Highs and Lows of the Rocky Mountains in the Middle to Late Eocene – #365papers – 2017 – 97

#365papers for April 7, 2017

Fan, Constensius, and Dettman, 2017, Prolonged high relief in the northern Cordilleran orogenic front during middle and late Eocene extension based on stable isotope paleoaltimetry: Earth and Plantery Science Letters, v. 457, p. 376-384.

What’s it about?

The Rocky Mountains have been around for a long, long time. This study focuses on a part of the Rockies that was still growing between about 46 to about 34 million years ago. Through the study of fossil soils and fossil snails, the authors show that the difference between the lowest basins and the highest mountain peaks was around 4 km – which is a lot!

Why does it matter?

This paper shows that once can use combined analysis of fossils and rocks to understand the development of ancient landscapes.

Why did I read this?

I think I picked this out because it dealt with isotopes from Eocene snails. I have a small collection of fossil snails from the Uinta Basin, and I wanted to know what I could do with them.