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

美国西南部的大不整合代表了在被晚前寒武纪和更年轻的海洋沉积物淹没之前，中地壳岩石在大范围内发生的复杂的差异剥离。这种大规模区域剥蚀的原因是有问题的，然而，理解它的关键是破译整个地区构造地块差异隆升的位置、时间和方式的差异。钾长石的Ar-Ar热年代学加上结构研究应该提供必要的数据，以检验几个可能解释这些现象的假设和假设。成功的结果将改善区域前寒武纪至古生代的地质，并提供对高原隆升过程和总体上的克拉通内变形的洞察。

9903298HeizlerThe 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.