Collaborative Research: Reconstructing the Origins of the Colorado River: An Integrative Study of the Miocene-Pliocene Bouse Formation

尽管经过近一个世纪的研究，控制科罗拉多河起源的条件仍然知之甚少，争论激烈。该项目旨在通过对house地层的多学科研究来重建科罗拉多河的起源，house地层是一种复杂的沉积沉积物，在大约600万到450万年前河流形成期间积聚在河谷下游。这项研究得益于大学教授和学生、州和联邦机构科学家、县博物馆古生物学家和当地高中教师的合作。PI将使用综合数据集来确定house组是形成于咸淡海洋河口还是与海洋隔离的大型内陆湖，这是了解河流起源的关键区别。这项研究还探讨了科罗拉多河的水何时以及如何首次流入大海。假设将通过研究地层结构、沉积学、碳酸盐地球化学（包括C、O、Sr和S同位素）和地质年代学来检验。假设检验强调在精确的地层和构造框架中，放射性成因和稳定同位素数据与主要和微量元素化学相互关联。PI将举办两个研讨会：一个是让广大的地球科学家参与进来，另一个是计划未来的科学钻探方案。

Despite nearly a century of study, the conditions that controlled initiation of the mighty Colorado River remain poorly understood and vigorously debated. This project seeks to reconstruct the origins of the Colorado River through multidisciplinary study of the Bouse Formation, a complex sedimentary deposit that accumulated in the lower reaches of the valley during river initiation between ~ 6.0 and 4.5 million years ago. The study benefits from collaborations among university professors and students, state and federal agency scientists, a county museum paleontologist, and a local high school teacher. The PI's will use integrated datasets to determine if the Bouse Formation formed in a brackish marine estuary or a large inland lake isolated from the ocean, a key distinction for understanding the origins of the river. This study also explores when and how waters of the Colorado River first reached the sea. Hypotheses will be tested through study of stratigraphic architecture, sedimentology, carbonate geochemistry (including C, O, Sr, and S isotopes), and geochronology. Hypothesis tests emphasize cross-correlation of radiogenic and stable isotope data with major and trace-element chemistry in a precise stratigraphic and structural framework. The PI's will run two workshops: one to engage a broad community of geoscientists, and one to plan a future scientific drilling proposal.