The North American-Caribbean Plate boundary in Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras

Abstract

New structural, geochronological, and petrological data highlight which crustal sections of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary in Guatemala and Honduras accommodated the large-scale sinistral offset. We develop the chronological and kinematic framework for these interactions and test for Palaeozoic to Recent geological correlations among the Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico and the northern Caribbean. Our principal findings relate to how the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary partitioned deformation; whereas the southern Maya Block and the southern Chortís Block record the Late Cretaceous–Early Cenozoic collision and eastward sinistral translation of the Greater Antilles arc, the northern Chortís Block preserves evidence for northward stepping of the plate boundary with the translation of this block to its present position since the Late Eocene. Collision and translation are recorded in the ophiolite and subduction–accretion complex (North El Tambor complex), the continental margin (Rabinal and Chuacús complexes), and the Laramide foreland fold–thrust belt of the Maya Block as well as the overriding Greater Antilles arc complex. The Las Ovejas complex of the northern Chortís Block contains a significant part of the history of the eastward migration of the Chortís Block; it constitutes the southern part of the arc that facilitated the breakaway of the Chortís Block from the Xolapa complex of southern Mexico. While the Late Cretaceous collision is spectacularly sinistral transpressional, the Eocene–Recent translation of the Chortís Block is by sinistral wrenching with transtensional and transpressional episodes. Our reconstruction of the Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic evolution of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary identified Proterozoic to Mesozoic connections among the southern Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico: (i) in the Early–Middle Palaeozoic, the Acatlán complex of the southern Mexican Mixteca terrane, the Rabinal complex of the southern Maya Block, the Chuacús complex, and the Chortís Block were part of the Taconic–Acadian orogen along the northern margin of South America; (ii) after final amalgamation of Pangaea, an arc developed along its western margin, causing magmatism and regional amphibolite–facies metamorphism in southern Mexico, the Maya Block (including Rabinal complex), the Chuacús complex and the Chortís Block. The separation of North and South America also rifted the Chortís Block from southern Mexico. Rifting ultimately resulted in the formation of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous oceanic crust of the South El Tambor complex; rifting and spreading terminated before the Hauterivian (c. 135 Ma). Remnants of the southwestern Mexican Guerrero complex, which also rifted from southern Mexico, remain in the Chortís Block (Sanarate complex); these complexes share Jurassic metamorphism. The South El Tambor subduction–accretion complex was emplaced onto the Chortís Block probably in the late Early Cretaceous and the Chortís Block collided with southern Mexico. Related arc magmatism and high-T/low-P metamorphism (Taxco–Viejo–Xolapa arc) of the Mixteca terrane spans all of southern Mexico. The Chortís Block shows continuous Early Cretaceous–Recent arc magmatism.

Geomorphic analysis of transient landscapes in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and Maya Mountains (northern Central America): implications for the North American–Caribbean–Cocos plate boundary

“…For instance, Burkart (1983) proposed a model in which the Polochic Fault (and perhaps also the Motagua Fault) connected to the Middle America Garrity and Soller (2009). Structures compiled from Guzmán-Speziale (2001), Meneses-Rocha (2001), Rogers et al (2002), Purdy et al (2003), Ratschbacher et al (2009), Authemayou et al (2011) and Witt et al (2012b). Morpho-tectonic domains: CAVA -Central American volcanic arc; CFTB -Chiapas fold-and-thrust belt; CH -Comitán High; CM -Chiapas Massif; CR -Chuacus range; CVC -Central Valley of Chiapas, EYFZ -eastern Yucatán fault zone; GCA -grabens of Central America; LMR -Las Minas range; MM -Maya Mountains; PB -Petén Basin; SCH -Sierra de Chiapas; SdC -Sierra de los Cuchumatanes; TCP -Tabasco coastal plain; YP -Yucatán platform.…”

“…Rogers et al (2002) related these grabens to the uplift of the Central American Plateau following a slab break-off underneath Central America. The onset of extension has been determined at 11-8 Ma (Gordon and Muehlberger, 1994;Ratschbacher et al, 2009). However, most of the presentday extension (11-12 mm yr −1 ) seems to be accommodated along the westernmost grabens (Lyon-Caen et al, 2006;Rodriguez et al, 2009;Franco et al, 2012).…”

“…Thermochronological, tectonic and stratigraphic evidence suggests that renewed exhumation and topographic growth occurred along the Chiapas region during the middle Miocene (16-10 Ma) and late Miocene-Pliocene (6-5 Ma), following a phase of rapid exhumation to upper crustal levels at ∼ 30 Ma (Ratschbacher et al, 2009;Witt et al, 2012a). The Tonalá shear zone may have accommodated significant deformation since 16 Ma, while the displacement along the transpressive Tuxtla and Malpaso faults occurred during the last 6-5 Myr and could have reached 50-70 km, involving 0.5-0.8 cm yr −1 of left-lateral motion (Meneses-Rocha, 2001;Witt et al, 2012b).…”

“…1) in order to test existing models of the North American-Caribbean-Cocos plate boundary (e.g., Malfait and Dinkelman, 1972;Burkart, 1983;Guzmán-Speziale et al, 1989;Lyon-Caen et al, 2006;Ratschbacher et al, 2009;Authemayou et al, 2011). The oceanic Cocos Plate is subducted beneath the North American and Caribbean plates along the Middle America Trench, while the North American-Caribbean plate boundary is a sinistral transform system which accommodates the eastward escape of the Caribbean Plate (e.g., Lyon-Caen et al, 2006;Manea and Manea, 2006;Andreani et al, 2008a;Authemayou et al, 2011).…”

Arc and Slab-Failure Magmatism in Cordilleran Batholiths I – The Cretaceous Coastal Batholith of Peru and its Role in South American Orogenesis and Hemispheric Subduction Flip

“…Rocks of the lower plate crystalline basement were metamorphosed to eclogite at 76 Ma, which implies that part of the North American margin was subducted to a depth greater than 60 km at about that time and exhumed to amphibolite grade a million years later (Martens et al 2012), presumably by slab failure. Even farther south, in the rotated Chortis block, Rogers et al (2007) documented a Late Cretaceous belt of southeast-dipping imbricate thrusts, which they interpreted to represent the accretion of the Caribbean arc system to the Chortis block (see also Pindell et al 2005;Pindell and Kennan 2009;Ratschbacher et al 2009). The arc-bearing block continues through its diachronous collision zone with the Bahamian Bank of North America represented on Cuba and Hispaniola, through the Virgin Islands (Schrecengost 2010) to its still active Antillian segment before reaching northern South America, where it was diachronously deformed along the coastline from west to east (Ostos et al 2005).…”