Examining Cretaceous Strata of the Taylor Creek Group in British Columbia : Potential Connection of the Methow and Tyqughton Basins.

Color poster with text and charts describing research conducted by Michelle Forgette, advised by J. Brian Mahoney.Cretaceous strata around the Chilcotin Plateau of south-central British Columbia are traditionally described as occupying several distinct basins, including the Nechako, Methow and Tyaughton basins. The original geometric relationships between these basins are difficult to reconstruct due to Eocene and Neogene volcanic cover and the presence of a Tertiary dextral transpressive fault system along the southern margin of the Plateau. Detailed sedimentologic and stratigraphic analysis are being integrated with ongoing thin section petrography, shale geochemistry (REE and isotopes), palynology, macro- and microfossil studies, and detrital zircon analyses in both these formations to test this proposed stratigraphic correlation.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Reinterpreting Cambrian Paleogeography, Southwest Montana.

Color poster with charts and graphs.The Belt Supergroup was originally named for widespread exposures of thin-bedded red clastic strata in the Big Belt Mountains in southwestern Montana. Subsequent studies extended the geographic extent and thickness of the Belt Supergroup throughout Montana, Idaho and British Columbia. The nonfossiliferous character of these strata necessitated purely lithostratigraphic correlations. The advent of detrital zircon analyses has provided a method for more rigorous evaluation of proposed correlations. In southwest Montana, the Belt Supergroup consists primarily of thin-bedded, fine-grained sandstone, siltstone and shale of the Spokane, Empire and Greyson Formations. These rocks are overlain by the Middle Cambrian Flathead Sandstone, which is a prominent, cross-stratified medium to coarse grained quartz arenite that stands in bold relief to the underlying recessive Belt rocks. The contact between these two packages is mapped throughout southwest Montana as a profound unconformity, but recent mapping suggests the contact is actually a conformable, coarsening upward gradational transition.University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Synorogenic Basion Evolution in the Cordillera Frontal, Argentina

Color poster with text, maps, and charts describing research conducted by Taylor Crist, Michelle Forgette, Bryan Hardel, Phil Larson, Shane Peterson, Julia Potter, and Heidi Stanek; advised by J. Brian Mahoney.The Argentinian Andes are located in South America between ~ 20-35 S latitude. The focus area of study is the synorogenic basin development associated with the Aconcagua Fold and Thrust Belt (AFTB).University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire Office of Research and Sponsored Programs

Paleoenvironmental and chronological constraints on the Mount Tatlow succession, British Columbia: First recognition of radiolarian and foraminiferal faunas in the Intermontane Cretaceous back-arc basins of Western Canada

The Cretaceous succession at Mount Tatlow, British Columbia, is a cornerstone of Cordilleran stratigraphy, preserving a mos