Historical Geology Chapter Vocabulary
Chapters 16 and 17-Cenozoic
based upon Historical Geology-by Wicander and Monroe
 

Chapter 16  Cenozoic Geologic History
Chapter 17  Pleistocence and Holocene

N. America was the first continent to break away from Pangea (190 mya)
As N.America moved westward, Atlantic Ocean opened up.
On west coast, N. America was overriding the Pacific plate.
 

Laramide Orogeny-Overlaps Cretaceous and Paleocene..associated with copper deposits.
Formed broad folds in Tombstone area.  SEE FIG. 16.11
First deformation, then uplift
 

Fig. 16.10 sums up Cenozoic of N. America
 

Page 332-Columbia Plateau 200,000 cubic kilometers of volcanic materials.
Associated with the Yellowstone hot spot.
 

BASIN AND RANGE PROVINCE (tied to Basin and Range faulting..HERE in S. Arizona)
Still going on.
 

Colorado Plateau was uplifted from near sea level to 1 mile elevation in 10 million years.

Rio Grande Rift...goes up the center of Utah...Valles Caldera
 

Fig. 16.18...shows what happened to the East Pacific Rise ....beginning of the San Andreas fault.
 

Uplift of the Black Hills created source of sediment for the South Dakota badlands.
 

East coast-rejuvenated uplift of the Appalachians that had been worn down flat.
Fig. 16.22
 

Chapter 17-The Ice Ages

4 pulses: most recent: Wisconsin, Illinoian, Kansan, Nebraskan (oldest)
end of last ice age only 10,000 years ago
Ice ages changed base level of streams and rivers, speeding up erosion.

 

Super volcanic eruptions:  Yellowstone (6000,000 ya) 150,000 cubic kilometers
 PAGE 350-351                    Toba   (74,000 ya)  150,000 cubic kilometers
                                           Long Valley Caldera  (760,000 ya)  600 cubic kilometers

STUDY FIG. 17.6 to see fluctuations in ocean temperature during Cenozoic !!
 

Lake Missoula in western Montana and the resulting SCABLANDS in Montana and Idaho.