratal surfaces, and paleoflow indicators. Threedimensional models that captured the dimensions, orientation, and diversity of bioturbation of the outcrops were constructed using sbed process oriented modeling. Facies analysis and sequence stratigraphic framework of upper campanian strata neslen and mount garfield formations, bluecastle tongue of the castlegate sandstone, and mancos shale, eastern book cliffs, colorado and utah by mark a. Department of geology and geophysics, university of utah, salt lake city, 84112 abstractthe trace fossil ophiomorpha irregulaire frey, howard and pryor, 1978, has been described chiefly from the campanian upper cretaceous of the book cliffs of carbon county, central utah, u. Two parasequences within these outcrops have been studied in detail to investigate the distributions of intrashoreface shales and to propose models for the controls on their distribution. Using classic outcrops to revise sequence stratigraphic models.
Their stratal architectures are classically interpreted in terms of accommodation controls that were external to the sediment routing system allogenic, and that forced the formation of flooding surfaces. Pattison using classic outcrops to revise sequence stratigraphic models. Arizona, colorado, new mexico, and utah edited by m. Blackhawk formation star point sandstone campanian. Alongstrike sequence stratigraphy across the cretaceous.
Book cliffs, which expose the same strata in an overall dip orientation fig. This study focused on offshore deposits of the aberdeen member blackhawk formation of the book cliffs utah where excellent exposures allow key stratal surfaces to be correlated from coastal plain through shoreface deposits, to offshore muddy deposits. Pdf the castlegate sandstone of the book cliffs, utah. Major upper cretaceous sandstone tongues in the book cliffs are underlain by erosional surfaces like that beneath the blackhawk formation, which extend for many tens of kilometres into the mancos shale. There is an increase in eastward progradation rate between the l. The upper campanian blackhawk formation, exposed along the book cliffs in eastcentral utah, can be traced for approximately 160 miles 260 km from near helper city to the utah colorado border. Pdf geometry, distribution and fill of erosional scours. Their rhythmically bedded, lenticular, sandstone and shale successions are a prodelta shelf facies, and may be prodelta plume deposits. This sedimentary section was uplifted with little tectonic deform ation of the the some 6000 m in the postcretaceous.
Location of the book cliffs at the utah colorado border. Shallowmarine strata within the campanian kenilworth member of the blackhawk formation that crop out in the book cliffs of eastcentral utah were examined from their updip to downdip depositional limits. Blackhawk formation that crop out in the book cliffs of eastcentral utah were examined. These units were deposited on the western side of the. Marinecontinental transitions in a greenhouse world. Variations in wedge geometries provide an opportunity to evaluate the effects of sediment supply versus accommodation on foreland basin architecture. The base of the blackhawk formation is lower campanian in age, and is dated at 81. The book cliffs and wasatch plateau are among the bestexposed and beststudied deposits of wavedominated shallowmarine systems in the world. Coal clinker site in the late cretaceous blackhawk formation, castle gate, utah, usa.
The desert member of the blackhawk formation and the overlying lower castlegate sandstone are two of several fluviallittoral units in the molasse, all of which intertongue. Cretaceous blackhawk formation located at gilson gulch, utah, u. Thickness 750 to 900 feet in wasatch plateau and 450 feet in book cliffs, central eastern utah. Regional highresolution correlations of the campanian desert member of the blackhawk formation to the lower castlegate sandstone interval, book cliffs, utah colorado, show no evidence for a single, throughgoing unconformity separating the amalgamated channel sandstones of the castlegate from the underlying blackhawk formation coastalplain. Formation, the blackhawk formation and the castlegate sandstone. Abstract earlier stratigraphic work had predicted that at the type section of the castlegate formation, the castle gate, near price, utah, the unit consists of two sequences separated by a sequence boundary representing approximately one million years of unrecorded time. The upper campanian grassy member of the blackhawk formation, mesa verde group, utah, consists of two highfrequency, unconformity bounded sequences within the upper part of the blackhawk formation highstand sequence set. There appears to be a hierarchy of unconformities bounding sequences within the blackhawk formation recording progressively larger basinward shifts of facies tracts and. Book cliffs data sets are often used as outcrop analogues for similar subsurface settings worldwide. Descriptions of the mancos shale and mesaverde group along cross section aa mancos shale.
Timestratigraphic chart of santonian and campanian sediments in eastcentral utah. Outcrop sections of 31 localities were measured, recording facies. Raised in stratigraphic rank in central book cliffs from a member of price river formation to castlegate sandstone, a formation in the mesaverde group. The bulk of the campanian strata in the book cliffs of utah consists of the star point.
Sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture. Roberts 2007, and in the upper blackhawk formation and lower and middle. Campanian clastic wedge deposited in the cretaceous western interior. Facies analysis and sequence stratigraphic framework of upper.
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