Introduction
During the Laramide Orogeny (approx 70-40 Ma.) a significant
crustal thickening event occurred in the Rocky Mountain Foreland and the
Great Plains. Current elevations of up to 2 km above mean sea level and
evidence from Phanerozoic shallow sea fossils help constrain the amount
and timing of this increase in elevation. Crustal thickness measurements
by various methods agree that the thick crust witnessed in the Colorado
plateau gradually decreases over hundreds of km into the Great Plains (Sheehan
et. al. 1995, Sandvol et. al. 2001). Five mechanisms of crustal thickening;
sedimentation, intrusion, crustal shortening, passive flow in the lower
crust and simple shear of the lower crust, are generally used to describe
this crustal thickening (Bird, 1984). The majority of mass movement is
attributed to movement of lower crustal material. This is then broken up
into simple shear and passive flow. Simple shear in this case is attributed
to the flat subduction of the Farallon plate below the Rocky Mountains.
Passive flow would be caused by extrusion of lower crust from below the
up to 70 km thick crust to the west of the Great Plains. These models will
be explained and analyzed here. There is significant debate about the exact
nature of material flow at depths greater than about 5 km and more debate
about the whether or not flat subduction of the Farallon plate even occurred.
These uncertainties must be considered when examining such a complex region.
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