Clumped isotope paleothermometry of the Mio-Pliocene freshwater Lake Mohave. Lower ancestral Colorado River, USA

Abstract:

The fluvio-lacustrine deposits of the Bouse Formation are an archive of ancestral Colorado River integration in the Late Miocene and Early Pliocene. In Mohave Valley along the California-Arizona-Nevada border, exposures of the Bouse Formation are observed ~400 m above the modern river elevation, which has been interpreted as evidence of tectonic uplift following a regionally extensive marine incursion and integration of the ancestral Colorado River by capture. However, recent investigations instead favor a “top-down” process of river integration by sequential infilling of freshwater lakes that does not require subsequent tectonic uplift. Accurate interpretation of the Bouse Formation’s depositional environment is needed to test these models and ultimately, constrain the timing and mechanism of southwestern Colorado Plateau uplift.

To further constrain interpretations of depositional environment, we present new clumped isotope analyses with major and trace element geochemistry and scanning electron microscopy of carbonate samples from the Bouse Formation in Mohave Valley. Here the Bouse Formation contains three distinct facies: basal marl and limestone overlain by thick beds of calcareous claystone interbedded with siltstone and sandstone and locally overlain by tufa. Bulk geochemistry of all facies is consistent with a similar freshwater source yet each facies is isotopically distinct, potentially indicating a strong influence of facies-specific fractionation processes. Carbonate formation temperatures measured in tufa samples are variable, suggesting multiple generations of calcite precipitation. Formation temperatures from basal marl and claystone samples are generally consistent with near-surface lake temperatures, broadly supporting a lacustrine depositional environment and “top-down” process of ancestral Colorado River integration. More broadly, our results quantify the variability in carbonate formation temperatures with different lacustrine facies and emphasize the importance of accurate field interpretation in paleoclimatic and paleotectonic reconstructions.