Structural characteristics of the Altar Basin, Northwest Sonora, Mexico

González-Escobar, Mario; Pérez-Tinajero, Carlos I.; Suárez-Vidal, Francisco; González‐Fernández, Antonio

doi:10.1080/00206814.2012.708981

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Deltaic deposits of the Colorado River fill at least three major rift segments defined by changes in polarity of normal faulting [ Axen , ]. In each segment, detachment faults are widely exposed on the margins [ Axen and Fletcher , ; Bennett et al ., ; Bryant , ; Seiler et al ., ; Siem and Gastil , ] and also imaged in the subsurface across the extensional province [ González‐Fernández et al ., ; González‐Escobar et al ., ; Pacheco et al ., ; Gallardo‐Mata , ]. Conversely, detachment faults are not recognized around the rest of the Gulf of California, where there are no thick sequences of deltaic sedimentation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stretched continental crust was also imaged over the rift margins and across the structural high between Tiburón and Delfin basins in seismic reflection profiles [ Aragon‐Arreola and Martín‐Barajas , ; González‐Fernández et al ., ]. Farther north, Mesozoic crystalline basement underlies >5 km thick Late Miocene to Plio‐Pleistocene deltaic deposits in the Altar basin east of the Cerro Prieto transform fault [ González‐Escobar et al ., ; Pacheco et al ., ]. However, the extent of continental crust has not been mapped in detail in the deep basins, and thus the extent and width of new magmatically formed ocean crust are poorly defined in the northern Gulf of California.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thick deltaic sedimentation and detachment faulting delay the onset of continental rupture in the Northern Gulf of California: Analysis of seismic reflection profiles

et al. 2013

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[1] The transition from distributed continental extension to the rupture of continental lithosphere is imaged in the northern Gulf of California across the obliquely conjugate Tiburón-Upper Delfin basin segment. Structural mapping on a 5-20 km grid of seismic reflection lines of Petroleos Mexicanos demonstrates that~1000% extension is accommodated on a series of NNE striking listric-normal faults that merge at depth into a detachment fault. The detachment juxtaposes a late-Neogene marine sequence over thinned continental crust and contains an intrabasinal divide due to footwall uplift. Two northwest striking, dextral-oblique faults bound both ends of the detachment and shear the continental crust parallel to the tectonic transport. A regional unconformity in the upper 0.5 s (two-way travel time) and crest erosion of rollover anticlines above the detachment indicates inversion and footwall uplift during the lithospheric rupture in the Upper Delfin and Lower Delfin basins. The maximum length of new crust in both Delfin basins is less than 40 km based on the lack of an acoustic basement and the absence of a lower sedimentary sequence beneath a wedge-shaped upper sequence that reaches >5 km in thickness. A fundamental difference exists between the Tiburón-Delfin segment and the Guaymas segment to the south in terms of presence of low-angle normal faults and amount of new oceanic lithosphere, which we attribute to thermal insulation, diffuse upper-plate extension, and slip on low-angle normal faults engendered by a thick sedimentary lid.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thick deltaic sedimentation and detachment faulting delay the onset of continental rupture in the Northern Gulf of California: Analysis of seismic reflection profiles

et al. 2013

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“…In Mexico, multichannel seismic reflection and refraction/wide‐angle reflection seismic profiles have been analyzed to image basin structure and rifting styles in the inactive Altar Basin of the southernmost Salton Trough [ Pacheco et al ., ; González‐Escobar et al ., ], in the northern Gulf of California [ Persaud et al ., ; Gonzalez‐Fernandez et al ., ; Aragon‐Arreola and Martin‐Barajas , ; González‐Escobar et al ., ; Martin‐Barajas et al ., ], and in the central and southern Gulf of California [ Aragon‐Arreola et al ., ; Lizarralde et al ., ].…”

Section: Previous Seismic Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Mexico, multichannel seismic reflection and refraction/wide-angle reflection seismic profiles have been analyzed to image basin structure and rifting styles in the inactive Altar Basin of the southernmost Salton Trough [Pacheco et al, 2006;González-Escobar et al, 2013], in the northern Gulf of California [Persaud et al, 2003;Gonzalez-Fernandez et al, 2005…”

Section: Previous Seismic Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Continental rupture and the creation of new crust in the Salton Trough rift, Southern California and northern Mexico: Results from the Salton Seismic Imaging Project

et al. 2016

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A refraction and wide‐angle reflection seismic profile along the axis of the Salton Trough, California and Mexico, was analyzed to constrain crustal and upper mantle seismic velocity structure during active continental rifting. From the northern Salton Sea to the southern Imperial Valley, the crust is 17–18 km thick and approximately one‐dimensional. The transition at depth from Colorado River sediment to underlying crystalline rock is gradual and is not a depositional surface. The crystalline rock from ~3 to ~8 km depth is interpreted as sediment metamorphosed by high heat flow. Deeper felsic crystalline rock could be stretched preexisting crust or higher‐grade metamorphosed sediment. The lower crust below ~12 km depth is interpreted to be gabbro emplaced by rift‐related magmatic intrusion by underplating. Low upper mantle velocity indicates high temperature and partial melting. Under the Coachella Valley, sediment thins to the north and the underlying crystalline rock is interpreted as granitic basement. Mafic rock does not exist at 12–18 km depth as it does to the south, and a weak reflection suggests Moho at ~28 km depth. Structure in adjacent Mexico has slower midcrustal velocity, and rocks with mantle velocity must be much deeper than in the Imperial Valley. Slower velocity and thicker crust in the Coachella and Mexicali valleys define the rift zone between them to be >100 km wide in the direction of plate motion. North American lithosphere in the central Salton Trough has been rifted apart and is being replaced by new crust created by magmatism, sedimentation, and metamorphism.

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“…The region where these basins are located is bounded by two major, regional right-lateral transform faults. To the east is the Cerro Prieto fault with down throw to the west, which establishes the westerly limit of the Altar basin (Pacheco et al 2006;González-Escobar et al 2013). To the south, the Canal de Ballenas Transform Fault can be traced north to the Lower Delfín Basin.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

González-Escobar

Suárez-Vidal

Sojo-Amezquita

et al. 2014

International Geology Review

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The Gulf of California is an excellent example of how new ocean basins form. Tectonically, the northern Gulf of California is an incipient ocean basin and studies on it have defined acoustic basement and reveal the presence of new oceanic crust and intrusive bodies. Some recent studies report fundamental differences between the basins of the northern and southern Gulf of California: that the latter have well-developed oceanic crust beneath a thin cover of sediments, whereas the northern basins show proto-ocean basins, which may reflect thermal insulation of the thick sedimentary cover, the presence of lowangle faults, and more diffuse and distributed deformation. During the 1970s, Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) undertook a 2D seismic reflection survey in the northern Gulf of California, over many active rift basins, including the Consag Basin. Through the processing and interpretation of these data, we describe the structural characteristics of the Consag Basin beyond 2 km depths. Using seismic reflection data, we identified an intrusion in the central part of this basin that may represent new oceanic crust buried by more than 4 km of sediments.

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Structural characteristics of the Altar Basin, Northwest Sonora, Mexico

Cited by 10 publications

References 15 publications

Thick deltaic sedimentation and detachment faulting delay the onset of continental rupture in the Northern Gulf of California: Analysis of seismic reflection profiles

Thick deltaic sedimentation and detachment faulting delay the onset of continental rupture in the Northern Gulf of California: Analysis of seismic reflection profiles

Continental rupture and the creation of new crust in the Salton Trough rift, Southern California and northern Mexico: Results from the Salton Seismic Imaging Project

Consag Basin: northern Gulf of California, evidence of generation of new crust, based on seismic reflection data

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