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We used the single-crystal sanidine laser fusion 40Ar/39Ar method to date five samples of volcanic rocks from the northern (Chukotka) part of the Cretaceous Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanic belt (northeastern Eurasia). Ages of four samples from lowermost stratigraphic units range from 87.94 to 87.08 Ma, and one sample from the top of the section shows the age of 87.55 Ma. New results combined with previously published 40Ar/39Ar data indicate that volcanism within the northern part of the belt started in Coniacian time, at ca. 88 Ma, and was very short-lived (ca. 1-6 m.yr.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep-time thermochronology by the zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe) method is an emerging field of study with promise for constraining Precambrian rock thermal and exhumation histories. The Grand Canyon provides an opportunity to further explore this method because excellent geologic constraints can be integrated with multiple thermochronometers to address important questions about the spatial variability of basement erosion below the sub-Cambrian Great Unconformity composite erosional surface. In this study, we synthesize new ZHe results (n = 26) and published (n = 77) ZHe data with new Kfeldspar 40Ar/39Ar data and models (n = 4) from Precambrian basement rocks of the Grand Canyon, USA. We use HeFTy and QTQt thermal history modeling to evaluate the ability of the individual ZHe and Kfeldspar 40Ar/39Ar thermochronometric data sets to resolve Precambrian thermal histories and compare those results with jointly modeled data using the QTQt software. We also compare Precambrian basement thermal histories of the eastern and western Grand Canyon, where the eastern Grand Canyon has ~4 km of Grand Canyon Supergroup strata deposited and preserved, and the western Grand Canyon, where the Supergroup was either never deposited or not preserved. In all locations, models constrained only by ZHe data have limited resolving power for the past ~600 m.y., compared to models that combine K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar and ZHe data, which extends the recorded history into the Mesoproterozoic. Our model results suggest that two regional basement unroofing events occurred. A ca. 1350-1250 Ma cooling event is interpreted to record basement exhumation from depths of ~10 km, and a second cooling episode (~200-100 °C total) records exhumation from a depth of ~3 km to 7 km to near-surface conditions between ca. 600 Ma and 500 Ma. Easternmost Grand Canyon models suggest that the preserved maximum ~4 km thickness of the Grand Canyon Supergroup (with burial heating at ~100 °C) approximates the total original Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic stratal thickness. Whether these Supergroup rocks were present and then eroded in the western Grand Canyon, as suggested by regional geologic studies, or were never deposited is not constrained by thermochronological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents argon-argon dating results of Mount Erebus in Antarctica. Identification of rock types comprising the mountain; Lava dating results; Chemicals and minerals separated during dating.

The area now occupied by the Great Basin, western USA, contained paleo-fluvial systems that predated the modern-day endorheic (closed) basins. The areal extent of these paleo-fluvial systems within the southwestern Great Basin is known mainly from isolated remnants preserved in the modern mountain ranges. We document the age, extent, and tectonic disruption of Mio-Pliocene fluvial systems of the southwestern Great Basin. Synthesis of new field observations, geochemistry, and geochronology with existing studies defines two latest Miocene to Pliocene east-southeast flowing drainages that predated the modern endorheic basins. The drainage network was ultimately fragmented in Pliocene time (ca. 3.5-4 Ma). Fragmentation of the drainage network led to lake formation, drying of lakes, and the formation of isolated springs. The rapid environmental changes initiated by faulting and volcanism isolated previously interbreeding populations of spring-dwelling taxa and have caused divergent evolution since Pliocene time. Modern endemism within the region's springs is thus a direct consequence of intraplate tectonism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents a multi-stage incision and denudation history for the Little Colorado River (LCR) region of the southwestern Colorado Plateau over the past 70 Ma. The first two pulses of denudation are documented by thermochronologic data. Differential Laramide cooling of samples on the Mogollon Rim suggests carving of 70-30 Ma paleotopography by N- and E-flowing rivers whose pathways were partly controlled by strike valleys at the base of retreating Cretaceous cliffs. A second pulse of denudation is documented by apatite (U-Th)/He dates and thermal history models that indicate a broad LCR paleovalley was incised 25-15 Ma by an LCR paleoriver that flowed northwest and carved an East Kaibab paleovalley across the Kaibab uplift. Lacustrine strata of the lower Bidahochi Formation were deposited 16-14 Ma in the LCR paleovalley in a closed basin playa or marsh with a valley center near the modern LCR. There is a hiatus in the depositional record in the LCR valley from 12 to 8 Ma followed by aggradation of the 8-6 Ma fluvial upper Bidahochi Formation. Interlayered 8-6 Ma maar basalts that interacted with groundwater mark local base level for upper Bidahochi fluvial deposits; this was also a time of increased groundwater flow to Hualapai Limestone at the western edge of the Colorado Plateau. The paleo-base level in the central LCR valley remained stable (~1900 m modern elevation) from 16 to 6 Ma. The third pulse of regional incision and denudation, most recent and ongoing, started after integration of the Colorado River (CR) through Grand Canyon. Thermochronology from Marble Canyon indicates that early CR integration took place across the Vermillion Cliffs at Lees Ferry after 6 Ma. The elevation of the paleoconfluence between the LCR and CR at 5-6 Ma is poorly constrained, but earliest CR integration is hypothesized to have reoccupied the East Kaibab paleocanyon. In the upper LCR drainage, topographically inverted basalt mesas have elevations and K-Ar dates indicating a transition from aggradation to incision ca. 6 Ma followed by semi-steady incision of 20-40 m/Ma. In the lower LCR, incision accelerated to 120-170 m/Ma after 2 Ma as indicated by 40Ar/39Ar dating of basalt, ash-fall, and detrital sanidine. A 1.993 ± 0.002 Ma sanidine age for a tuff in the White Mesa alluvium provides a breakthroughfor LCR and CR incision studies. Post-2 Ma differential incision magnitudes (and rates) in the lower LCR and at the LCR-CR confluence were 280-320 m (140-160 m/Ma), about three times greater than the 40-80 m (20-40 m/Ma) in the LCR headwaters. The proposed mechanisms driving overall post-6 Ma differential incision of the LCR involve headwater uplift associated with the Hopi Buttes and Springerville volcanic fields plus base-level fall caused by CR integration to the Gulf of California. A proposed mechanism to explain the accelerated post-2 Ma differential incision in the central and lower LCR valley, but not in the headwaters, involves mantle-driven epeirogenic uplift due to NE-migrating volcanism associated with the San Francisco volcanic field. Tectonically driven differential surface uplift mechanisms were likely amplified by changes toward more erosive climate at ca. 6 Ma and ca. 2 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The causal mechanisms for the onset and patterns of post-Miocene erosion of the western Great Plains remain the subject of an enthusiastic debate concerning the roles of climatically modulated geomorphic parameters and tectonic rock uplift as drivers of long-term erosion. This study distinguishes between these drivers on the plains of New Mexico and Colorado, where post-Miocene erosion and late Cenozoic volcanism of the Jemez lineament have produced distinctive modern landscapes characterized by deep bedrock canyons and inverted, basalt-capped mesas. The 40Ar/39Ar ages of basalt-capped paleosurfaces define an episodic eruption history in the Raton-Clayton and Ocate volcanic fields and help to quantify patterns, amounts, and rates of differential erosion. Several data sets indicate patterns of NE-trending geologic features that require explanation, including: (1) crude volcanic "belts" of similar age, (2) parallel NE-oriented erosional escarpments retreating toward the NW, (3) differential denudation rates increasing systematically NW from a NE-trending hinge line of "low to no" erosion on the Great Plains, (4) a NEtrending zone of broad (50-100 km) convexities in stream profiles identified by an analysis of strath terraces and channel steepness (ksn), (5) reorganization of stream networks that took advantage of an apparent relative base-level fall in the SE, and (6) an ∼150-km-long, 40Ar/39Ar-dated composite paleo surface that has been tilted 64 milli degrees/Ma since 3.4 Ma. Our synthesis of new 40Ar/39Ar geochronology with new calculations of regional surface denudation, channel steepness, and tilt rates shows that post-Miocene patterns of landscape evolution are best interpreted as related to dynamic uplift along the NE-trending Jemez lineament, with second-order impacts from climate-driven geomorphic variables. We interpret this dynamic uplift to be ultimately due to changing mantle structure and buoyancy with associated crustal melt flux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sangiran (Solo Basin, Central Java, Indonesia) is the singular Homo erectus fossil locale for Early Pleistocene Southeast Asia. Sangiran is the source for more than 80 specimens in deposits with (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages of 1.51-0.9 Ma. In April 2001, we recovered a H. erectus left maxilla fragment (preserving P(3)- M(2)) from the Sangiran site of Bapang. The find spot lies at the base of the Bapang Formation type section in cemented gravelly sands traditionally called the Grenzbank Zone. Two meters above the find spot, pumice hornblende has produced an (40)Ar/(39)Ar age of 1.51 ± 0.08 Ma. With the addition of Bpg 2001.04, Sangiran now has five H. erectus maxillae. We compare the new maxilla with homologs representing Sangiran H. erectus, Zhoukoudian H. erectus, Western H. erectus (pooled African and Georgian specimens), and Homo habilis. Greatest contrast is with the Zhoukoudian maxillae, which appear to exhibit a derived pattern of premolar-molar relationships compared to Western and Sangiran H. erectus. The dental patterns suggest distinct demic origins for the earlier H. erectus populations represented at Sangiran and the later population represented at Zhoukoudian. These two east Asian populations, separated by 5000 km and nearly 800 k.yr., may have had separate origins from different African/west Eurasian populations., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Sangiran dome is the primary stratigraphic window for the Plio-Pleistocene deposits of the Solo basin of Central Jawa. The dome has yielded nearly 80 Homo erectus fossils, around 50 of which have known findspots. With a hornblende (40)Ar/(39)Ar plateau age of 1.66 +/- 0.04 mega-annum (Ma) reportedly associated with two fossils [Swisher, C.C., III, Curtis, G. H., Jacob, T., Getty, A. G., Suprijo, A. & Widiasmoro (1994) Science 263, 1118-1121), the dome offers evidence that early Homo dispersed to East Asia during the earliest Pleistocene. Unfortunately, the hornblende pumice was sampled at Jokotingkir Hill, a central locality with complex lithostratigraphic deformation and dubious specimen provenance. To address the antiquity of Sangiran H. erectus more systematically, we investigate the sedimentary framework and hornblende (40)Ar/(39)Ar age for volcanic deposits in the southeast quadrant of the dome. In this sector, Bapang (Kabuh) sediments have their largest exposure, least deformation, and most complete tephrostratigraphy. At five locations, we identify a sequence of sedimentary cycles in which H. erectus fossils are associated with epiclastic pumice. From sampled pumice, eight hornblende separates produced (40)Ar/(39)Ar plateau ages ranging from 1.51 +/- 0.08 Ma at the Bapang/Sangiran Formation contact, to 1.02 +/- 0.06 Ma, at a point above the hominin-bearing sequence. The chronological sequence of (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages follows stratigraphic order across the southeast quadrant. An intermediate level yielding four nearly complete crania has an age of about 1.25 Ma.

Isotopic age determinations (40Ar/39Ar) and associated magnetic polarity stratigraphy for Casamayoran age fauna at Gran Barranca (Chubut, Argentina) indicate that the Barrancan "subage" of the Casamayoran South American Land Mammal "Age" is late Eocene, 18 to 20 million years younger than hitherto supposed. Correlations of the radioisotopically dated magnetic polarity stratigraphy at Gran Barranca with the Cenozoic geomagnetic polarity time scale indicate that Barrancan faunal levels at the Gran Barranca date to within the magnetochronologic interval from 35.34 to 36.62 megannums (Ma) or 35. 69 to 37.60 Ma. This age revision constrains the timing of an adaptive shift in mammalian herbivores toward hypsodonty. Specifically, the appearance of large numbers of hypsodont taxa in South America occurred sometime between 36 and 32 Ma (late Eocene-early Oligocene), at approximately the same time that other biotic and geologic evidence has suggested the Southern high latitudes experienced climatic cooling associated with Antarctic glaciation.