GEOL 5690 s.1? Spring 2024

Tectonic History of the Western United States: Syllabus

Meetings: 11:30- 12:45 WF, BESC 440E

Instructor: Craig Jones, ESCI 440C, x2-6994, cjones@colorado.edu

Office Hours: TBA or just dropping by...

Website: http://cires1.colorado.edu/people/jones.craig/Teaching/GEOL5690/

The website will have readings assigned and additional readings relevant to class meetings.

Goals: Obtain a grounding in the geologic history of the western United States and an understanding of the techniques that are used in building a tectonic history, including the limitations of these techniques.

Prerequisites: nothing fixed, but a course in structural geology and some college-level physics is highly desirable. We will be assuming some basic physics and chemistry as we describe some of the techniques used in tectonics; a differential equation or two might make a special appearance.

Format: Lectures and discussion, with some student presentations. Readings from the technical literature will accompany lectures. Readings will be posted online.

Coursework: Students will complete about 6 homeworks over the duration of the course, and a final exam. No late homeworks will be accepted. The time of the final will be determined. Additionally, students will have to complete a project. Usually this has been a website on one aspect of the geology of the western U.S. and presentation of the site to the class. The website should have two levels for users: one an overview of the geology being considered, the second a detailed description of some aspect of how we have come to reach this understanding.

Text: Turcotte and Schubert’s Geodynamics (2nd or 3rd edition). It is not comprehensive but the best thing out there. Class readings will be posted to the website. Baldridge's Geology of the American Southwest is optional; it is a geologic history of the region without the geodynamics and is a handy reference.

Reserve texts:

Grading: homework will be 40%, participation 15%, term project presentation 20%, and written term project 25%

Special dates (2024):

Course outline. We have 15 weeks total time. There are about 12 main topics we will explore, plus student presentations (which I expect to take about a week of time), so expect each of the below to occupy about a week. This list is provisional as suggestions within the class will be considered as we move along. Bold faced techniques to be emphasized. Italicized topics depend on time available.

 

event

technique(s)

Precambrian

Assembly of western U.S. (Mojavia,Wyoming craton, and Proterozoic belts)

Nd and Pb terrane analysis, age dating basics, zircon provenance

Precambrian rifting event(s)

thermal subsidence models and pre-Phanerozoic dating (radiometric, isotopic, paleomagnetic)

Paleozoic

Paleozoic passive margin to Antler/Ancestral Rocky/Ouachita tectonics

seismic reflection profiling and stratigraphy

late Paleozoic borderland orogenies (Antler, Sonoma orogenies)

Plate flexure, tectonic analogy, paleogeographic reconstruction

Mesozoic

the accretion of exotic terrains (Wrangellia, Alexander terrane, Baja-British Columbia)

Zircon provenance, paleomagnetism tectonostratigraphy, geobarometers

classic forearc (Franciscan complex) and arc (Sierra/Peninsular Ranges) margin interpreting ages of melanges, some igneous petrology

development of a fold-and-thrust belt (Sevier orogen)

physical models of orogenesis (Coulomb wedge), foredeep sedimentation, (balancing sections)

Cenozoic

Laramide tectonics

structural geology (paleostress and strain), stratigraphy, lithosphere proxies (xenoliths, volcanic geochemistry), dynamic topography

Sierra Nevada

Gravity, heat flow and seismic refraction

Extensional tectonics (Basin and Range)

Rock uplift and surface uplift, crustal rheology and flow, body forces in deformation

volcanism of the Columbia Plateau and subsequent volcanic migrations

physical models of volcanism, seismic tomography

uplift of the western Cordillera

paleoelevation proxies, geomorphology

transition from convergent to transform plate motions

plate reconstructions, paleomagnetism, stratigraphy, reflection seismology, physical models

examination of hazards and ongoing deformation from the geohistorical perspective

geodesy, physical models of deformation

 


Please send mail to cjones@colorado.edu if you encounter any problems or have suggestions.

GEOL5690 home | C. H. Jones | CIRES | Dept. of Geological Sciences | Univ. of Colorado at Boulder

Last modified at January 17, 2024 1:30 PM