Download or read book Insights Into the Growth and Decay of Orogenic Wedges from Foreland Basin Successions written by Theresa M. Schwartz and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Convergent plate margins are dynamic settings where the evolution of sedimentary basins is influenced by a variety of interrelated autogenic and allogenic processes. These include plate tectonic-scale processes such as plate subduction and the development of a volcanic arc, fold-thrust belt, and associated basins; the development of climatic gradients across the orogen; shallow-crustal structural partitioning of the basins into discrete depocenters; and the surficial (topographic) responses to such events. This dissertation examines the interplay of tectonic, sedimentary, and climatic processes during the evolution of two retroarc foreland basin systems: the Late Cretaceous-Eocene Magallanes-Austral basin of Patagonia (Chapters 2 and 3) and the Late Cretaceous-Oligocene Rocky Mountain foreland basin of southwestern Montana (Chapter 4). These chapters investigate a variety of geologic processes that occur at different temporal and spatial scales. Specifically, major goals of this dissertation include (1) generating a paleogeographic reconstruction of latest Cretaceous depositional environments in the Magallanes-Austral basin to better understand the termination of the long-lived deep-marine foreland basin (Chapter 2); (2) utilizing detrital zircon U-Pb ages to understand variations in sediment dispersal patterns and long-term average sedimentation rates during shoaling of the Magallanes-Austral basin (Chapter 3); and (3) integrating structural, stratigraphic, sediment provenance, and stable isotope ([delta] 18O, [delta] 13C) data to better understand the spatial and temporal relationships of tectonic activity and climate (Chapter 4). Data types and methods are diverse, and include detailed outcrop description, detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology, thin-section petrography, 1-D subsidence modelling, and stable isotope ([delta] 18O, [delta] 13C) stratigraphy from calcic paleosols.