Chapter 23

Mesozoic Earth History

Mostly Physical Events
Introduction
• The Mesozoic began 248 mya and
ended 65 mya
– Three periods - Triassic, Jurassic,
Cretaceous
– breakup of Pangaea was the major
geologic event
– tectonism and sedimentation are used
to classify the Mesozoic in N. America
– Note the overlap in three styles of
Cordilleran Orogeny
Tectonism and Sedimentation

Seaway drains
1. The Breakup of Pangaea
• The movement of continents during
and after the breakup affected global
climate and oceanic regimes as well
as that of individual continents
– ocean basins were created or closed
before new mountain ranges were built
– sea-level changes
 Pangaea - Early Triassic
Pole to pole and
straddled equator
Panthalassa Ocean
E. coast indent is
“Tethys Sea”
northern coast was
the southern
Tethys Panthalassa
coastline of EurAsia
Southern coast N
Panthalassa
coasts of Ind
Arabia, Australia
Many mountain
ranges;
topography controls
climates &
sedimentation
 Late Triassic – Rifting E Orogeny W
We will consider mostly North America for this lecture

Orogeny

Rift

Better look at Tethys

Pangaea – Early Jurassic
E Jurassic – Atlantic Rift Shallow

Note offshore Terranes

 E Jurassic – Another Look

Orogeny

New Sea

Wrangellia
Pangaea – Jurassic
Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous

Atlantic Connected with Tethys

Africa rotation closes Tethys
 Tethys

Atlantic
Late K – Epeiric Sea until 70 mya
 Mesozoic Global Climates
• Carbonates (for example the stable isotope
index C)reveal large concentrations of
carbon dioxide present in the Mesozoic
atmosphere.
• This suggests a greenhouse climate.
• No glaciers, no coal, so CO2 abundant.
• Greenhouse gasses pass sunlight which hits
the land and sea. Re-radiate heat (IR)
• Greenhouse gasses hold the heat, not lost to
space as quickly. Warmer equilibrium.
 Global Climates in the Mesozoic
 Mesozoic climates were
more equable than
today, lacked the strong
north-south climate Cycads

zones.
 Mesozoic plant fossils
indicate subtropical
conditions in high
latitude locations
 Seasonal differences
were monsoonal
 Next: Mesozoic Tectonics NA
• Cretaceous : global rise in sea level
until 75 -70 mya, vast MOR
• Jurassic:
–Atlantic opens E,
–began building the Cordillera W,
– Gulf of Mexico begins to form and
experiences evaporite deposition
• Late Triassic: Begin rifting in East
 Late Triassic: Rifting opens the Atlantic

• The Newark Supergroup documents the

rifting of Pangaea to form the Atlantic
• Early Triassic saw coarse detrital
sediments deposited from the erosion of
Appalachian highlands
– fault-block basins developed as N. America
separated from Africa and filled with
nonmarine sediment plus dikes and sills
– eroded to a flat plain by the Cretaceous
Mesozoic rift basins

Kean University
 Structure of the Newark basin

Note how faulting follows sedimentation

 Lake cycles, East Berlin formation

Alternating wet and dry climate

due 21000y Milankovitch cycle of tilt axis wobble
Also 100,000 year cycles due to orbit eccentricity
E. Jurassic Gulf Coast Evaporites

200 mya is just outside our door

Restricted Basin
Lots of evaporation
 Gulf Coastal Region
• First, as continents separate, restricted basin, thick evaporites formed in
the Gulf
• Normal marine deposition returned to the Gulf by Late Jurassic, with
transgressions and regressions
– thousand of meters of sediments were deposited

Does this cross-section show

a transgression or regression?
Gulf Coast continental margin

Rising Salt Domes

http://www-erl.mit.edu/~jfrank/pubBioPage/work/lu06_timeReversal.pdf
Discussion: Petroleum exploration around salt domes
 Next: Western North America
Tectonics

• Building the western margin of North

America and the Cordillera
 Western Region
• Cordilleran Orogeny
– Laramide - built the present
day Rockies K-Tertiary
– Sevier – J-K thrust faulting to
the east
– Nevadan - Jurassic batholith
intrusion in the Sierra
Nevada and elsewhere on
the western edge
 Displaced terranes – Western Cordillera

These terranes overlap in age but have

different rock types, paleolatitudes and
fossils. However, we can deduce when
they accreted from this map.

Arrange the following terranes by

oldest to youngest time of accretion
onto the west coast: Alexander, Cache
Creek, Chugach, Stikine, Taku, Tracy
Arm, Wrangellia,
Details, but you don't need them to do this problem
 Western Margin during Orogens
North America drifting west due opening of Atlantic

Westward subduction zones

stopped when continental
crust arrived.
Remember the late Permian Sonoma?
It continued into the Early Triassic
Late Triassic on, eastward
subduction of Farallon oceanic
crust continues Cordilleran Orogeny
Late J Early K Nevadan Batholiths

Sonomia docking Late Pm –Early Triassic Nevadan Orogeny east subduction Farallon
Sierra Nevada Mountains
Nevadan Orogeny:
Subduction formed
batholith cores of
continental
volcanic arc once
as tall as Andes
 Mesozoic orogenic events

Thin-skinned tectonics

Cretaceous Sevier Wrangellia docking? K-T Laramide Continental Overide

Later moved by transform fault? Bouyant Subduction
Buoyant Subduction Laramide Orogeny

Vertical block uplift

Normal, thin-skinned
Now we understand weird looking Tetons

Approaching Continent pushes

accretionary wedge sediments
into forearc sediments
Sevier thin-skinned deformation

Using the layer colored sky blue, look at the faults.

Is the hanging wall mostly up or down? What kind of faults
are these?
 Sevier thrust belt
Precambrian and/or Paleozoic Sediments
thrust over younger Mesozoic rocks
let’s look down here
 Look in detail at western plate margin

This area has much simpler geology

Franciscan Range, Great Valley Group, and Sierra Nevada Volcanics and Plutonics
Next: Mesozoic Sedimentation on the Craton

• Cretaceous
– extensive marine
deposition, thin to the
east
• Jurassic
– clean cross-bedded
sandstones
– marine sediments in
Foreland Basin! the Sundance Sea
• Triassic
– shallow-water marine
clastics
– red beds
North America - Triassic
Marine deposition limited to western margin

Volcanic Arc sends frequent ashfalls eastward Newark

Pollen
similar
Chinle
Note Equator
 Late Triassic Chinle Fm.
Mudstones and Sandstones of stream deposits, volcanic ash,
with fossil trees (the Petrified Forest!)
Texas, New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and western Colorado
Pollen studies show that the Chinle is the same age as early Newark Supergroup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrified_Forest_National_Park
Triassic caliche paleosol- Nova Sc.
Source of carbonates for 13C measurements. Results suggest high CO2 in atmosphere

Similar in Newark Supergroup

 North America - Jurassic period

Dry region
in the rain
shadow of the
beginning
Nevadans Zuni Transgression
Sedimentation

Seaway drains

Evaporites
 Jurassic Eolian sandstone

Navaho SS, S. Utah

 http://rainbow.ldgo.columbia.edu/courses/v1001/morisson14.html

Jurassic Morrison Formation

Paul Olsen's Dinosaur Course

Stream Deposits, huge sauropods Apatosaurus, also Stegosaurus, carnivore Allosaurus

 Fossils of Jurassic dinosaurs

Morrison Formation sandstones, DNM, Vernal, Utah

Late Cretaceous really big epeiric sea

http://www.blm.gov/ak/ak930/cultrl.html
Dinosaurs on the North Slope
Scroll down, open Alaska’s Jurassic Park

Land

Land
Did the Sevier Orogenic Belt form before or after the Navaho SS, lower left?
Did the Sevier Orogenic Belt form before or after the Fox Hills SS, upper right?

Western Interior Seaway Regression

Western Interior Seaway Transgression

 Dakota Sandstone

Early Cretaceous shallow sea sediments gently folded by Sevier Orogeny.

Then, at 75-70 my, Regression
In Montana the sequence is similar. Above the marine Pierre Shale (ammonites)
and Claggett Sandstone (nearshore and beach) is the Late Cretaceous Judith
River Fm. containing dinosaur bones and conifers in stream deposits. Is this
sequence a transgression or a regression?

Western Interior Seaway Regression

Western Interior Seaway Transgression

75 mya Regression
Mesa Verde Sandstones over Mancos Shale: Coarsening Upward
K-T Boundary
End of Mesozoic Geology