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Colorado Plateau magmatism and uplift by warming of heterogeneous lithosphere

Nature volume 459, pages 978–982 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The forces that drove rock uplift of the low-relief, high-elevation, tectonically stable Colorado Plateau are the subject of long-standing debate1,2,3,4,5. While the adjacent Basin and Range province and Rio Grande rift province underwent Cenozoic shortening followed by extension6, the plateau experienced ∼2 km of rock uplift7 without significant internal deformation2,3,4. Here we propose that warming of the thicker, more iron-depleted Colorado Plateau lithosphere8,9,10 over 35–40 Myr following mid-Cenozoic removal of the Farallon plate from beneath North America11,12 is the primary mechanism driving rock uplift. In our model, conductive re-equilibration not only explains the rock uplift of the plateau, but also provides a robust geodynamic interpretation of observed contrasts between the Colorado Plateau margins and the plateau interior. In particular, the model matches the encroachment of Cenozoic magmatism from the margins towards the plateau interior at rates of 3–6 km Myr-1 and is consistent with lower seismic velocities13 and more negative Bouguer gravity14 at the margins than in the plateau interior. We suggest that warming of heterogeneous lithosphere is a powerful mechanism for driving epeirogenic rock uplift of the Colorado Plateau and may be of general importance in plate-interior settings.

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Figure 1: Data (metres) used to derive the modelled residual rock uplift function.
Figure 2: Cenozoic magmatic patterns in the western United States, showing magmatic encroachment onto the Colorado Plateau.
Figure 3: Thermal and isostatic evolution during re-equilibration following a thermal perturbation at the base of a variable-thickness plate.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) grants EAR0538022 and EAR0408513 and an NSF Advance Fellowship from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory to M.R. The authors thank C. Jones for comments that significantly improved the model and manuscript and C. Callahan for compiling a database of xenolith compositions. The ideas in this paper benefited from our discussions with M. Hirschmann, L. Farmer, J. Selverstone and K. Condie.

Author Contributions M.R. was responsible for all of the data analysis and model calculations, T.H.J. provided ideas on the implications of the chemical heterogeneity of the Colorado Plateau and J.P. provided estimates and interpretation of field-based rock uplift and erosion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA,

    Mousumi Roy

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA,

    Thomas H. Jordan

  3. Department of Geology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322, USA,

    Joel Pederson

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Correspondence to Mousumi Roy.

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Roy, M., Jordan, T. & Pederson, J. Colorado Plateau magmatism and uplift by warming of heterogeneous lithosphere. Nature 459, 978–982 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08052

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