Society of Independent Professional
Earth Scientists

 Click here for the 2023 S.I.P.E.S. Dues Form - please use this form to update your contact information as well

Click here to pay your dues online

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Next Event:

November 16, 2023

Our Presenter:

Brude Trudgill

"Salt Tectonics in the Eagle Basin and its Implications for Laramide Deformation in Central Colorado"

All attendees MUST RSVP!

Please RSVP by 11:30 a.m. on November 13

Click here to RSVP

or

call 303-730-2967

When: Thursday, November 16, 2023, 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Where: Wynkoop Brewery - 1634 18th Street, Denver, CO 80202

Cost Structure:

• Members $25 (Presentation & Meal)
• Non-members $30 (Presentation & Meal)
• Walk-ins will no longer be allowed due to an issue with the Wynkoop.  Please pre-purchase a lunch to attend.  Sorry for the inconvenience!

Please feel free to share this information with any friends and colleagues who might be interested!

Mask requirements voluntary for vaccinated attendees.

Abstract:

Field mapping, measured stratigraphic sections, and restored cross-sections of the Eagle Valley Evaporite and overlying Late Pennsylvanian to Triassic aged strata indicate a long- lived phase of salt tectonics in the Eagle Basin, central Colorado. Diapiric salt structures represent formerly connected, polygonal salt walls flanked by deep, elongate minibasins. Previous work interpreted these structures to be the result of the Laramide Orogeny and younger tectonism; however, the proposed phase of salt-influenced deformation in the Eagle Basin suggests a new paradigm for the tectonic evolution of this region.
The late Paleozoic Eagle Basin formed as a flexural foreland basin, associated with the neighboring uplifts of the Ancestral Rocky Mountains. Cyclic flooding and desiccation of the Eagle Basin during Atokan-Desmoinesian time led to the deposition of a thick layered evaporite sequence containing cyclic deposits of halite, other salts, carbonates, and clastics of the Eagle Valley Evaporites.
Structural and stratigraphic analysis offers compelling evidence for long-term deformation compatible with salt tectonics prior to the Laramide Orogeny. The following features and interpretation support a prolonged salt tectonic history: (i) over-thickened, unconformity-bound strata contain abundant growth structures represent Permo-Triassic minibasins; (ii) linear structures cored by evaporite, in some places exposed at the surface, represent former diapiric salt walls that grew during Pennsylvanian through Triassic time between minibasins; and (iii) Laramide-age shortening resulted in basinal contraction and reactivation of secondary welds as thrust structures.

Bio:

Bruce Trudgill is a structural geologist in the Department of Geology and GE at the Colorado School of Mines, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses for 20 years. His research interests are focussed on structural controls on depositional systems and he has been working on salt structures in the Paradox Basin for over 30 years. More recentry, fieldwork with graduate students and colleagues has led him to the mountain ranges of Central Colorado, mapping pre-Laramide salt structures across the region. In his spare time Bruce spends as many days as possible hiking and fishing in his local mountain ranges: the Indian Peaks and James Peak Wilderness areas

The Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists (SIPES) is the only national organization designed exclusively for the independent or consulting professional earth scientist. Members include geologists, engineers, geophysicists, geochemists, and other earth scientists. 

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Our Mission

To be the pre-eminent organization for furthering the professional business interests of independent practitioners of earth sciences. 

• Professional Competence

• Professional Business Ethics

• Presenting a favorable, credible and effective image of Society



Local Events:

Monthly Meetings

Meetings for 2023 will be held at the

Wynkoop Brewery

1634 18th Street

Denver, CO 80202