ALBERT

Description: New low-temperature thermochronology and geochronology data from Upper Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous strata from the North American Cordilleran foreland basin in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and South Dakota document rapid exhumation rates of the adjacent Cordilleran orogenic belt to the west. Both zircon (U-Th-[Sm])/He (zircon He) and apatite fission track (AFT) thermochronology were applied to proximal and distal synorogenic deposits in order to identify a thermochronometer suitable to record source exhumation during the North America Cordilleran orogeny. AFT lag times from Upper Jurassic–Upper Cretaceous deposits are 0–5 m.y. and indicate a relatively steady-state to slightly increasing exhumation rate between 118 Ma and 66 Ma. These lag-time measurements are consistent with active shortening and rapid exhumation rates of ~0.9–〉1 km/m.y. of the North American Cordillera throughout the Cretaceous. Double dating of the detrital AFT samples was performed on apatites with young AFT cooling ages, in order to test whether or not the young cooling ages represent a signal related to exhumation rather than volcanic activity. Maximum depositional ages using detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology match existing ages on basin stratigraphy. This study indicates that AFT is the most effective thermochronometer to resolve source exhumation from Lower to Upper Cretaceous foreland stratigraphy in the central Cordilleran foreland, and indicates that source material was exhumed from 4 to 5 km depths but was never buried more than a few kilometers (〈4 km) since Cretaceous time. Zircon He dates indicate that the orogenic hinterland could not have been exhumed from depths 〉8–9 km. Double dating of apatites (with AFT and U-Pb) shows that volcanic contamination is a significant issue that can, however, be addressed by double dating.

Description: The Indus-Yarlung suture zone, within the larger Indo-Asia collision zone in southern Tibet, is characterized by a central depression with two oppositely directed axial rivers: the eastward-flowing Yarlung River and the westward-flowing Indus River. The axial valley is flanked by high-elevation ranges of the southern Lhasa terrane to the north and the Tethyan Himalaya to the south. This study analyzes the detrital geochronological and thermochronological signatures of rivers draining into the Indus-Yarlung suture zone as a proxy for the timing of tectonic, magmatic, and erosional processes in southern Tibet. Zircon U-Pb ages reflect source area crystallization ages, and their distribution is proportional to the relative area of source rocks exposed in the catchment areas. Rivers draining the northern side of the collision zone are dominated by ages between ca. 40 Ma and ca. 60 Ma, similar to ages of rocks in the Gangdese arc, whereas one river sample draining the southern side records a Tethyan Himalayan signature characterized by age clusters at ca. 500 Ma and ca. 1050 Ma. U-Pb zircon ages from the modern drainages are similar to signals preserved in the Oligocene–Miocene Liuqu and Kailas basins, suggesting that the geology of the Cenozoic drainages was similar to modern, albeit with significant erosion in the Miocene. New apatite fission-track (AFT) ages from some of the same rivers show an early Miocene regional exhumation signature, which is interpreted to record regional uplift-induced erosion coupled with efficient river incision by the Indus-Yarlung fluvial system as a result of renewed underthrusting (following rollback) of India under Asia. Late Miocene (ca. 8 Ma) apatite (U-Th)/He (AHe) ages are consistent with cooling and exhumation associated with E-W extension followed by a decrease in erosion after ca. 6 Ma.

Description: GRB 130427A was the brightest gamma-ray burst detected in the last 30 yr. With an equivalent isotropic energy output of 8.5  x  10 53  erg and redshift z  = 0.34, it uniquely combined very high energetics with a relative proximity to Earth. As a consequence, its X-ray afterglow has been detected by sensitive X-ray observatories such as XMM–Newton and Chandra for a record-breaking baseline longer than 80 million seconds. We present the X-ray light curve of this event over such an interval. The light curve shows a simple power-law decay with a slope α = 1.309 ± 0.007 over more than three decades in time (47 ks–83 Ms). We discuss the consequences of this result for a few models proposed so far to interpret GRB 130427A, and more in general the significance of this outcome in the context of the standard forward shock model. We find that this model has difficulty in explaining our data, in both cases of constant density and stellar-wind circumburst media, and requires far-fetched values for the physical parameters involved.

Description: Shallow subduction of the Farallon plate beneath the western United States has been commonly accepted as the tectonic cause for the Laramide deformation during Late Cretaceous through Eocene time. However, it remains unclear how shallow subduction would produce the individual Laramide structures. Critical information about the timing of individual Laramide uplifts, their paleoelevations at the time of uplift, and the temporal relationships among Laramide uplifts have yet to be documented at regional scale to address the question and evaluate competing tectonic models. The Wind River Basin in central Wyoming is filled with sedimentary strata that record changes of paleogeography and paleoelevation during Laramide deformation. We conducted a multidisciplinary study of the sedimentology, detrital zircon geochronology, and stable isotopic geochemistry of the lower Eocene Indian Meadows and Wind River formations in the northwestern corner of the Wind River Basin in order to improve understanding of the timing and process of basin evolution, source terrane unroofing, and changes in paleoelevation and paleoclimate. Depositional environments changed from alluvial fans during deposition of the Indian Meadows Formation to low-sinuosity braided river systems during deposition of the Wind River Formation. Paleocurrent directions changed from southwestward to mainly eastward through time. Conglomerate and sandstone compositions suggest that the Washakie and/or western Owl Creek ranges to the north of the basin experienced rapid unroofing ca. 55.5-54.5 Ma, producing a trend of predominantly Mesozoic clasts giving way to Precambrian basement clasts upsection. Rapid source terrane unroofing is also suggested by the upsection changes in detrital zircon U-Pb ages. Detrital zircons in the upper Wind River Formation show age distributions similar to those of modern sands derived from the Wind River Range, with up to [~]20% of zircons derived from the Archean basement rocks in the Wind River Range, indicating that the range was largely exhumed by ca. 53-51 Ma. The rise of these ranges by 51 Ma formed a confined valley in the northwestern part of the basin, and promoted development of a meandering fluvial system in the center of the basin. The modern paleodrainage configuration was essentially established by early Eocene time. Carbon isotope data from paleosols and modern soil carbonate show that the soil CO2 respiration rate during the early Eocene was higher than at present, from which a more humid Eocene paleoclimate is inferred. Atmosphere pCO2 estimated from paleosol carbon isotope values decreased from 2050 {+/-} 450 ppmV to 900 {+/-} 450 ppmV in the early Eocene, consistent with results from previous studies. Oxygen isotope data from paleosol and fluvial cement carbonates show that the paleoelevation of the Wind River Basin was comparable to that of the modern Great Plains ([~]500 m above sea level), and that local relief between the Washakie and Wind River ranges and the basin floor was 2.3 {+/-} 0.8 km. Up to 1 km of post-Laramide regional net uplift is required to form the present landscape in central Wyoming.

Description: We present optical and near-infrared (NIR) photometry of 28 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Swift satellite and rapidly observed by the Reionization and Transients Infrared/Optical (RATIR) camera. We compare the optical flux at fiducial times of 5.5 and 11 h after the high-energy trigger to that in the X-ray regime to quantify optical darkness. 46 ± 9 per cent (13/28) of all bursts in our sample and 55 ± 10 per cent (13/26) of long GRBs are optically dark, which is statistically consistently with previous studies. Fitting RATIR optical and NIR spectral energy distributions of 19 GRBs, most (6/7) optically dark GRBs either occur at high redshift ( z  〉 4.5) or have a high dust content in their host galaxies ( A V  〉 0.3). Performing Kolmogorov–Smirnov tests, we compare the RATIR sample to those previously presented in the literature, finding our distributions of redshift, optical darkness, host dust extinction and X-ray-derived column density to be consistent. The one reported discrepancy is with host galaxy dust content in the BAT6 sample, which appears inconsistent with our sample and other previous literature. Comparing X-ray-derived host galaxy hydrogen column densities to host galaxy dust extinction, we find that GRBs tend to occur in host galaxies with a higher metal-to-dust ratio than our own Galaxy, more akin to the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Finally, to mitigate time evolution of optical darkness, we measure β OX, rest at a fixed rest-frame time, t rest  = 1.5 h and fixed rest-frame energies in the X-ray and optical regimes. Choosing to evaluate optical flux at rest = 0.25 μm, we remove high redshift as a source of optical darkness, demonstrating that optical darkness must result from either high redshift, dust content in the host galaxy along the GRB sight line, or a combination of the two.

Description: The Pamir mountains are the western continuation of the Tibetan-Himalayan system, the largest and highest orogenic system on Earth. Detrital geothermochronology applied to modern river sands from the western Pamir of Tajikistan records the history of sediment source crystallization, cooling, and exhumation. This provides important information on the timing of tectonic processes, relief formation, and erosion during orogenesis. U-Pb geochronology of detrital zircons and 40Ar/39Ar thermochronology of white micas from five rivers draining distinct tectonic terranes in the western Pamir document Paleozoic through Cenozoic crystallization ages and a Miocene (13–21 Ma) cooling signal. Detrital zircon U-Pb ages show Proterozoic through Cenozoic ages and affinity with Asian rocks in Tibet. The detrital 40Ar/39Ar data set documents deep and regional exhumation of the Pamir mountains 〉30 Myr after Indo-Asia collision, which is best explained with widespread erosion of metamorphic domes. This exhumation signal coincides with deposition of over 6 km of conglomerates in the adjacent foreland, documenting high subsidence, sedimentation, and regional exhumation in the region. Our data are consistent with a high relief landscape and orogen-wide exhumation at ∼13–21 Ma and correlate with the timing of exhumation of the Pamir gneiss domes. This exhumation is younger in the Pamir than that observed in neighboring Tibet and is consistent with higher magnitude Cenozoic deformation and shortening in this part of the orogenic system.

Description: Detrital zircon data have recently become available from many different portions of the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen. This study uses 13,441 new or existing U-Pb ages of zircon crystals from strata in the Lesser Himalayan, Greater Himalayan, and Tethyan sequences in the Himalaya, the Lhasa, Qiangtang, and Nan Shan–Qilian Shan–Altun Shan terranes in Tibet, and platformal strata of the Tarim craton to constrain changes in provenance through time. These constraints provide information about the paleogeographic and tectonic evolution of the Tibet–Himalaya region during Neoproterozoic to Mesozoic time. First-order conclusions are as follows: (1) Most ages from these crustal fragments are

Description: Uranium-Lead (U-Pb) geochronology and Hafnium (Hf) isotope geochemistry of detrital zircons of the Harmony Formation of north-central Nevada provide new insights into the tectonic evolution of the late Paleozoic western Laurentian margin. Using laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, ten arenite samples were analyzed for U-Pb ages, and eight of these samples were further analyzed for Hf-isotope ratios. Three of the sampled units have similar U-Pb age peaks and Hf-isotope ratios, including a 1.0-1.4 Ga peak with εHf values of +12 to -3 and a 2.5-2.7 Ga peak with εHf values of +7 to -5. The remaining seven samples differ significantly from these three, but are similar to one another; having age peaks of 1.7-1.9 Ga with εHf of +10 to -20 and age peaks of 2.3-2.7 Ga with εHf of +6 to -8. The data confirm the subdivision of the Harmony Formation into two petrofacies: quartzose (Harmony A) and feldspathic (Harmony B). The three samples with 1.0–1.4 and 2.5–2.7 Ga peaks are the Harmony A, which originated in the central Laurentian craton. The other seven samples are the Harmony B, which originated in eastern Alberta-western Saskatchewan, north of the Harmony A source. We propose that all Harmony Formation strata were deposited near eastern Alberta and subsequently tectonically interleaved with Roberts Mountains allochthon strata. We interpret that the entire package was tectonically transported south along the western Laurentian margin and then emplaced eastward onto the craton during the Late Devonian – Early Mississippian Antler orogeny.