The Bouse Formation, a controversial Neogene archive of the evolving Colorado River: a scientific drilling workshop report (28 February–3 March 2019 – BlueWater Resort & Casino, Parker, AZ, USA)

Abstract. Neogene deposits of the lower Colorado River valley, especially the Miocene(?) and early Pliocene Bouse Formation, have been the focus of intense debate regarding the early paleoenvironmental history of this important continental-scale river system in southwestern North America and its integration with the proto-Gulf of California. Fine-grained units within these Neogene deposits also hold a promising archive of Pliocene paleoclimate history for this part of the world. Because the depocenter deposits of the Bouse Formation and the deposits that overlie and underlie it are poorly exposed and highly weathered, the formation is ripe for study through collection of drill cores. A workshop was held 28 February–3 March 2019 in Parker, AZ, USA, to discuss how scientific drilling might be employed to help resolve the Bouse controversies and improve our understanding of paleoclimate history in the region.

• Publication year

  2019

• Venue

  Scientific Drilling

• Publication date

  2019-12-02

• Fields of study

  Environmental Science, Geology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.5194/sd-26-59-2019
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Evidence of a lacustrine origin for laminated marl of the Pliocene Bouse Formation, Milpitas Wash, Blythe Basin, lower Colorado River valley

  2019cited by this paper
• Geologic Map of the Blythe 7.5' Quadrangle, La Paz County, Arizona and Riverside County, California

  2019cited by this paper
• Freshwater plumes and brackish lakes: Integrated microfossil and O-C-Sr isotopic evidence from the late Miocene and early Pliocene Bouse Formation (California-Arizona) supports a lake overflow model for the integration of the lower Colorado River corridor

  2018cited by this paper
• Punctuated Sediment Discharge during Early Pliocene Birth of the Colorado River: Evidence from Regional Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, and Paleontology

  2018cited by this paper
• The Colorado River and its deposits downstream from Grand Canyon in Arizona, California, and Nevada

  2018cited by this paper
• Distinguishing brackish lacustrine from brackish marine deposits in the stratigraphic record: A case study from the late Miocene and early Pliocene Bouse Formation, Arizona and California, USA

  2018cited by this paper
• Deciphering the State of the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene Equatorial Pacific

  2018cited by this paper
• Tidal rhythmites in the southern Bouse Formation as evidence for post-Miocene uplift of the lower Colorado River corridor

  2017cited by this paper
• DID A CATASTROPHIC LAKE SPILLOVER INTEGRATE THE LATE MIOCENE EARLY PLIOCENE COLORADO RIVER AND THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA?: MICROFAUNAL AND STABLE ISOTOPE EVIDENCE FROM BLYTHE BASIN, CALIFORNIA-ARIZONA, USA

  2016cited by this paper
• A SEQUENCE-STRATIGRAPHIC INTERPRETATION OF THE UPPER BIOCLASTIC UNIT CAPPING THE BOUSE FORMATION IN THE CIBOLA AREA, ARIZONA AND CALIFORNIA

  2016cited by this paper
• Importance of groundwater in propagating downward integration of the 6–5 Ma Colorado River system: Geochemistry of springs, travertines, and lacustrine carbonates of the Grand Canyon region over the past 12 Ma

  2015cited by this paper
• River-evolution and tectonic implications of a major Pliocene aggradation on the lower Colorado River: The Bullhead Alluvium

  2015cited by this paper
• Evidence for a marine incursion along the lower Colorado River corridor

  2014cited by this paper
• Paleogeomorphology and evolution of the early Colorado River inferred from relationships in Mohave and Cottonwood valleys, Arizona, California, and Nevada

  2014cited by this paper
• Stratigraphy and depositional environments of the upper pleistocene chemehuevi formation along the lower Colorado River

  2011cited by this paper
• A late Miocene–early Pliocene chain of lakes fed by the Colorado River: Evidence from Sr, C, and O isotopes of the Bouse Formation and related units between Grand Canyon and the Gulf of California

  2010cited by this paper
• Sr isotope evidence for a lacustrine origin for the upper Miocene to Pliocene Bouse Formation, lower Colorado River trough, and implications for timing of Colorado Plateau uplift

  1997cited by this paper
• The Bouse Formation and bracketing units, southeastern California and western Arizona: Implications for the evolution of the proto-Gulf of California and the lower Colorado River

  1990cited by this paper
• Geohydrology of the Yuma area, Arizona and California

  1973cited by this paper

• Tectonostratigraphic record of late Miocene–early Pliocene transtensional faulting in the Eastern California shear zone, southwestern USA

  2021cites this paper
• Transboundary Aquifers between Baja California, Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico, and California, Arizona and New Mexico, United States: Identification and Categorization

  2021cites this paper