Structural Evolution and Uplift History of Multiple Generations of Rhyolite Flows in the Survey Peak 7.5-Minute Quadrangle: Grand Teton National Park, Northwest Wyoming

Funds are requested to support a student mapping project that will examine the structural architecture of the major faults in the Survey Peak 1:24,000 quadrangle, located in the northern part of Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) and the adjacent Bridger-Teton National Forest. Recently, it has been proposed that the paleo-Teton fault and, by association, the paleo-Teton Range, was originally much longer (>180 km) than the modern-day range front (~70 km). In those studies, integration of thermochronology, fault growth models, and length-displacement relationships led to the hypothesis that the Teton Range began uplifting at ~10 Ma and originally extended across the position of the modern Yellowstone hotspot. Following migration of the hotspot into its present position at ~2 Ma, the Huckleberry Ridge and subsequent Yellowstone (~0.6 Ma) supercaldera eruptions would have led to collapse and removal of the northern paleo-Teton Range topography. This project will further examine the Teton fault extension hypothesis by documenting the detailed structural architecture of the northern Teton fault. To date, existing mapping in the area has only been completed at 1:62,500 scale. The proposed work, if funded, will be completed by an M.S. student that has a significant amount of experience as an undergraduate mapper at the College of William and Mary. Under the supervision of PI Thigpen, mapping will be completed at a scale of 1:12,000 this work will produce a 1:24,000 scale geologic map of the southern 2/3 of the Survey Peak quadrangle. By combining this new work with our ongoing mapping of the northern parts of Survey Peak being completed as part of our 2022 EDMAP objectives, we will be able to complete the first detailed 1:24,000 bedrock and associated surficial map of this geologically significant quadrangle in GTNP.