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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract


Volume: 69 (1985)

Issue: 5. (May)

First Page: 859

Last Page: 859

Title: Jurassic Crustal Deformation in West-Central Part of Colorado Plateau: ABSTRACT

Author(s): Fred Peterson

Article Type: Meeting abstract

Abstract:

Although the Jurassic Period is commonly thought of as a time of tectonic quiescence, updated isopach maps and new sedimentologic information indicate that it was a time of notable crustal deformation on the Colorado Plateau. A significant change in structural style occurred in Middle Jurassic time, especially during the erosion interval that produced the J-3 unconformity.

Prior to late Middle Jurassic time, the region had been tilted westward and structural troughs formed in the area of the present-day Circle Cliffs uplift and in the vicinity of the the Circle Cliffs and Black Mesa regions were uplifted and the nearby Henry and Kaiparowits regions began to be downwarped as troughs or basins. It cannot be determined if or how the present-day monoclines flexed during the Jurassic. However, the direction of structural tilt across these areas changed from west side down to east side down during the late Middle and early Late Jurassic. The Monument region, the largest and most persistent structural element in the region, changed from a structural bench to a positive structure in the early Late Jurassic.

In most cases the positive structures subsided more slowly than adjacent downwarps. Two exceptions during the Late Jurassic are the Black Mesa and Emery uplifts. These are the only uplifts that actually rose above the level of sediment accumulation.

Jurassic rocks are not known to contain significant hydrocarbon resources in this region, but their tectonic history may offer clues to the structural history of underlying Paleozoic strata, which are the primary hydrocarbon exploration targets.

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Copyright 1997 American Association of Petroleum Geologists