A Paleogene river the size and scale of the modern Colorado-Green river system carried sediments from the Mojave region of California to Utah's Uinta basin for as long as 20 million years before tectonics reversed the regional drainage system. [right, space station view of the southwest U.S. Acquired 9-10-10. Credit NASA]
A new article in Geology, includes co-authors Bill Dickinson and George Gehrels at the Univ. of Arizona and AZGS Senior Geologist Jon Spencer. Lead author is Steven Davis from Carnegie Inst.
Ref: The Paleogene California River: Evidence of Mojave-Uinta paleodrainage from U-Pb ages of detrital zircons, Steven J. Davis, William R. Dickinson, George E. Gehrels, Jon E. Spencer, Timothy F. Lawton and Alan R. Carroll, doi: 10.1130/G31250.1 v. 38 no. 10 p. 931-934