9316462 Decelles PI will study the fluvial architecture, detrital composition and magnetostratigraphy of syntectonic, Paleocene-aged foreland- basin sediments (Fort Union Formation) in NW Wyoming and SW Montana. Three main questions will be addressed: 1) What was the geometry of the synorogenic fluvial system away from the deformational front? 2) Do upsection changes in detrital composition relect unroofing of the Beartooth Range, and what are the proximal/distal effects compositional trends? and 3) What were the rates of vertical sedimentological and petrofacies changes, and of progradation of these facies into the basin? This study will produce a well-constrained, quantitative data-set of synorogenic sedimentary features in a foreland basin, and thus provide important values for use in modeling foreland-basin processes and stratigraphy.
