Tectonically induced climate and its control on the distribution of depositional systems in a continental foreland basin, Cloverly and Lakota Formations (Lower Cretaceous) of Wyoming, U.S.A.

Abstract Continental sediments of the Cloverly and Lakota Formations (Lower Cretaceous) in Wyoming are subdivided into three depositional systems: perennial to intermittent alluvial, intermittent to ephemeral alluvial, and playa. Chert-bearing sandstones, conglomerates, carbonaceous mudrocks, blocky mudrocks, and skeletal limestones were deposited by perennial to intermittent alluvial systems. Carbonaceous mudrocks contain abundant wood fragments, cuticle and cortical debris, and other vascular plant remains representing deposition in oxbow lakes, abandoned channels, and on floodplains under humid to seasonal conditions. Intraformational conglomerates, sandstones, bioturbated and blocky mudrocks with caliche nodules, and bioturbated limestones characterize deposition in intermittent to ephemeral alluvial systems. Bioturbated limestones are encased in bioturbated mudrocks with abundant pseudo-slickensides. The presence of caliche nodules in some of the blocky to bioturbated mudrocks is consistent with supersaturation and precipitation of calcium carbonate from groundwater under semi-arid conditions. Caliche nodules, pseudo-slickensides, and carbonate-rich floodplain sediments are interpreted to have been deposited by intermittent to ephemeral alluvial systems under seasonal to semi-arid climatic conditions. Laminated mudrocks, siltstones, vuggy carbonates, bedded to nodular evaporites, pebbly mudrocks, and diamictites were deposited in evaporative alkaline lakes or playas. Pebbly mudrocks and diamictites are interpreted to represent deposition from channelized and unchannelized hyperconcentrated flows on a playa, resulting from intense rain events within the basin. The areal abundance and distribution of these depositional systems change systematically across the overfilled portion of the Early Cretaceous Cordilleran foreland basin in Wyoming. The lower part (A-interval) of the Cloverly and Lakota Formations is characterized by deposits of perennial to intermittent rivers that existed 300 to 1000 km east of the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt. Proximal to the Sevier fold-and-thrust belt, the A-interval of the Cloverly Formation and upper Ephraim Formation of the Gannett Group are typified by deposits of intermittent to ephemeral rivers and their associated floodplains. In the middle part (B-interval) of the Cloverly Formation, intermittent to ephemeral alluvial systems expand to 600 km into the basin. The upper part (C-interval) of the Cloverly Formation is characterized by playa deposits in the Bighorn and Wind River Basins and intermittent to ephemeral alluvial deposits along the front of the ancestral Sevier Mountains. Deposits of perennial to intermittent alluvial systems in the C-interval of the Cloverly and Lakota Formations are restricted to the Black Hills region, almost 900 km to the east of the Sevier Mountains. The change in the areal distribution of depositional systems through time within this continental foreland basin may be attributed to the development of a rain shadow associated with the uplift of the Sevier Mountains in the Early Cretaceous.