Geometry and kinematics of the Nuncios detachment fold complex: Implications for lithotectonics in northeastern Mexico

Abstract

Using recent geologic mapping combined with digital elevation data, aerial photo interpretation, and cross section balancing, we describe the three‐dimensional (3‐D) geometry and kinematics of the Nuncios Fold Complex in the Monterrey Salient of northeastern Mexico. This map‐scale, evaporite‐cored detachment fold structure involves Upper Jurassic through Cretaceous rocks deformed during the Laramide orogeny and comprises two westward plunging anticlines and an intervening, eastward plunging syncline. Seven balanced cross sections and a 3‐D model of this north vergent structure document substantial along‐strike variations in both fold geometry and detachment depth, suggesting that 3‐D flow of the detachment layer may have occurred during folding. Comparison of folds in the Monterrey Salient with those in the neighboring Parras Basin suggests that the latter south vergent folds root to a shallower detachment. We suggest that northward transport of the Monterrey Salient folds on the lower evaporite detachment may have been inhibited by a thick sequence of foreland basin rocks in the northeastern Parras and southern La Popa basins and that the smaller, south verging folds formed where the lower detachment was abandoned and slip was transferred to the shallower detachment, forming a triangle zone at the front of the Sierra Madre orogenic wedge.

Effects of diagenesis (cement precipitation) during fracture opening on fracture aperture-size scaling in carbonate rocks

“…The fractures we examined were from an 80 cm-thick dolostone bed exposed in the forelimb of the San Blas Anticline, an upright isoclinal fold above an evaporite décollement within the Monterrey Salient 20 km SW of Monterrey, Mexico (Fig. 2;Padilla y Sanchez 1985;Higuera-Díaz et al 2005). Fractures contain synkinematic dolomite and post-kinematic calcite.…”

Hybrid thrust sequences – A new structural perspective

“…The role of multiple detachment horizons on the dynamics of thrust systems (i.e., its strength and thickness) and the evolution of fold-and-thrust belts such as the Zagros (e.g., Sepehr et al, 2006;Sherkati et al, 2006;Vergés et al, 2011;Farzipour Saein and Koyi, 2016;Ghanadian et al, 2017b;Derikvand et al, 2018;Heydarzadeh et al, 2020Heydarzadeh et al, , 2021Koyi and Mansurbeg, 2021), the Jura Mountains (e.g., Schori et al, 2015;Smeraglia et al, 2021), the Pyrenees (e.g., Koyi and Sans 2006), the Northern Apennines of Italy (e.g., Massoli et al, 2006;Tavarnelli et al, 2019), US and Canadian Rocky Mountains (e.g., Bally et al, 1966;Fitz-Díaz et al, 2011), the southern Appalachian thrust belt (e.g., Rich, 1934;Thomas, 2019), and the Mexican fold-and-thrust belt (e.g., Higuera-Díaz et al, 2005;Fitz-Díaz et al, 2011;Cruz et al, 2019) have shown that deformation may be decoupled between different stratigraphic levels. This is of importance because the geometry, kinematics and mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts are strongly influenced by the geometric parameters and mechanical behaviour of detachments (Ruh et al, 2012(Ruh et al, , 2013Feng et al, 2015;Eslamirezaei et al, 2022).…”

Evolución estructural del frente tectónico de la Sierra Madre Oriental en el Cañón Santa Rosa, Linares, Nuevo León

“…Este paquete evaporítico controló, durante la orogenia Laramide, el deslizamiento y despegue de la secuencia hacia el Norte y Noreste (Díaz et al, 1959;Padilla y Sánchez, 1982, 1985Meiburg, 1987;Marrett y Aranda-García, 1999;Eguiluz de Antuñano et al, 2000;Higuera-Díaz et al, 2005;Wilkerson et al, 2007).…”