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Data from: Exhumation history of the Sangre de Cristo Range, Colorado, from mid- to low-temperature thermochronology: New insights into Laramide contraction and Oligocene–Miocene extension in the northern Rio Grande rift, USA

Singleton, John1; Malavarca, Samantha1; Ault, Alexis2; Ghamedi, Omar1; Sitar, Michael1; O'Sullivan, Paul3; Wong, Martin4; Caine, Jonathan5; Metcalf, James6; Frawley, Dylan1; Rahl, Jeffrey7

Published Jun 24, 2026 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tdz08kqdq

Data files

Jun 24, 2026 version files 1.47 MB

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Abstract

This dataset consists of thermochronologic data that form the basis of a 2026 Tectonics manuscript titled “Exhumation history of the Sangre de Cristo Range, Colorado, from mid- to low-temperature thermochronology: New insights into Laramide contraction and Oligocene–Miocene extension in the northern Rio Grande rift, USA.” Data from samples collected in the Sangre de Cristo Range in southern Colorado include zircon (U-Th)/He dates (21 samples, 97 grains), apatite (U-Th)/He dates (16 samples, 73 grains), zircon fission dates (6 samples), apatite fission track dates (2 samples), K-feldspar 40Ar/39Ar data (4 samples), and biotite 40Ar/39Ar data (1 sample). These thermochronologic data provide insight into the polyphase deformation history and spatiotemporal patterns of extensional exhumation in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in southern Colorado. Key findings based on these data include: a) The Alvarado fault along the northeastern range flank initiated as a Laramide reverse fault and was reactivated as a normal fault in the early Miocene; b) The onset of rapid cooling due to extensional exhumation is 20–16 Ma along northeastern flank of the range, 18–14 Ma near the range crest, and 14–10 Ma along southwestern flank of the range; c) The Sangre de Cristo Range underwent limited cooling between the Oligocene inception of extension and Miocene onset of rapid cooling associated with slip on range-bounding faults; and d) The southwestern flank of the range was exhumed from temperatures of ~240±25°C at the onset of Miocene rapid cooling, consistent with ~7–9 km displacement across the Sangre de Cristo fault system.