Jared R. Morrow Research Interests

Research Interests - Dr. Jared R. Morrow

1) Middle Paleozoic depositional history and event stratigraphy, Great Basin
Collaborative research with C.A. Sandberg, F.G. Poole (both USGS Emeritus), and others describing and correlating Middle Devonian to Early Carboniferous depositional history and sequence and event stratigraphy, western U.S. See list of selected publications

2) Geologic record of bolide impacts, emphasizing the Late Devonian Alamo event, central Great Basin
Cooperative work with C.A. Sandberg, F.G. Poole, A.G. Harris, (all USGS Emeritus), J.E. Warme, Colorado School of Mines, and others on the impact stratigraphy, sedimentology, and conodont biostratigraphy of the mid-Frasnian (early Late Devonian, ~382 Ma), marine Alamo impact event, south-central Nevada. Recent research has focused on the offshore deep-water, and onshore distal effects of the Alamo event, as well as the shock-metamorphic petrography of other impact deposits. See list of selected publications

3) Patterns and processes of the mid-Late Devonian (Frasnian-Famennian, F-F, Kellwasser) mass extinction, utilizing conodont-based event stratigraphy
Collaborative research with C.A. Sandberg, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), E. Schindler, Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Stephen Hasiotis, University of Kansas, and others on conodont-based event stratigraphic analysis of the mid-Late Devonian (Frasnian-Famennian, Kellwasser, ~376 Ma) biotic crisis interval, emphasizing integration of data from the western U.S. and Western Europe. See list of selected publications

1) Middle Paleozoic depositional history and event stratigraphy publications:
Sandberg, C.A., Morrow, J.R., and Poole, F.G., 2007, Burbank Hills, Utah, U.S.A., provide a paradigm for Middle and Late Devonian event stratigraphy, in Program and Abstracts, Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy and IGCP 499 Devonian Land Sea Interaction: Evolution of Ecosystems and Climate Eureka, Nevada, September 9-17, 2007. [view PDF file]

Emsbo, P., and Morrow, J.R., 2005, Links between Devonian basin architecture and gold mineralization, north-central Nevada: An undervalued tectonic control?: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 37, no. 7, p. 418. [view]

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 2003, Late Devonian sequence and event stratigraphy across the Frasnian-Famennian (F-F) boundary, Utah and Nevada, Chapter 10, in Harries, P.J., ed., High-Resolution Approaches in Stratigraphic Paleontology: Kluwar Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, p. 351-419. [view PDF file]

Sandberg, C.A., Morrow, J.R., Poole, F.G., and Ziegler, W., 2003, Middle Devonian to Early Carboniferous event stratigraphy of Devils Gate and Northern Antelope Range sections, Nevada, U.S.A.: Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, Frankfurt, a.M., p. 187-207. [view PDF file]

Sandberg, C.A., Morrow, J.R., and Poole, F.G., 2002, Middle to Upper Devonian basin-to-shelf correlations across the proto-Antler forebulge, central Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 34, no. 4, p. A-52. [view]

Sandberg, C.A., Morrow, J.R., and Poole, F.G., 2001, Significance of type Devils Gate Limestone on Devonian proto-Antler forebulge, west of Eureka, Nevada, in Miller, M.S., and Walker, J.P., eds., Structure & Stratigraphy of the Eureka, Nevada, Area: 2001 Fieldtrip Guidebook, Nevada Petroleum Society, Inc., Reno, Nevada, p. 59-71 [reprinted 2002].

Sandberg, C.A., Poole, F.G., and Morrow, J.R., 2001, Construction and destruction of crinoidal mudmounds on Mississippian Antler forebulge, east of Eureka, Nevada, in Miller, M.S., and Walker, J.P., eds., Structure & Stratigraphy of the Eureka, Nevada, Area: 2001 Fieldtrip Guidebook, Nevada Petroleum Society, Inc., Reno, Nevada, p. 25-42 [reprinted 2002]. [view PDF file]

[Return to top]

2) Alamo impact event and other impact-related publications:
Morrow, J.R., and Horton, J.W., Jr., 2007, Occurrence of shock-metamorphosed quartz and feldspar grains in the Exmore diamicton and sediment megablocks, ICDP-USGS Eyreville cores, Chesapeake Bay impact crater: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, p. 451. [view]

Harris, R.S., and Morrow, J.R., 2007, Possible origin of enigmatic hematite inclusions in shocked quartz from the Late Devonian Alamo impact breccia: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, p. 311. [view]

Sandberg, C.A., and Morrow, J.R., 2007, Late Devonian 382 Ma Alamo impact: Proximal and distal effects, Nevada and Utah: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, p. 372. [view]

Pufahl, P.K., Hiatt, E.E., Stanley, C.R., Morrow, J.R., Nelson, G.J., and Edwards, C.T., 2007, Physical and chemical evidence of the 1850 Ma Sudbury impact event in the Baraga Group, Michigan: Geology, v. 35, no. 9., p. 827-830. [view PDF file]

Spevack, S., Morrow, J.R., and Spevack, B., 2007, 3-D Seismic analysis of a potential meteorite impact crater, San Joaquin County, California [abstract]: AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, April 1-4, 2007. [view]

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 2007, Upper Devonian, marine impact-generated tsunami beds in inner carbonate-platform settings, central Great Basin [abstract]: AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, April 1-4, 2007. [view]

Morrow, J.R., 2007, Shock-metamorphic petrography and micro-Raman spectroscopy of quartz in upper impactite interval, ICDP drill core LB-07A, Bosumtwi impact crater, Ghana: Meteoritics & Planetary Science, v. 42, p. 591-609. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., and King, D.T., Jr., 2007, Petrography of shocked-quartz sand in polymict lithic breccia, Buck Ridge Road, central Wetumpka crater, Alabama, in Marine impact craters on Earth: Field investigation of the Wetumpka impact structure, a well-preserved marine impact crater, and the K-T boundary in the Alabama Gulf Coastal Plain: Abstract Volume, Geological Society of America Field Forum, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Spevack, S., Morrow, J.R., and Spevack, B., 2007, 3-D seismic and well log analyses of the Victoria Island structure, a potential buried impact crater, San Joaquin County, California, in Papers Presented to the 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1338, abstract 1033, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Fackelman, S.P., McElvain, T.H., Morrow, J.R., and Koeberl, C., 2007, Shatter cone exposures indicate a new bolide impact structure near Santa Fe, New Mexico, in Papers Presented to the 38th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1338, abstract 1207, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Fackelman, S.P., McElvain, T.H., Morrow, J.R., and Koeberl, C., 2006, Shatter cone occurrences indicate a possible impact structure near Santa Fe, New Mexico: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, no. 7, p. 298. [view]

King, D.T., Jr., Ormö, J., Petruny, L.W., Morrow, J.R., Johnson, R.C., and Neathery, T.L., 2006, Process reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous Wetumpka impact structure (Alabama, USA), a shallow marine impact feature, in Papers Presented to Conference on Impact Craters as Indicators for Planetary Environmental Evolution and Astrobiology, Östersund, Sweden, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Lewis, K.M., Morrow, J.R., and Nesse, W.D., 2006, Effects of shock metamorphism on XRD peak broadening in carbonate target rocks, Late Devonian Alamo impact: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, no. 7, p. 298. [view]

Morrow, J.R., King, D.T., Jr., Petruny, L.W., Pinto, J.A., and Warme, J.E., 2006, Impact breccias – A many-splendored thing: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 38, no. 7, p. 57. [view]

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 2006, Onshore record of marine impact-generated tsunami, 382-Ma Alamo event, Nevada and Utah, U.S.A., in Papers Presented to Conference on Impact Craters as Indicators for Planetary Environmental Evolution and Astrobiology, Östersund, Sweden, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Sandberg, C.A., Poole, F.G., and Morrow, J.R., 2006, Reinterpretation of Milk Spring and other oceanic deposits resulting from 382-Ma Alamo impact, southern Nevada, U.S.A., in Papers Presented to Conference on Impact Craters as Indicators for Planetary Environmental Evolution and Astrobiology, Östersund, Sweden, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., 2006, Petrographic characteristics of quartz in suevitic impact breccia, drillcore LB07A, Bosumtwi crater, Ghana, in Papers Presented to the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1303, abstract 1258, 2 p. [view PDF file]

King, D.T., Jr., Ormö, J.O., Petruny, L.W., Morrow, J.R., and Neathery, T.L., 2006, Excavation and modification of the Late Cretaceous Wetumpka impact structure (Alabama), a shallow marine impact feature, in Papers Presented to the 37th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1303, abstract 2019, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Sandberg, C.A., Poole, F.G., and Morrow, J.R., 2005, Milk Spring channels provide further evidence of oceanic, >1.7-km-deep Late Devonian Alamo crater, southern Nevada, in Papers Presented to the 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1234, abstract 1538, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., and Harris, A.G., 2005, Late Devonian Alamo Impact, southern Nevada, USA: Evidence of size, marine site, and widespread effects, in Kenkmann, T., Hörz, F., and Deutsch, A., eds., Large Meteorite Impacts III: Geological Society of America Special Paper 384, p. 259-280. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., and Harris, A.G., 2004, New evidence on size and marine site of Late Devonian Alamo Impact, southern Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 36, no. 5, p. 265. [view]

Morrow, J.R., Racki, G., and Malkowski, K., 2003, Timing of Frasnian (early Late Devonian) carbon isotopic and Alamo Impact events, southern Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 35, v. 6. [view]

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 2003, Late Devonian Alamo Event, Nevada, USA; Multiple evidence of an off-platform marine impact, in Papers Presented to Third International Conference on Large Meteorite Impacts, Nördlingen, Germany, LPI Contribution No. 1167, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 2002, Distribution and characteristics of proximal to distal ejecta from Late Devonian Alamo Impact, Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 34, no. 6, p. 543-544. [view]

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., and Poole, F.G., 2002, Deep-water deposits of Late Devonian Alamo Impact Breccia, northern Reveille and southern Hot Creek Ranges, Nevada: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 34, no. 4, p. A-52. [view]

Sandberg, C.A., Morrow, J.R., and Ziegler, W., 2002, Late Devonian sea-level changes, catastrophic events, and mass extinctions, in Koeberl, C., and MacLeod, K.G., eds., Catastrophic Events and Mass Extinctions: Impacts and Beyond: Geological Society of America Special Paper 356, p. 473-487. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 2001, Distribution and characteristics of multi-sourced shock-metamorphosed quartz grains, Late Devonian Alamo Impact, Nevada, in Papers Presented to the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1080, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., and Poole, F.G., 2001, New evidence for deeper water site of Late Devonian Alamo Impact, Nevada, in Papers Presented to the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Houston, Texas, LPI Contribution No. 1080, 2 p. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., Warme, J.E., and Kuehner, H.-C., 1998, Regional and possible global effects of sub-critical Late Devonian Alamo Impact Event, Southern Nevada, USA: Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, v. 51, p. 451-460.

Sandberg, C.A., Morrow, J.R., and Warme, J.E., 1997, Late Devonian Alamo impact event, global Kellwasser Events, and major eustatic events, eastern Great Basin, Nevada and Utah: Brigham Young University Geology Studies, v. 42, pt. 1, p. 129-160. [view PDF file]

[Return to top]

3) Mid-Late Devonian mass extinction publications:
Morrow, J.R., and Hasiotis, S.T., 2007, Endobenthic response through mass extinction episodes: Predictive models and observed patterns, Chapter 36, in Miller, W., III, ed., Trace Fossils: Concepts, Problems, Prospects: Elsevier, Amsterdam, p. 575-611.

Morrow, J.R., and Hasiotis, S.T., 2007, Infaunal response through mass-extinction episodes: Predictive models and observed patterns: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 39, no. 6, p. 206. [view]

Morrow, J.R., 2006, Impacts and mass extinctions revisited: PALAIOS, v. 21, p. 313-315. [view PDF file]

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., and Koeberl, C., 2004, Late Devonian impacts, events, and extinctions — a paradigm for pre-Mesozoic Earth history: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 36, no. 5, p. 320. [view]

Morrow, J.R., 2000, Shelf-to-basin lithofacies and conodont paleoecology across Frasnian-Famennian (F-F, mid-Late Devonian) boundary, central Great Basin (western U.S.A.): Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 219, Frankfurt a.M., 57 p.

Bratton, J.F., Berry, W.B.N., and Morrow, J.R., 1999, Anoxia pre-dates Frasnian-Famennian boundary mass extinction horizon in the Great Basin, USA: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 154, no. 3, p. 275-292.

Morrow, J.R., and Sandberg, C.A., 1996, Conodont faunal turnover and diversity changes through the Frasnian-Famennian (F/F) mass extinction and recovery episodes, in Repetski, J.E., ed., Sixth North American Paleontological Convention Abstracts of Papers: The Paleontological Society Special Pub. No. 8, p. 284.

Morrow, J.R., Sandberg, C.A., and Schindler, E., 1995, Conodont diversity trends across the late Frasnian (mid-Late Devonian) mass extinction interval, Nevada and west Europe: Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, v. 27, no. 4, p. 48.

[Return to top]

Return to Jared Morrow's home page

View of Middle to Late Devonian slope rocks, Northern Antelope Range, Eureka County, NV
Resistant sandy, peloid-rich, allodapic limestone ledges of Fenstermaker Wash Formation within lower-slope Woodruff Formation, recording onset and development of proto-Antler forebulge, Northern Antelope Range, central Nevada (see Sandberg et al., 2001, 2002, 2003).

Composite stratigraphic section of upper member of Fox Mountain Formation, Guilmette Formation, and lower member of West Range Limestone, Burbank Hills, Utah, showing conodont biozonation, conodont biofacies, and events (from Sandberg et al., 2007). Click image for larger view.

Partly restored paleotectonic map of Nevada and Utah during the early Frasnian (early Late Devonian), showing possible site of oceanic Alamo impact (bullseye) relative to carbonate platform and distribution of resulting Alamo Breccia and related deposits. Alamo Breccia Zones 1, 2, and 3 form semicircular pattern on ramp (Zone 1), outer carbonate platform (Zone 2), and peritidal, inner platform (Zone 3). Also shows location of four deep-water channels of Alamo Breccia. Selected major post-Breccia structural features: RMT, latest Devonian to Early Carboniferous Roberts Mountains thrust, and three Tertiary lineaments that affected distribution of Alamo Breccia - LVL, Las Vegas lineament; SKL, Silver King lineament; and PRL, Pancake Range lineament. Other abbreviations indicate important measured sections (after Sandberg et al., 2002). Click image for larger view.

Offshore, deep-water, early Late Devonian Alamo Breccia impact event deposit
Offshore, deep-water channel-fill of Alamo Breccia, which was erosively emplaced by the marine Alamo impact event. Locality RMW (see map above), Hot Creek Range, Nevada.

Stratigraphic section of upper member of Fox Mountain Formation and lower part of Guilmette Formation, showing type section of Alamo Breccia Member, Hancock Summit, West Pahranagat Range, Nevada. Also shows microfossil conodont biofacies and position of 24 conodont samples used to constrain the biostratigraphic age of the Breccia (from Sandberg et al., 1997). Click image for larger view.

Shocked quartz grain from the Alamo Breccia, showing at least two sets of highly decorated Planar Deformation Features (PDFs). Scale bar is 0.1 mm.

Plot of indexed PDFs in shocked quartz, based on combined data from six Alamo Breccia localities (from Morrow and Sandberg, 2001). Click image for larger view.

Thin, distal, onshore Alamo Breccia channel deposit, lower member of Devils Gate Limestone, Devils Gate, Nevada (from Morrow et al., 2005).

Conodont-based Frasnian-Famennian (mid-Late Devonian) boundary event stratigraphic framework for central Great Basin area, Nevada and Utah, showing selected important eustatic, depositional, biotic, and tectonic events (after Sandberg et al., 2002, 2003; Morrow and Sandberg, 2003; and references therein). KWL = interval of Kellwasser Limestone at type area in Germany. Click image for larger view.

Dark, anoxic Lower and Upper Kellwasser Limestone intervals beneath Frasnian-Famennian boundary (at 10-cm-tall photo scale), Kellwasser Valley, Germany.

Frasnian-Famennian (mid-Late Devonian) boundary, Devils Gate, Eureka County, NV
10-cm-wide lens cap overlain by 1-m-thick interval of dark, anoxic siltstone underlying Frasnian-Famennian boundary, Devils Gate, Nevada. This siltstone is equivalent in part to anoxic Upper Kellwasser Limestone of Western Europe (see Sandberg et al., 1997, 2003, for more information).

Late Frasnian microfossil conodont species of the pelagic genus Palmatolepis, central Great Basin, Nevada and Utah. These specimens are 0.25-0.75 mm across (from Morrow, 2000).

Spindle diagrams showing changes of relative conodont generic abundances and sea level across the Frasnian-Famennian boundary, European and North American offshore localities (data in Morrow and Sandberg, 1996). UKWL = interval of Upper Kellwasser Limestone at type area in Germany. Click image for larger view.