Collaborative Research: Great Unconformity of the Southwestern U.S.A. -- Ar-Ar K-Feldspar Thermochronologic and Structural Studies of a Billion Years of Regional Exhumation

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9902955KarlstromThe Great Unconformity of the southwestern United States represents a complex differential unroofing of middle crustal rocks over a large area, prior to its inundation by late precambrian and younger marine sediments. The causes of this extensive episode of regional denudation is problematic, however a key to understanding it is to decipher variations in the location, timing and style of differential uplift in tectonic blocks across the region. Ar-Ar thermochronology on K-feldspar plus structural studies should provide data necessary to test several hypotheses and scenarios that may explain the phenomena. Successful outcomes will improve regional precambrian to paleozoic geology and provide insight into plateau uplift processes and intracratonic deformation generally.