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Astronomical calibration of the geological timescale has been limited until recently by the precision and accuracy of radioisotopic dates, especially for pre-Neogene records. Uncertainties for radioisotopic dates of older strata were typically much larger than a single precessional cycle, and dates were often sparse, leading to the practice of orbital tuning of cyclic strata in order to astronomically calibrate the desired interval. Ideally, in order to test the assumptions of astronomical calibration with geochronology, it is necessary that the precision of radioisotopic dates be comparable to the period of the cycle being tested. The new U–Pb CA-TIMS (chemical abrasion–thermal ionization mass spectrometry) zircon dates reported here conform to this precision requirement, with 2 σ analytical uncertainties from ± 11 000 to ± 52 000 years for seven volcanic ashes from the Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River Formation. The zircon dates have simple distributions with few outliers and allow accurate estimations of the eruption ages with potential inaccuracies of less than precessional cycle. The Eocene Green River Formation (Wyoming, USA) has long been recognized as a record of cyclicly-deposited lacustrine sediments, and the abundant intercalated volcanic ashes make it a suitable place to test new approaches to astronomical calibration of cyclic strata. The abundance of different types of marker beds, including tuffs that are intercalated with the sedimentary cycles, guarantee an unambiguous correlation between sampling locations of dated tuffs on the margins of the basin and the basin center where the cyclicity is best developed, thus reducing any stratigraphic uncertainties to a fraction of (hypothesized) precession cycle. Tuning-based orbital age models, accepted by the previous geochronology, significantly deviate from the new geochronology, whereas a previously rejected model that assumes a short eccentricity period of 125 ky is now allowed. In order to test possible explanations for the apparent 125 ky period, such as changes in orbital periods, or gaps in the sedimentary record, we present an iterative strategy to select future ashes for dating such that the astronomical calibration/testing is optimized. We iteratively contrast two ad-hoc age models that bracket the linear interpolation between the dated ashes. The optimal intervals for further dating are located where the deviations between the models exceed our reported uncertainties. We propose that the iterative approach described here should become the standard for establishing a rigorous orbital calibration of the stratigraphic record where sufficient ashes exist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hanna Basin of south-central Wyoming has been considered anomalous among other Laramide depocenters of the Rocky Mountain region because of its combination of small size and great thickness of synorogenic strata. Most prior interpretations of the Hanna Basin have assumed a history of subsidence and sedimentary infilling discrete from surrounding basins. In contrast, we summarize new geological and paleontological information from the northeastern corner of the modern Hanna Basin suggesting that, prior to late Paleocene time, the Hanna Basin and nearby Carbon, Pass Creek, Laramie, and Shirley Basins were unified and depositionally continuous with the much larger Green River Basin to the west. Only late in the local expression of the Laramide orogeny (late Paleocene and early Eocene) did this "greater Green River Basin" become subdivided through completion of development of intrabasinal, basement-involved thrust faulting and associated anticlines. We view the present Hanna Basin as only a small, structurally defined remnant of an enormous, ponded basin that extended eastward during most of Paleocene time from the Wyoming-Idaho-Utah thrust belt to the newly uplifted Laramie Mountains. That basin was bounded on the south by the Uinta Mountains and combined Sierra Madre-Medicine Bow Mountains and on the north by the Gros Ventre Range, Wind River Mountains, and Sweetwater arch. When the original configuration of the unified greater Green River Basin is taken into account and combined with palinspastic removal of late Laramide faulting that defines its various margins, this basin at least rivaled dimensions of the Powder River Basin of Wyoming and Montana; the greater Green River Basin greatly exceeded the volume of sedimentary accumulation within the Powder River Basin. Rates of Paleogene basinal erosion associated with structural subdivision of eastern components of the greater Green River Basin were prodigious. Within context of a measured... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]