Paleogeography of the Southwestern United States

The images were prepared by placing various stratigraphic, tectonic, and sedimentologic data on a base map, plotting land vs. sea over this data, and then adding more detailed landforms such as mountains, shelf edges, rivers, arc-trench systems, and lowlands. The data was then painted in Photoshop 5.5. Climatic data is also added as tones of browns and reds for arid and greens for humid.

The database for the images consists of many papers published on the geology of SW NAM. Dr. Blakey's work is incorporated onto the Colorado Plateau portion of the maps.

Plate patterns are from PGIS MAC, a plate-tectonic computer program by the Paleomap Project, "scotese.com/Default.htm". Major sources of data are listed below: - Geology of North America, vol G3; GSA DNAG Series, Burchfiel et al, 1992: Poole et al; E. L. Miller et al; Saleeby et al; Cowan and Bruhn; D. M. Miller et al - Ingersoll and Schweickert, 1986, Tectonics, vol 5, p. 901-912 - Pacific Coast Paleogeography Syp 1 (Pacific Sect SEPM), Stewart et al, 1977: Ross; Poole et al; Poole and Sandberg; Rich; Stevens - Riggs and Blakey, 1993, in Dunne and McDougall, Mz Paleogeography Western US (Pacific Sect SEPM) - Blakey, R.C., 1994, Paleogeographic and tectonic controls on some Lower and Middle Jurassic erg deposits, Colorado Plateau, in Caputo, M.V., Peterson, J.A., and Franczyk, K.J., (eds.), Mesozoic systems of the Rocky Mountain region, USA: Rocky Mountain Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Special Publication, p. 273-298. - Blakey, R. C., 1996, Permian eolian deposits, sequences, and sequence boundaries, Colorado Plateau, in Longman M, W. and Sonnenfeld, M. D. (eds), Paleozoic systems of the Rocky Mountain Region: Rocky Mountain Section SEPM, p. 405-426. - Blakey, R. C., Havholm, K. G., and Jones, L.S., 1996, Stratigraphic analysis of eolian interactions with marine and fluvial deposits, Middle Jurassic Page Sandstone and Carmel Formation, Colorado Plateau, U.S.A.: Journal of Sedimentary Research, V. 66, p. 324-342.