Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T13:17:00.050Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Constraints on the age of the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado, from subsurface stratigraphy and OSL dates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard F. Madole ,
Shannon A. Mahan ,
Joe H. Romig  and
Jeremy C. Havens
Richard F. Madole*
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 980, Denver Federal Center, Lakewood, CO 80225, USA
Shannon A. Mahan
Affiliation:
U.S. Geological Survey, MS 974, Denver Federal Center, Lakewood, CO 80225, USA
Joe H. Romig
Affiliation:
Ponderosa Associates, 130 Miners Dr., Lafayette, CO 80026, USA
Jeremy C. Havens
Affiliation:
ADC Management Services, Inc., 355 S. Teller St., Suite 200, Lakewood, CO 80226, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: + 1 303 236 5349. E-mail address:[email protected] (R.F. Madole).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The age of the Great Sand Dunes has been debated for nearly 150 yr. Seven ages ranging from Miocene to late Holocene have been proposed for them. This paper presents new information–chiefly subsurface stratigraphic data, OSL dates, and geomorphic evidence–that indicates that the Great Sand Dunes began to form in the latter part of the middle Pleistocene. The dunes overlie a thick wedge of piedmont-slope deposits, which in turn overlies sediment of Lake Alamosa, a paleolake that began to drain about 440 ka. The wedge of piedmont-slope deposits extends westward for at least 23 km and is as much as 60 m thick at a distance of 10 km from the Sangre de Cristo Range. Ostracodes from one well indicate that the eastern shoreline of Lake Alamosa extended to within 4.3 km of where the Great Sand Dunes eventually formed. The time represented by the wedge of piedmont-slope deposits is not known exactly, but the wedge post-dates 440 ka and was in place prior to 130 ka because by then the dunes overlying it were sufficiently close and tall enough to obstruct streams draining from the Sangre de Cristo Range.

Keywords

ColoradoOSL datingGreat Sand DunesPiedmont-slope geomorphologyQuaternary stratigraphyPaleolake AlamosaSangre de Cristo RangeSan Luis Valley
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , November 2013 , pp. 435 - 446
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, Sarah. (1981). Sedimentology of Great Sand Dunes, Colorado. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists. Special Publication 31, 279–291.Google Scholar
Appelt, R.M., (1998). 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology and Volcanic Evolution of the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field, Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado. M.S. thesisInstitute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, New Mexico.(58 pp.).Google Scholar
Burford, A.E., (1960). Geology of the Medano Peak Area, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Colorado. Ph.D. DissertationUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.Google Scholar
Burford, A.E., (1961). Petrology of the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado. West Virginia Academy of Science, Proceedings 33, 87–90.Google Scholar
H.R.S. Water Consultants Inc., . (1999). Hydrogeologic investigation of Sand Creek and Indian Springs area, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado. Report Prepared for the National Park Service. (15 pp.).Google Scholar
H.R.S. Water Consultants Inc., . (2009). Documentation of boundary piezometer installation Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve, Colorado. Report Prepared for the U.S. Department of Justice and National Park Service. (93 pp.).Google Scholar
Huntley, D.L., (1979). Cenozoic faulting and sedimentation in northern San Luis Valley, Colorado. Geological Society of America Bulletin 90, pt. 2 135–153.Google Scholar
Lachmar, T.E., Hadlock, G.L., McCalpin, J.P., (1999). The hydrogeology of lower Medano Creek, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, Colorado. Schenk, C.J. Hydrologic, Geologic, and Biologic Research at Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Vicinity, Colorado. Proceedings of National Park Service Research Symposium No. 1 255–265.Google Scholar
Lanphere, M.A., Champion, D.E., Christiansen, R.L., Izett, G.A., Obradovich, J.D., (2002). Revised ages for tuffs of the Yellowstone Plateau volcanic field: assignment of the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff to a new geomagnetic polarity event. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 559–568.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., (2007a). Stop B5—lagoons and barrier bars of ancient Lake Alamosa. Machette, M.N., Coates, M.M., Johnson, M.J. Chapter B—Field Trip Day 2, Quaternary Geology of Lake Alamosa and Costilla Plain, Colorado. Rocky Mountain Section Friends of the Pleistocene Guidebook, September 7–9, 2007. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007 1193, 78–81.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., (2007b). Stop B7—Hansen Bluff—Alamosa Formation. Machette, M.N., Coates, M.M., Johnson, M.J. Chapter B—Field Trip Day 2, Quaternary Geology of Lake Alamosa and Costilla Plain, Colorado. Rocky Mountain Section Friends of the Pleistocene Guidebook, September 7–9, 2007. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007 1193, 85–88.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., Marchetti, D.W., (2006). Pliocene to middle Pleistocene evolution of the Rio Grande, northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program 38, 6 36.Google Scholar
Machette, M.N., Marchetti, D.W., Thompson, R.A., (2007). Ancient Lake Alamosa and the Pliocene to middle Pleistocene evolution of the Rio Grande. Machette, M.N., Coates, M.M., Johnson, M.J. Chapter G—Ancient Lake Alamosa and the Pliocene to Middle Pleistocene Evolution of the Rio Grande, Colorado. Rocky Mountain Section Friends of the Pleistocene Guidebook, September 7–9, 2007. U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007 1193, 157–167.Google Scholar
Madole, R.F., Romig, J.H., Aleinikoff, J.N., VanSistine, D.P., Yacob, E.Y., (2008). On the origin and age of the Great Sand Dunes, Colorado. Geomorphology 99, 99–119.Google Scholar
McCalpin, J.P., (1982). Quaternary geology and neotectonics of the west flank of the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, south-central Colorado. Colorado School of Mines Quarterly 77, 3(97 pp.).Google Scholar
Miggins, D.P., (2002). Chronologic, geochemical, and isotopic framework of igneous rocks within the Raton basin and adjacent Rio Grande rift, south-central Colorado and northern New Mexico. M.S. thesisUniversity of Colorado, Boulder.(417 pp.).Google Scholar
Miggins, D.P., Thompson, R.A., Pillmore, C.L., Snee, L.W., Stern, C.R., (2002). Extension and uplift of the northern Rio Grande Rift: Evidence from 40Ar/39Ar geochronology from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, south-central Colorado and northern New Mexico. Menzies, M.A., Klemperer, S.L., Ebinger, C.J., Baker, J. Volcanic Rifted Margins. Boulder, Colorado, Geological Society of America Special Paper 362, 47–64.Google Scholar
Powell, W.J., (1958). Ground-water resources of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1379, (284 pp.).Google Scholar
Prescott, J.R., Hutton, J.T., (1994). Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: large depths and long-term time variations. Radiation Measurements 23, 497–500.Google Scholar
Rogers, K.L., Repenning, C.A., Forester, R.M., Larson, E.E., Hall, S.A., Smith, G.R., Anderson, E., Brown, T.J., (1985). Middle Pleistocene (late Irvingtonian: Nebraskan) climatic changes in south-central Colorado. National Geographic Research 1, 535–563.Google Scholar
Rogers, K.L., Larson, E.E., Smith, Gary, Katzman, Danny, Smith, G.R., Cerling, Thure, Wang, Yang, Baker, R.G., Lohmann, K.C., Repenning, C.A., Patterson, Penny, Mackie, Gerald. (1992). Pliocene and Pleistocene geologic and climatic evolution in the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatiology, Palaeoecology 94, 55–86.Google Scholar
Rupert, M.G., Plummer, L.N., (2004). Ground-water flow direction, water quality, recharge sources, and age, Great Sand Dunes National Monument, south-central Colorado, 2000–2001. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004–5027. (28 pp.).Google Scholar
Sarna-Wojcicki, A.M., Pringle, M.S., Wijbrans, J., (2000). New 40Ar/39Ar age of the Bishop Tuff from multiple sites and sediment rate calibration for the Matuyama–Brunhes boundary. Journal of Geophysical Research 105, B9 21,431–21,444.Google Scholar
Siebenthal, C.E., (1910). Geology and water resources of the San Luis Valley, Colorado. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 240, (128 pp.).Google Scholar
Swancara jr., F., (1955). The archeology of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, a preliminary survey. Southwest Lore 20, 53–58.Google Scholar
Valdez, A., (2012). Geophysics at the Sand Dunes—probing (without really probing). The Hourglass 23, 1 2.Google Scholar
Wegemann, C.H., (1939). The Great Sand Dunes of Colorado. The Mines Magazine 29, 11 556–558.Google Scholar