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Capture of high-altitude precipitation by a low-altitude Eocene lake, western U.S.

^{1 1} Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin, 1215 W. Dayton Street, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA
^{2 2} Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska, P.O. Box 755780, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775, USA
^{3 3} Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
^{4 4} BP America, 501 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079, USA
^{5 5} Department of Geology, Sonoma State University, 1801 E. Cotati Avenue, Rohnert Park, California 94928, USA

Sedimentary facies of the Eocene Green River Formation reflect a rapid increase in water supply to Lake Gosiute ca. 49 Ma, marked by a stratigraphic fill-to-spill surface. Deposits below this surface constitute repetitive lacustrine expansion-desiccation cycles, whereas those above consist of continuous profundal lacustrine mudstone, grading upward into volcaniclastic deltaic sandstone. Above the fill-to-spill surface, calcitic mudstone ¹⁸O decreases from ~+26 to +20 over an interval representing ~100 k.y. We interpret this shift to have resulted from capture of a foreland river (or rivers) that drained higher topography north of Lake Gosiute, most likely in north-central Idaho. Accurate paleoelevation estimates derived from stable isotopic records in intermontane basins thus may require detailed knowledge of regional drainage systems.

Key Words: Green River Formation • drainage • lacustrine • carbonate • Laramide • paleoaltimetry

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