CONTRASTING PROCESSES OF DEPOSITION IN THE LATE CRETACEOUS PANTHER TONGUE SANDSTONE OF CENTRAL UTAH: THE ROLE OF AUTOGENIC VERSUS ALLOGENIC PROCESSES, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF HYPERPYCNAL FLOW

This study reexamines the Panther Tongue Sandstone Member of the Late Cretaceous Star Point Formation in central Utah to characterize its diverse deltaic depositional styles, and to explain what process or processes drove their development. Based on seventeen measured sections, supplemented by photomosaics and well logs, three facies associations are defined and each is interpreted to represent a distinct deltaic environment of deposition (EODs). A stratigraphic framework for these EODs is presented that shows the depositional style of Panther Tongue strata changes from north to south, as previously interpreted, but also from east to west. These results are then linked to published detrital zircon U-Pb geochronological and provenance data from Late Cretaceous strata within the study area that show multiple, long-lived transverse river systems flowed from highlands of the Sevier Fold and Thrust Belt to the Western Interior Seaway. Paired with the newfound internal complexity of deltaic Panther Tongue strata, this suggests that the temporal and spatial evolution of deltaic Panther Tongue EODs was autogenically controlled by geographically distinct transverse river systems and their resulting delta lobes. Additionally, the detrital zircon U-Pb signatures of Late Cretaceous Price River Canyon strata are interpreted to be consistent with the discharge of a river system that could produce relatively frequent hyperpycnal flows. Typical characteristics would have included short and steep river systems that have a significant sediment load, aligning with previous interpretations of hyperpycnite-dominated deposits in Panther Tongue outcrops. The rarity of such systems in the modern and ancient suggests Panther Tongue strata are relatively singular, and should not be used as a type example of deltaic deposits.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Geology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Kansas

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Jacks, Clayton Lee

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Blum, Michael

• Clinoform
• Delta
• Detrital Zircon
• Facies
• Panther Tongue Sandstone
• Sequence Stratigraphy

Language dc:language.iso

en

Dc Identifier Other

https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/32399780

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/37813