Facies and stratigraphic architecture right at the transition from marine to non-marine environments is poorly documented. In the Cretaceous outcrops of Utah, Star Point and Blackhawk Formations are well studied. The nature of spatio-temporal transition of these two Formations, in the deposition-strike orientation, remains undocumented. This study characterizes facies and stratigraphic complexity at the transition of the two Formations that crop out in depositional-strike orientation in the Wasatch Plateau. Data from outcrop including photomosiacs and measured sections demonstrate this complexity at a range of scales. The Star Point constitutes a shoreface environment. The Blackhawk constitutes a coastal-fluvial environment.
In the northern part of study area, the transition from marine to continental strata is expressed by intertonguing succession. The dip-oriented outcrops show pinch-outs of two parasequences into coastal-plain deposits. This complexity decreases southward, the southern outcrops show a simple transition. At least two sequence boundaries are correlated across the outcrop belt.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uno.edu/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-2508 |
| Date | 18 May 2012 |
| Creators | Ranson, Andrew M |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UNO |
| Source Sets | University of New Orleans |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations |
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