Aftermath of a stream capture: Cactus Park lake spillover and the origin of East Creek, Uncompahgre Plateau, western Colorado
Abstract
Newly discovered lacustrine strata suggest that the most signifi cant episode of stream capture in the upper Colorado River system (western USA), namely the abandonment of Unaweep Canyon, probably involved a combination of headward erosion and lake spillover. The abandonment of Unaweep Canyon occurred in two stages. The fi rst stage was marked by the capture of the Colorado River, after which time the Gunnison River continued to incise. Continued incision by the Gunnison River created a wall of rock on the east side of the Gunnison River valley in Cactus Park and left the abandoned Colorado River bed well above the Gunnison River. The second stage involved two blockages, one created by the thick fi ll within Unaweep Canyon and one at the south end of Cactus Park, which led to the creation of a lake within Cactus Park. The lake level rose until it fl ooded the abandoned Colorado River bed and spilled over at the point where the Colorado River had been captured earlier, during the fi rst stage of abandonment. Present-day East Creek was created by re-incision of the abandoned Colorado River course, which explains why the course of East Creek has a northeastward trend that is completely anomalous with respect to all other tributaries draining this area of the Uncom pahgre Plateau. The rapid incision created a large quantity of debris that defl ected the Gunnison River eastward at the mouth of East Creek. The evidence suggests that the abandonment of Cactus Park and Unaweep Canyon by the Gunnison River and the creation and destruction of Cactus Park lake all likely occurred ca. 800 ka and shortly thereafter. The Unaweep Canyon classic example of stream piracy illustrates how piracy alone can dramatically infl uence landscape development even in the absence of signifi cant tectonic and climatic infl uences.
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