Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2xdlg Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-01T15:07:31.209Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tertiary vegetation, climate, and altitude of the Rio Grande depression, New Mexico–Colorado

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

Daniel I. Axelrod  and
Harry P. Bailey
Daniel I. Axelrod
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of California; Davis, California 95616
Harry P. Bailey
Affiliation:
Dept. of Earth Sciences, Univ. of California; Riverside, California 92502
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Late Eocene to middle Oligocene floras from the area of the present Rio Grande depression represent a time sequence from the upper part of mixed subtropical forest (Bernalillo flora), to an ecotone between broadleaved sclerophyll and mixed conifer forest (Red Rock Ranch flora), to subalpine conifer forest (Hillsboro and Hermosa floras). The implied difference in mean annual temperature of ~ 11°C suggests that altitude increased 2,000 m in 6–8 my. Construction of the Datil-Mogollon volcanic pile, averaging about 1,200 to 1,500 m thick, is thought to be largely responsible for the forest zonation, but regional doming accompanying volcanism may also be involved. The Oligocene subalpine conifer forests now occur in the piñon-juniper belt 900 and 1,200 m below the present subalpine zone, consistent with the subsidence that formed the Rio Grande rift beginning in the late Oligocene/early Miocene and continuing to the present. Later epeirogenic uplift of ~ 1200 m is implied by fossil plants in the Galisteo (~ 40 my bp), Creede (~ 27 my bp) and Tesuque (~ 14 my bp) Formations that border, or are in the rift.

Keywords

Rio Grande depressionEo-Oligocene floraspaleoaltitudepaleoclimateterrestrial lapse rate.
Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , Summer 1976 , pp. 235 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Literature Cited

Anonymous. 1974. Report No. 5, Report of the Working Group 4 Meeting: Reykjavik (July, 1973). Inter-Union Commission on Geodynamics. 116 pp.Google Scholar
Axelrod, D. I. 1965. A method of determining the altitudes of Tertiary floras. Paleobotanist. 14:144–171.Google Scholar
Axelrod, D. I. 1968. Tertiary floras and topographic history of the Snake River basin, Idaho. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 79:713–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bailey, H. P. 1960. A method of determining the warmth and temperateness of climate. Geografisker Annaler. 42:1–16.Google Scholar
Bailey, H. P. 1964. Toward a unified concept of the temperate climate. Geogr. Rev. 54:516–545.Google Scholar
Bailey, H. P. 1966. The mean annual range and standard deviation as measures of dispersion of temperature around the annual mean. Geogr. Ann. 48A:183–194.Google Scholar
Bailey, I. W. and Sinnott, E. W. 1916. The climatic distribution of certain types of angiosperm leaves. Am. J. Bot. 3:24–39.Google Scholar
Baker, B. H. and Wohlenberg, J. 1971. Structure and evolution of the Kenya rift valley. Nature. 229:538–542.Google Scholar
Baker, F. S. 1944. Mountain climates of the western United States. Ecol. Monogr. 14:223–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ball, O. M. 1931. A contribution to the paleobotany of the Eocene of Texas. Agric. and Mech. Coll. of Tex. Bull. 2:1–172.Google Scholar
Ball, O. M. 1939. A contribution to the paleobotany of the Eocene of Texas. II. Agric. and Mech. Coll. of Tex. Bull. 10:1–54.Google Scholar
Beloussov, V. V. 1969. Continental rifts. Am. Geophys. Union, Geophys. Monogr. 13:539–544.Google Scholar
Berry, E. W. 1916. The Catahoula Sandstone and its flora. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 98-M:227–251.Google Scholar
Berry, E. W. 1919. An Eocene flora from trans-Pecos Texas. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 125-A:1–9.Google Scholar
Berry, E. W. 1924. Middle and Upper Eocene floras of North America. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 92:1–206.Google Scholar
Berry, E. W. 1937. Tertiary floras of eastern North America. Bot. Rev. 3:31–46.Google Scholar
Blüthgen, J. 1966. Allgemeine Klimageographie. 720 pp. Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R. W. 1962. Paleocene flora of the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. U. S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 375:1–119.Google Scholar
Burke, K. and Whitman, A. J. 1973. Uplift, rifting and the breakup of Africa. pp. 735–755. In: Tarling, D. H. and Runcorn, S. K., eds. Implications of Continental Drift to the Earth Sciences Vol. 2. Academic Press; New York and London.Google Scholar
Chapin, C. E. and Seager, W. R. 1975. Evolution of the Rio Grande rift in the Socorro and Las Cruces areas. New Mex. Geol. Soc. Guideb. 26:297–321.Google Scholar
Crowe, P. R. 1971. Concepts in Climatology. 589 pp. St. Martin's Press; New York.Google Scholar
Crowell, J. C. and Frakes, L. A. 1970. Phanerozoic glaciation and the causes of ice ages. Am. J. Sci. 268:193–224.Google Scholar
Curtis, B. F., ed. 1975. Cenozoic history of the southern Rocky Mountains. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 144:1–279.Google Scholar
Eifler, G. K. Jr. 1951. Geology of the Barilla Mountains, Texas. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 62:339–354.Google Scholar
Elston, W. E., Damon, P. E., Corey, P. J., Rhodes, R. C., Smith, E. I., and Bikerman, M. 1973. Tertiary volcanic rocks, Mogollon-Datil Province, New Mexico, and surrounding region: K/Ar dates, patterns of eruption, and periods of mineralization. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 84:2259–2274.Google Scholar
Elston, W. E., Seager, W. R., and Clemons, R. E. 1975. Emory cauldron, Black Range, New Mexico: a source of the Kneeling Nun Tuff. New Mex. Geol. Soc. Guideb. 26:283–292.Google Scholar
Epis, R. C. and Chapin, C. E. 1975. Geomorrhic and tectonic implications of the post-Laramide, Late Eocene erosion surface in the southern Rocky Mountains. Geol. Soc. Mem. 144:45–74.Google Scholar
Farkas, S. E. 1969. Geology of the southern San Mateo Mountains, Soccoro and Sierra Counties, New Mexico. Univ. New Mex., Albuquerque. Ph.D. Thesis.Google Scholar
Galusha, T. and Blick, J. C. 1971. Stratigraphy of the Santa Fe group, New Mexico. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 144:1–128.Google Scholar
Geiger, R. 1965. The Climate Near the Ground. Revised ed.611 pp. Harvard Univ. Press; Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Grose, T. L. 1972. Tectonics. pp. 35–45. In: Mallory, W. W., ed. Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region. Rocky Mt. Assoc. of Geol. Denver, Colo.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B., Smith, A. G., and Wilcock, B., eds. 1964. The Phanerozoic time scale—A symposium dedicated to Professor Arthur Holmes. 458 pp. Geol. Soc. London Q. J. Suppl. 120s.Google Scholar
Hedlund, D. C. 1975. Geologic map of the Hillsboro quadrangle, Sierra and Grant Counties, New Mexico. Description of map units. U.S. Geol. Surv. Open-file Rep. 75–108.Google Scholar
Hess, M. 1972. Die klimatischen Höhenstufen in den Nord-und Südkarpaten. In: Conferinta de Meteorologia Carpitalor, 5th, Bucharest, Sept. 14–20, 1971.Google Scholar
King, P. B. 1959. The Evolution of North Ameriica. 189 pp. Princeton Univ. Press; Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Knowlton, F. H. 1916. Flora of the Fruitland and Kirtland Formations. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 98-S:327–353.Google Scholar
Knowlton, F. H. 1924. Flora of the Animas Formation. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 134:71–114.Google Scholar
Lee, W. T. and Knowlton, F. H. 1917. Geology and paleontology of the Raton Mesa and other regions in Colorado and New Mexico. U.S. Prof. Pap. 101:1–450.Google Scholar
Leopold, E. B. and MacGinitie, H. D. 1972. Development and affinities of Tertiary floras in the Rocky Mountains. pp. 147–200. In: Graham, A., ed. Florisics and Paleofloristics of Asia and Eastern North America, Elsevier Publ. Co; Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Lipman, P. W. and Mehnert, H. H. 1975. Late Cenozoic basaltic volcanism and development of the Rio Grande depression in the southern Rocky Mountains. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 144:119–279.Google Scholar
McAnulty, W. N. 1955. Geology of the Cathedral Mountain quadrange, Brewster County, Texas. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 66:531–578.Google Scholar
MacGinitie, H. D. 1953. Fossil plants of the Florissant beds, Colorado. Carnegie Inst. Wash. Publ. 599:1–188.Google Scholar
MacGinitie, H. D. 1962. The Kilgore flora, a Late Miocene flora from northern Nebraska. Univ. Calif. Publ. Geol. Sci. 35:67–158.Google Scholar
Mallory, W. W., ed. 1972. Geologic Atlas of the Rocky Mountain Region. Rocky Mt. Assoc. of Geol. Denver, Colo.Google Scholar
Miller, A. and Thompson, J. C. 1975. Elements of Meteorology. 2nd ed.362 pp. Charles E. Merrill Publ. Co.; Columbus, Ohio.Google Scholar
Miller, D. H. 1956. The influence of open pine forest on daytime temperature in the Sierra Nevada. Geogr. Rev. 46:209–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, D. F. and McDowell, V. W. 1973. K-Ar geochronology and eruptive history of Oligocene volcanic rocks, Davis Mountains, Trans-Pecos Texas. Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. with Program. 5:764–765.Google Scholar
Ramberg, I. B. and Smithson, S. B. 1975. Gridded fault patterns in a late Cenozoic and a Paleozoic continental rift. Geology. 3:201–205.Google Scholar
Rommer, R. J. and Fairbridge, R. W. 1967. Lapse Rate. pp. 527–530. In: Fairbridge, R. W., ed. The Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences and Astrogeology. Vol. 2. Reinhold Publ. Co.; New York, Amsterdam, London.Google Scholar
Rzedowski, J. 1966. Vegetacion del estado de San Luis Potosi. Contrib. del Instit. de Investig. de Zonas Deserticas, Univ. Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, No. 20:1–291.Google Scholar
Scott, G. R. 1975. Cenozoic surfaces and deposits in the southern Rocky Mountains. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 144:277–248.Google Scholar
Seager, W. B., Clemons, R. E., and Callender, J. F., eds. 1975. Guidebook of the Las Cruces Country. 316 pp. New Mex. Geol. Soc. 26th Field Conf.Google Scholar
Smith, E. I. and Rhodes, R. C. 1974. Squirrel Springs Volcano-tectonic depression: a buried cauldron in southwestern New Mexico. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 85:1865–1868.Google Scholar
Smith, K. 1975. Principles of Applied Climatology. 233 pp. John Wiley and Sons; N.Y.Google Scholar
Steven, T. A., Mehnert, H. H., and Obradovich, J. D. 1967. Age of volcanic activity in the San Juan Mountains, Colorado. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 575-D, D47–D55.Google Scholar
Taylor, R. B. 1975. Neogene tectonism in south-central Colorado. Geol. Soc. Am. Mem. 144:211–226.Google Scholar
U.S. Dept. Commerce, Weather Bur. 1964–65. Climatic Summary of the U.S., Supplement for 1951 through 1960 (separate publ. for each state).Google Scholar
Wang, Chi-Wu. 1961. The Forests of China, with a Survey of Grassland and Desert Vegetation. 313 pp. Maria Moors Cabot Found. Publ. 5. Harvard Univ.; Cambridge, Mass.Google Scholar
Wernstedt, F. L. 1972. World Climatic Data. 522 pp. Climatic Data Press; Lemont, Pa.Google Scholar
Wilson, J. A. 1974. Vertebrate biostratigraphy of Trans-Pecos Texas. pp. 158–166. In: The Geologic Framework of the Chihuahua Tectonic Belt. West Tex. Geol. Soc. and Univ. Tex., Austin.Google Scholar