T96 35th Annual Undergraduate Research Exhibition (Posters)

Monday, 16 October 2023
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
Hall B

OAE2 AND THE EASTERN EXTENT OF THE WESTERN INTERIOR SEAWAY IN IOWA

Paper number: T96-44
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 5:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

The Western Interior Seaway (WIS) expanded through much of west-central North America during the Cretaceous. The majority of research on the WIS has been conducted along the axis of the basin, or on the western margin proximal to orogenic events and radioisotopically dateable volcanic materials. By comparison, only a handful of studies have focused on the eastern margin of the WIS and the true geographic extent of the seaway remains a matter of debate.

Here, we produced high-resolution carbonate carbon isotope chemostratigraphy from a core drilled in Sioux County, Iowa, that includes Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) in clearly marine, carbonate-dominated strata from western Iowa. Additional cores in Iowa also preserve the Greenhorn Formation in marine strata and demonstrate that the WIS extended at least well into central Iowa during the maximum transgression during the Late Cretaceous.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 55, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2023AM-395599

© Copyright 2023 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.