Week 1: Friday

Week 1: Friday

The Sevier fold-thrust belt and its foreland basin, the Cretaceous Interior Seaway

We discuss the tectonic drivers for and structural styles in the thin skinned fold-thrust belt. We compare and contrast Sevier tectonics with Laramide tectonics. We also discuss the geometry of and facies distribution in the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. In this context students continue to develop their observational skills and get practice identifying stratigraphic units. Students construct their first geologic map.

We end Friday with our first discussion about late Tertiary Basin-and-Range extensional tectonics. Basin- and-Range extension is an important structural component from Jackson Hole to the Field Station, and farther west.