Birth and evolution of the Rio Grande-Rio Chama fluvial system: The influence of magma-driven dynamic topography on fluvial systems over the last 8 Ma

Abstract:

The Rio Grande-Rio Chama (RG-RC) fluvial system of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico preserves a record of southern Rocky Mountain erosion and sediment transport over the last 8 Ma. During this time the two rivers have evolved wildly, undergoing channel migrations, drainage capture and integration events, carving and refilling of paleocanyons, lake spill-overs, and reshaping of drainage divides. New ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar basalt ages coupled with new detrital grain age population data for fluvial sediments are beginning to reconstruct the birth of the RG-RC fluvial system and elucidate the processes that drove its evolution over the last ~8 Ma.

Twenty-three detrital grain samples have been collected from RG-RC river deposits ranging in age from ~8 Ma (RC) and 4.5 Ma (RG) to modern fluvial sediment. Detrital zircon age spectra for the RG reveal peaks at 25 Ma, 28 Ma, 30-35 Ma (San Juan volcanic), and 70-90Ma (San Juan Basin) in sediments deposited from 4.5 to 0 Ma. RC spectra are richer in San Juan Basin and San Juan volcanic detritus. A 2.6 Ma Totavi Lentil deposit downstream of today’s RG-RC confluence is similar to the ancestral RG, while a 1.6 Ma Totavi Lentil is similar to the combined RG-RC, suggesting northward shift of the RG-RC confluence by 1.6 Ma due to Jemez Mountain volcanism. A 4.5 Ma basalt age from Black Mesa and occurrence of San Juan volcanic detritus in 3 to 5 Ma sediment suggests birth of an ancestral RG as early as 4.5 Ma. There is no record of an ancestral RG north of the Red River confluence for the 3.0 to 0.5 Ma time period, supporting prior work that northern San Luis Basin became integrated after 0.5 Ma spill-over of Lake Alamosa. We plan to add detrital sanidine dating to refine the age spectra and help further delineate drainage patterns.

The RG-RC system drains a highly tectonically active region. Changes in the fluvial regime suggest: 1) long-lived source of detritus (some recycled) from the San Juan volcanic field, 2) downstream integration of the RG-RC system to central NM at 4.5 Ma due to uplift of the Taos Plateau, 3) drainage reorganization due to Jemez Mountain caldera volcanism, and 4) integration of the RG after 0.5 Ma spillover of Lake Alamosa. Climatic changes likely interacted, but correlation of fluvial changes to magmatic events supports tectonics as the main driver of these major fluvial changes in the RG-RC system.