The Origin and Tectonic Significance of the Basin and Range–Rio Grande Rift Boundary in Southern New Mexico, USA

Ricketts, Jason W.; Amato, Jeffrey M.; Gavel, Michelle M.

doi:10.1130/gsatg509a.1

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 33 publications

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“…The Hueco Bolsón and its northern extension into Tularosa Valley, along with Mesilla Valley-Jornada del Muerto basin (Figure 1a), are large elements of the southern part of the Neogene Rio Grande Rift. The Rift in this area comprises a set of deep alluvial basins separated by hard-rock mountain ranges and is an extensional tectonic feature resembling the Basin and Range Province [20] but may be a separate entity [21]. The Rio Grande leaves Mesilla Valley through a hard-rock barrier between the Franklin Mts.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of Sulfate in Groundwater and Surface Water of the Rio Grande Floodplain, Texas, USA and Chihuahua, Mexico

et al. 2022

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Sulfate isotopes (δ34S, δ18OSO4) interpreted in conjunction with sulfate concentrations show that sulfate of both agricultural and geologic sources is present in groundwater and surface water in the Rio Grande flood plain within the Hueco Bolsón. From previous studies, water isotopes (δ2H, δ18O) in the study area indicate groundwater age relative to dam construction upstream. Surface water entering the Hueco Bolsón contains a mixture of soil-amendment sulfate and sulfate from deep-basin groundwater seeps at the terminus of Mesilla Valley. In the shallow Rio Grande alluvial aquifer within the Hueco Bolsón, ranges of δ34S in pre-dam (+2 to +9‰) and post-dam (0 to +6‰) groundwater overlap; the range for post-dam water coincides with common high-sulfate soil amendments used in the area. Most post-dam groundwater, including discharge into agricultural drains, has higher sulfate than pre-dam groundwater. In surface water downstream of Fabens, high-δ34S (>+10‰) sulfate, resembling Middle Permian gypsum, mixes with sulfate from upstream sources and agriculture. The high- δ34S sulfate probably represents discharge from the regional Hueco Bolsón aquifer. In surface water downstream of Fort Hancock, soil-amendment sulfate predominates, probably representing discharge from the Rio Grande alluvial aquifer near the basin terminus. The δ18OSO4 dataset is consistent with sulfate origins determined from the larger δ34S dataset.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Origins of Sulfate in Groundwater and Surface Water of the Rio Grande Floodplain, Texas, USA and Chihuahua, Mexico

et al. 2022

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Connecting visual metamictization to radiation damage to expand applications of zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry

Armstrong,

Ault,

Kaempfer

et al. 2024

Chemical Geology

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Thermochronological transect across the Basin and Range/Rio Grande rift transition: Contrasting cooling histories in contiguous extensional provinces

et al. 2021

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The Basin and Range and Rio Grande rift (RGR) are regions of crustal extension in southwestern North America that developed after Laramide-age shortening, but it has not been clear whether onset and duration of extension in these contiguous extensional provinces were the same. We conducted a study of exhumation of fault blocks along a transect from the southeastern Basin and Range to across the RGR in southern New Mexico. A suite of 128 apatite and 63 zircon (U-Th)/He dates (AHe and ZHe), as well as 27 apatite fission-track (AFT) dates, was collected to investigate the cooling and exhumation histories of this region. Collectively, AHe dates range from 3 to 46 Ma, ZHe dates range from 2 to 288 Ma, and AFT dates range from 10 to 34 Ma with average track lengths of 10.8–14.1 µm. First-order spatiotemporal trends in the combined data set suggest that Basin and Range extension was either contemporaneous with Eocene–Oligocene Mogollon-Datil volcanism or occurred before volcanism ended ca. 28 Ma, as shown by trends in ZHe data that suggest reheating to above 240 °C at that time. AHe and ZHe dates from the southern RGR represent a wider range in dates that suggest the main phase of cooling occurred after 25 Ma, and these blocks were not reheated after exhumation. Time-temperature models created by combining AHe, AFT, and ZHe data in the modeling software HeFTy were used to interpret patterns in cooling rate across the study area and further constrain magmatic and/or volcanic versus faulting related cooling. The Chiricahua Mountains and Burro Mountains have an onset of rapid extension, defined as cooling rates in excess of >15 °C/m.y., at ca. 29–17 Ma. In the Cookes Range, a period of rapid extension occurred at ca. 19–7 Ma. In the San Andres Mountains, Franklin Mountains, Caballo Mountains, and Fra Cristobal range, rapid extension occurred from ca. 23 to 9 Ma. Measured average track lengths are longer in Rio Grande rift samples, and ZHe dates of >40 Ma are mostly present east of the Cookes Range, suggesting different levels of exhumation for the zircon partial retention zone and the AFT partial annealing zone. The main phase of fault-block uplift in the southern RGR occurred ca. 25–7 Ma, similar to what has been documented in the northern and central sections of the rift. Although rapid cooling occurred throughout southern New Mexico, thermochronological data from this study with magmatic and volcanic ages suggest rapid cooling was coeval with magmatism in the Basin and Range, whereas in the Rio Grande rift cooling occurred during an amagmatic gap. These observations support a model where an early phase of extension was facilitated by widespread ignimbrite magmatism in the southeastern Basin and Range, whereas in the southern Rio Grande rift, extension started later and continues today and may have occurred between local episodes of basaltic magmatism. These differences in cooling history make the Rio Grande rift tectonically distinct from the Basin and Range. We infer based on geologic and thermochronological evidence that the onset of extension in the southern Rio Grande rift occurred at ca. 27–25 Ma, significantly later than earlier estimates of ca. 35 Ma.

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The Origin and Tectonic Significance of the Basin and Range–Rio Grande Rift Boundary in Southern New Mexico, USA

Cited by 5 publications

References 33 publications

Origins of Sulfate in Groundwater and Surface Water of the Rio Grande Floodplain, Texas, USA and Chihuahua, Mexico

Origins of Sulfate in Groundwater and Surface Water of the Rio Grande Floodplain, Texas, USA and Chihuahua, Mexico

Connecting visual metamictization to radiation damage to expand applications of zircon (U-Th)/He thermochronometry

Thermochronological transect across the Basin and Range/Rio Grande rift transition: Contrasting cooling histories in contiguous extensional provinces

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