The timing, extent and driving mechanisms of burial, uplift and exhumation of the Colorado Plateau, and the carving of the Grand Canyon have been at the center of a long-standing controversy. Here, we develop a new approach to constrain burial and exhumation histories of sedimentary basins from the distributions of ‘clumped’ isotope compositions in carbonate minerals. We apply this approach to constrain peak-burial temperatures and infer the extent of peak sediment overburden and total exhumation of the Colorado Plateau at several sites extending from the Plateau's southwestern margin to its interior. Our constraints are broadly consistent with independent reconstructions of thermal history from low-temperature thermochronometry and oil-maturation indices. Together these data suggest that ∼3 km of rocks have been removed by erosion across the Plateau. This inferred prior extent of sediment overburden is consistent with the presence of a ∼1 km deep canyon at the Upper Gorge of the Grand Canyon during the Early Eocene, and therefore with topography at that time similar to today. Combined with the published record of partial exhumation—based on apatite-thermochronometry and stratigraphic constraints—we find that 63-83% of the total exhumation of the southwestern Plateau occurred prior to the Neogene. This is consistent with Sevier-Laramide contractional tectonism and/or pre-Neogene modification of the Colorado Plateau lithosphere driving uplift there. In contrast, apatite thermochronometry suggests that in the interior plateau, ∼50% of the total exhumation has occurred after the integration of the Colorado River – indicating a much younger source for uplift and the exhumation there. Considering recent suggestions that efficient exhumation of the Plateau by escarpment-retreat is associated with the incision of the drainage system, early exhumation of the Lower Gorge and Grand Wash segments of the Grand Canyon is consistent with the pre-Neogene carving of these segments, followed by relative stability of the base level.

长期以来，争论的焦点是科罗拉多高原的埋葬，抬升和掘尸以及大峡谷的雕刻的时间，范围和驱动机制。在这里，我们从碳酸盐矿物中“聚集”同位素组成的分布中，开发了一种新方法来限制沉积盆地的埋葬和掘出历史。我们采用这种方法来限制峰值埋葬温度，并推断出从高原西南边缘一直延伸到其内部的几个地点的高峰沉积物覆盖范围和科罗拉多高原的总采掘活动。我们的约束条件与根据低温热计时法和油成熟度指数对热历史的独立重建基本一致。这些数据加在一起表明，高原上的侵蚀已去除了约3公里的岩石。推断的先前沉积物覆盖范围与始新世早期大峡谷上峡谷存在约1 ​​km深的峡谷相一致，因此与当时的地形相似。结合已发表的部分发掘出的记录（基于磷灰石热年代法和地层学限制），我们发现西南高原总发掘出的63-83％发生在新近纪之前。这与Sevier-Laramide的收缩构造和/或科罗拉多高原岩石圈的新近纪前变质带动隆升是一致的。相比之下，磷灰石热计时表明在内部高原，约有50％的尸体发掘是在科罗拉多河整合之后发生的，这表明隆升和尸体发掘的来源要年轻得多。考虑到最近的建议，即通过悬崖撤退有效地掘回高原与排水系统的切口有关，大峡谷下峡谷和大洗河段的早期掘出与这些段的新近纪前雕刻相吻合，随后通过基本水平的相对稳定性。