Nr. Riggs et al., DETRITAL ZIRCON LINK BETWEEN HEADWATERS AND TERMINUS OF THE UPPER TRIASSIC CHINLE-DOCKUM PALEORIVER SYSTEM, Science, 273(5271), 1996, pp. 97-100
New detrital-zircon geochronologic data reveal that a through-going pa
leoriver connected Texas with Nevada in Late Triassic time. Sandstone
from the Upper Triassic Santa Rosa Sandstone (Dockum Group) from north
western Texas contains a detrital zircon suite nearly identical to tha
t found in western Nevada in the Upper Triassic Osobb Formation (Auld
Lang Syne Group, correlative with the Chinle Formation). The Santa Ros
a Sandstone was derived in large part from the eroded Cambrian core of
the Amarillo-Wichita uplift, as evidenced by abundant zircons with ag
es of 515 to 525 million years. Other zircon grains in the sandstone a
re Permian, Devonian, Proterozoic, and Archean in age and, with the ex
ception of the Archean grain, are also matched by the population in th
e Nevada strata.