Continental-scale detrital zircon provenance signatures in Lower Cretaceous strata, western North America

Abstract

Lower Cretaceous strata and the underlying sub-Cretaceous unconformity in western North America record a profound, but poorly understood change in sedimentation patterns and basin dynamics in the Cordilleran foreland basin. To better understand the regional sedimentary systems and provenance during Early Cretaceous time, we sampled 10 Lower Cretaceous sandstone and conglomerate units that overlie the sub-Cretaceous unconformity in Canada and the United States for detrital zircon uranium-lead (U-Pb) geochronology. These Lower Cretaceous strata contain two distinct detrital zircon U-Pb age signatures. A “northern” signature, present in strata in Alberta and British Columbia, contains zircons with ages of ca. 120 Ma and 1850 Ma, and is composed of zircons from the Cordilleran arc and grains recycled from strata of the Canadian miogeocline. A “southern” signature, present in strata from southwestern United States to central Montana, contains zircons with ages of ca. 160 Ma, ca. 250–650 Ma, and ca. 1040 Ma, and consists of zircons from the Cordilleran arc and grains recycled from late Paleozoic strata and Mesozoic eolianite units in the western United States. We propose that the differences in detrital zircon U-Pb age populations between northern and southern areas of western North America are due to differences in zircon populations in the sediment source strata exposed in the contemporaneous thrust belt, and possibly a subtle paleohydraulic divide in Montana. These distinct provenance signatures along the Cordillera suggest that the mechanisms responsible for Early Cretaceous changes in foreland basin dynamics occurred along the length of the Cordillera in both the U.S. and Canada.