The significance of incision and fluvial sedimentation in the Basal White River Group (Eocene-Oligocene), Badlands of South Dakota, U.S.A.

Abstract

A newly defined lithostratigraphic unit, the Chamberlain Pass Formation (CPF), records the initial episode of incision, fluvial sedimentation, and pedogenesis in SW South Dakota following the retreat of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. The CPF is Middle(?) to Late Eocene in age, and consists of fluvial sandstone and mudstone. Pedogenic modification of the unit has created a distinctive pedostratigraphic unit, the Interior Paleosol Series. The CPF thickens from west to east, achieving a maximum channel-belt thickness of ⩾ 11 m. Paleoflow data indicate that deposition of the CPF was restricted to a fault-controlled basin southeast of the Black Hills uplift. Sandstones in the CPF were derived from a recycled sedimentary rock source area to the west. In contrast, sandstones in the overlying Chadron Formation (Late Eocene) had a variety of sources including the Precambrian core rocks of the Black Hills uplift. Deposition of the CPF brackets four significant Paleogene changes in baselevel that occurred in this region. These events were: (1) Late Cretaceous to Middle(?) Eocene relative baselevel fall, weathering and erosion of the Cretaceous Pierre Shale to form the Yellow Mounds Paleosol, and fluvial incision; (2) Middle(?) to Late Eocene relative baselevel rise and deposition of the CPF; (3) Late Eocene relative baselevel fall, weathering and erosion of the CPF to form the Interior Paleosol, and fluvial incision; and (4) Late Eocene to Oligocene relative baselevel rise and deposition of the Chadron Formation. The first event was probably eustatic, the second was controlled primarily by local subsidence in a fault-bounded basin, the third records the tectonic uplift and unroofing of the Black Hills, and the fourth event was probably primarily controlled by eustasy, but other factors may have been important.