The Mesozoic successions of western Sierra de Zacatecas, Central Mexico: provenance and tectonic implications

Ortega-Flores, Berlaine; Solari, Luigi Augusto; Escalona-Alcázar, Felipe de Jesús

doi:10.1017/s0016756815000977

Cited by 21 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…145-108 Ma, with age peaks at ca. 158 Ma, 137 Ma, 130 Ma, and 117 Ma, that is interpreted as derived from Guerrero (Ortega-Flores et al, 2016). The detrital ages indicate that igneous rocks with ages equivalent to the Early Cretaceous Santiago Peak and Alisitos arcs are likely present in mainland Mexico as part of the Guerrero composite terrane, consistent with interpretations of previous workers that include the Santiago and Alisitos arcs in Guerrero (e.g., Dickinson and Lawton, 2001a).…”

Section: Middle Mesozoic Magmatic Arcssupporting

confidence: 87%

Transition from Late Jurassic rifting to middle Cretaceous dynamic foreland, southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico

et al. 2020

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Subsidence history and sandstone provenance of the Bisbee basin of southwestern New Mexico, southern Arizona, and northern Sonora, Mexico, demonstrate basin evolution from an array of Late Jurassic−Early Cretaceous rift basins to a partitioned middle Cretaceous retroarc foreland basin. The foreland basin contained persistent depocenters that were inherited from the rift basin array and determined patterns of Albian−early Cenomanian sediment routing. Upper Jurassic and Valanginian−Aptian strata were deposited in three narrow extensional basins, termed the Altar-Cucurpe, Huachuca, and Bootheel basins. Initially rapid Late Jurassic subsidence in the basins slowed in the Early Cretaceous, then increased again from mid-Albian through middle Cenomanian time, marking an episode of foreland subsidence. Sandstone composition and detrital zircon provenance indicate different sediment sources in the three basins and demonstrate their continued persistence as depocenters during Albian foreland basin development. Late Jurassic basins received sediment from a nearby magmatic arc that migrated westward with time. Following a 10−15 m.y. depositional hiatus, an Early Cretaceous continental margin arc supplied sediment to the Altar-Cucurpe basin in Sonora as early as ca. 136 Ma, but local sedimentary and basement sources dominated the Huachuca basin of southern Arizona until catchment extension tapped the arc source at ca. 123 Ma. The Bootheel basin of southwestern New Mexico received sediment only from local basement and recycled sedimentary sources with no contemporary arc source evident. During renewed Albian−Cenomanian subsidence, the arc continued to supply volcanic-lithic sand to the Altar-Cucurpe basin, which by then was the foredeep of the foreland basin. Sandstone of the Bootheel basin is more quartzose than the Altar-Cucurpe basin, but uncommon sandstone beds contain neovolcanic lithic fragments and young zircon grains that were transported to the basin as airborne ash. Latest Albian−early Cenomanian U-Pb tuff ages, detrital zircon maximum depositional ages ranging from ca. 102 Ma to 98 Ma, and ammonite fossils all demonstrate equivalence of middle Cretaceous proximal foreland strata of the U.S.-Mexico border region with distal back-bulge strata of the Cordilleran foreland basin. Marine strata buried a former rift shoulder in southwestern New Mexico during late Albian to earliest Cenomanian time (ca. 105−100 Ma), prior to widespread transgression in central New Mexico (ca. 98 Ma). Lateral stratigraphic continuity across the former rift shoulder likely resulted from regional dynamic subsidence following late Albian collision of the Guerrero composite volcanic terrane with Mexico and emplacement of the Farallon slab beneath the U.S.−Mexico border region. Inferred dynamic subsidence in the foreland of southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico was likely augmented in Sonora by flexural subsidence adjacent to an incipient thrust load driven by collision of the Guerrero superterrane.

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Section: Middle Mesozoic Magmatic Arcssupporting

confidence: 87%

Transition from Late Jurassic rifting to middle Cretaceous dynamic foreland, southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico

et al. 2020

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“…There are marked stratigraphic records for the Late Triassic–Middle Jurassic exhumation of Oaxaquia (Figure 6). For instance, Oaxaquia (including the OC) was an important source terrane for voluminous submarine fans formed along the western margin of Pangea during the Late Triassic (Tolimán fan, Potosí fan; Barboza‐Gudiño et al., 2010; Centeno‐García, 2005; Ortega‐Flores et al., 2014, 2016). Clastic materials of the Early to Middle Jurassic Piedra Hueca and the Middle Jurassic Otlaltepec Formations, which crop out within the Otlaltepec Basin (the northern Mixteco terrane; Figure 2), were partly derived from the OC (Martini et al., 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerous provenance studies performed in Mesozoic clastic units of Mexico were primarily based on single‐grain detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology (e.g. Barboza‐Gudiño, Zavala‐Monsiváis, Venegas‐Rodríguez, & Barajas‐Nigoche, 2010; Martini et al., 2016; Mendoza‐Rosales, Centeno‐García, Silva‐Romo, Campos‐Madrigal, & Bernal, 2010; Ortega‐Flores, Solari, & Escalon‐Alcázar, 2016; Ortega‐Flores, Solari, Lawton, & Ortega‐Obregón, 2014; Pérez‐Gutiérrez, Solari, Gómez‐Tuena, & Valencia, 2009; Sierra‐Rojas et al, 2020; Zepeda‐Martínez, Martini, & Solari, 2018), a radiometric technique that can actually be classified as a conventional tool for provenance analyses. The technique is undoubtedly useful to obtain quite reliable provenance signals from ancient and recent sediments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesozoic exhumation history of the Grenvillian Oaxacan Complex, southern Mexico

et al. 2020

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We present the first fission‐track results from the Grenvillian Oaxacan Complex, southern Mexico. Time–temperature modelling of the data indicates that two significant Mesozoic cooling episodes are recorded in the Oaxacan Complex and these are interpreted as resulting from exhumation. The older cooling event took place from the Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic and is possible linked to the break‐up of Pangea (including the initial opening of the Gulf of Mexico during the Jurassic). The younger exhumation period in the Early Cretaceous is contemporaneous with the final stages of rifting of the Gulf of Mexico. Key stratigraphic records also provide independent evidence for these exhumation episodes. In our view, both Mesozoic rapid exhumation events were controlled by the activity of the Caltepec Fault Zone and the Oaxaca Fault. Our data suggest that both these large fault systems have remained active since, at least, the Late Triassic.

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“…First, according to a tectonic reconstruction based on the GAWPaP poles (Torsvik et al, ), the southwestern part of NAM was some degrees of latitude farther north (~8°) and clockwise rotated ~20°, as seen in Figure . Second, the western margin of Mexico was completing a process of extension and westward arc migration (Centeno‐García, ; Ortega‐Flores et al, ), and beginning diachronic compression and closure from north to south of the Arperos back‐arc basin (Martini et al, ). Penecontemporaneously, the convergent system of NW of Mexico (Baja California) was undergoing the Alisitos arc assembly and formation of an accretionary complex, as a result of the Farallon plate subduction below NAM (Alsleben et al, ; Boschman et al, ; Schmidt et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleomagnetism and Geochronology of the Early Cretaceous Dipilto Batholith (NW Nicaragua): Chortís Block Large Rotation With Respect to SW North America

et al. 2020

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The Dipilto Batholith is one of the largest plutonic complexes (~1,200 km 2 ) of the Chortís block. It is located at northwestern Nicaragua in Central America. We present paleomagnetic, rock magnetic, and petrographic results from 34 sites (269 samples) of this batholith and some associated dikes. Four U-Pb (zircon) isotopic ages were obtained from samples collected through the intrusive body in order to gain insight into the timing of silicic magmatism in the southern Chortís block and its possible tectonic and paleogeographic connections with the southwestern North America Plate during the Early Cretaceous. The paleomagnetic analyses of 16 selected sites indicate a large counterclockwise rotation (~101°), with a related paleolatitude of 28.7°N, and isotopic ages ranging from 119.08 ± 0.37 to 112.69 ± 0.44 Ma. Our results imply an updated tectonic model resulted from an inherited peri-Gondwanan position and open the discussion of at least three possible tectonic scenarios for the Chortís block during the Early Cretaceous: (1) Chortís block with an angle of~45°with respect to the southwestern margin of North America. This would imply the removal of an in-between continental or oceanic crust segment by subduction or subduction erosion; (2) Chortís block immediately juxtaposed to the southwestern margin of North America, being part of extension-compression events of the Guerrero Terrane-Arperos basin; or (3) Chortís block juxtaposed to North America, but with intraplate deformation resulting in overestimated counterclockwise rotation for a tectonic decoupled block, called herein the "Dipilto block." Plain Language Summary The plate tectonic evolution of the Caribbean region and NorthAmerica have been a topic of discussion for more than 40 years. This and several previous studies on the rocks of Central America suggest that this region belonged to the south-southwest of the tectonic plate of North America (currently southern Mexico) since at least 80 million years. To demonstrate this, we use the paleomagnetism of 34 sites of the Dipilto Batholith at northwestern Nicaragua, belonging to the continental crust domain named Chortís block, and U-Pb dates to determine the spatial and temporal relationship of Central America. Our results show that at least since the Early Cretaceous (110 million years) the Chortís block was adjacent to the southwestern region of North America. In other words, this implies that the Chortís block belonged to the southwestern part of Mexico, probably next to the geological Guerrero terrane. The new paleogeographic information redefines the tectonic evolution and the causes and consequences of the geological record of this region of Mexico and Central America since the Early Cretaceous.

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The Mesozoic successions of western Sierra de Zacatecas, Central Mexico: provenance and tectonic implications

Cited by 21 publications

References 76 publications

Transition from Late Jurassic rifting to middle Cretaceous dynamic foreland, southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico

Transition from Late Jurassic rifting to middle Cretaceous dynamic foreland, southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico

Mesozoic exhumation history of the Grenvillian Oaxacan Complex, southern Mexico

Paleomagnetism and Geochronology of the Early Cretaceous Dipilto Batholith (NW Nicaragua): Chortís Block Large Rotation With Respect to SW North America

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