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Estimates of paleoelevation have become a topic of interest to scientists.

Mountains have a big effect on climate patterns due to their influence on

precipitation and control on ecosystems. Models of paleoaltitudes can also

help to determine timing of uplift events in geologic history.

Three main approaches have been used to model paleoaltimetry:

• Leaf physiognomy (shape) method: Uses either the differences of mean

annual temperature or enthalpy at both sea level and the elevated

area of study, assuming that characteristics of paleofloras and their

correlation to climate is the same as modern floras.

• Vesicular basalt (extrusive volcanic rock with gas bubbles) method:

Analyzed based on a correlation of paleoatmospheric pressure and the

size distribution of vesicles; however, the eruption of basalt would

occur at the volcano’s height, above the mean elevation.

• Stable isotope method: Uses measurement of stable isotopes in fossil

fish and mammal teeth, certain clays, volcanic ash, or lacustrine and

soil carbonates. These materials preserve the record of isotope

fractionation of hydrogen and oxygen of atmospheric water with

elevation gain due to the thermodynamics of these elements as

precipitation.

Introduction

June- Research and Project Planning

July- Collection of samples in CO, WY

Late August- Collection of samples in NM

Late October- Collection of samples in TX

November- Sample analysis/lab work at

University of Idaho

Late January- Draft of first sections of

research paper due to CC Geology Dept.

March- Draft of entire Research paper due

April- Presentation at CC Geology Day

May- Final Research paper due, presentation

at GSA Rocky Mountain Section meeting in WY

Study Direction

Collection of samples is currently in progress. The isotopic analysis

requires a fist sized rock sample of each individual unit described in the

map above. During my internship I have been able to collect six different

samples in Colorado and Wyoming for my project. Through my Mosaics

mentor, I have been in consultation with various researchers and had the

guidance of Dr. Emmett Evanoff and Dr. Kent Sundell to identify sample

localities geographically.

Field Work

Late Eocene to early Oligocene pyroclastic rocks were deposited

throughout the West as part of the mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare up. This is

largely attributed to the shallow subduction of the Farallon plate. Volcanic

tuffs are the best candidates for this research because they are likely to

contain glass due to the nature of rhyolitic ash-flow eruptions. Samples of

volcanic material for the study are chosen based on their age and location

along a backwards J-shaped transect (see map, above) that will include

areas that are expected to have experienced uplift. Ages are based on Ar-

Ar radiometric dating (where available, otherwise K-Ar or other methods)

done in previous research, and all samples are within a confined age range

of 35.35 and 33.2 million years old.

Area of Study Significance of Research

While studies have been done west-east in the

Rocky Mountains, no research has been done

extending the transect to the south, where

ignimbrites are also prevalent during the Middle

Cenozoic. This research can fill the geographic

gap in the hydrogen isotope data of the Western

United States during the late Paleogene in order

to better understand Cenozoic uplift on a

continental scale.

Further, the fact that these samples are all very

similar in age gives the study better precision

with respect to time than any other similar

research done. These tuffs are also significant

because they span the period in geologic time

when Antarctic ice sheets were first

permanently emplaced and began to

significantly alter global climate, represented

by the Zachos curve (right).

References Concepts for this study are derived from the following sources:

Cassel, E.J., Graham, S.A., and Chamberlain, C.P., 2009, Cenozoic tectonic and

topographic evolution of the northern Sierra Nevada, California, through stable isotope

paleoaltimetry in volcanic glass: Geology, v. 37, p. 547-550.

Chamberlain, C. P. and Poage, M.A., 2000, Reconstructing the paleotopography of mountain

belts from the isotopic composition of authigenic minerals: Geology, v. 28, p. 115-118.

Fan, M., Heller, P., Allen, S.D., and Hough, B.G., 2014, Middle Cenozoic uplift and

concomitant drying in the central Rocky Mountains and adjacent Great Plains: Geology,

v. 42, p. 547-550.

Rowley, D.B. and Garzione, C.N., 2007, Stable Isotope-Based Paleoaltimetry: Annual Review

of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 35, p. 436-508.

Acknowledgements Thank you to my sponsor, the Mosaics in Science Program. Thank you to the mentors that

have helped me during my internship, Dr. Henry Fricke, Dr. Herb Meyer, Dr. Emmett

Evanoff, Dr. Libby Prueher and Dr. Elizabeth Cassel, Dr. Kent Sundell, and Mrs. Conni

O’Connor for all their advice and support of my thesis in the research and field work

phases.

Advisor: Dr. Henry Fricke, Colorado College; Mentor: Dr. Herbert Meyer, Florissant Fossil Beds NM Gabriella Rossetto

Hydrogen isotope ratios of volcanic glass: Making an isotopic map of Western North America to study

paleoelevation in the late Paleogene period

Methods

Stable isotope paleoaltimetry relates changes in the ratio between

deuterium (heavy hydrogen, mass of 2) and hydrogen atoms in geologic

materials to changes in this ratio in precipitation falling along an

orographic barrier. Altitude and isotopic signature of precipitation are

related because of Rayleigh distillation. Specifically, as air masses pass

over mountains, precipitation at elevation is more depleted in deuterium

than low-elevation precipitation. As a cloud ascends a mountain, the

water adiabatically expands, cools, condenses, and the precipitation that

follows removes heavy deuterium and oxygen isotopes.

Volcanic glass is formed as a viscous magma cools rapidly. Environmental

water diffuses into the glass within a few thousand years of deposition

until it is completely saturated (length of time depending on the thickness

of the walls of the glass), after which the water is very strongly bonded

into the glass structure and will not be secondarily altered by further

exchange of isotopes with the environment. This makes volcanic glass

plausible for stable isotope paleoaltimetry study and a useful indicator of

levels of hydrogen fractionation in paleoprecipitation.

Samples of tuff will be brought to the University of Idaho to be prepared

and analyzed under the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Cassel, who has

performed a published isotopic study of similar nature. Rock samples will

be crushed and sieved. Volcanic glass will be separated using SEM

(scanning electron microscope), treated with HF (hydrofluoric acid), and

washed to remove any clay alteration before analysis. Heavy liquid

separations and isotopic analysis using a mass spectrometer will be

performed.

Illustration of hydrogen fractionation as precipitation is moved orographically as a result of the large relative

mass difference between hydrogen and deuterium. Image credit: Jeff Kelly, University of Oklahoma

Map showing sample localities with name of rock unit and age in millions of years (green pins) and estimated

paleo continental divide during Eocene/Oligocene time (red line, left). Image credit: Google Earth

Initial hydrogen isotope data for the study comes from previous research

in the northern Sierra Nevada (Cassel et al. 2009) and Rocky

Mountain/Great Plains region (Fan et al. 2014). These data will be

included in our map and as part of our regional analysis.

Preliminary questions:

• Will data from my sites in the Rocky Mountains be same/different as

those Fan et al. sampled at the same longitude? (Did they have similar

elevations?)

• Will the coastal Texas sites have data much different than the inland

sites? (Was there a significant elevation difference between them?)

Top left: Identifying a Badger Creek Tuff outcrop for collection in South Park, CO with Dr. Herb Meyer and Dr. Libby

Prueher; Top right: Examining Bonanza Tuff outcrop with Dr. Meyer in Saguache, CO; Bottom left: White River Ash

7, Douglas, WY; Bottom right: Overlooking the badlands in Douglass, WY with Dr. Kent Sundell pointing out white

ash layers of the White River formation.

Abstract

This paleoelevation study relies on hydrogen isotope ratios of meteoric

water (precipitation) trapped in volcanic glass samples of latest Eocene to

earliest Oligocene age from Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

The goal of this research is to make an isotopic map in order to investigate

the paleotopography of the Rocky Mountain region and uplift in the West.

Timeline of Project, 2014-2015

Graph showing hydrogen isotope data from studies of the ancestral Sierra Nevadas and end-Laramide Rockies with

longitude on the x-axis and deuterium on the y-axis. Below, dashed boxes show range in longitude of my samples,

representing future data that will be added to the graph post-isotopic analysis.

Curve showing the shift to cooler

climate at the Eocene/Oligocene

boundary.