Alvaro Márquez

Alkalic (ocean-island basalt type) and calc-alkalic volcanism in the Mexican volcanic belt: A case for plume-related magmatism and propagating rifting at an active margin?

The Mexican volcanic belt has been traditionally regarded as a classic case of subduction-related calc-alkalic volcanism. However, a series of geologic, geophysical, and petrological arguments makes this simple relationship doubtful. A seismic gap beneath the belt, a large-scale mantle anomaly, a graben triple-junction domain, and the presence of volumetrically important oceanic-island basalt (OIB) volcanism throughout the belt suggest a more complex tectonic scenario involving plume- and subduction-related processes. We here propose a model involving the development of a propagating rift opening from west to east in response to plume activity. The process started in Miocene time within the western sector of the belt (Guadalajara) and gave rise to a graben triple junction and OIB-type and calc-alkalic volcanism. Extension and volcanism proceeded to the east, giving rise to progressively younger ages for the initiation of OIB-type volcanism: (1) Miocene in the west (e.g., Guadalajara), (2) Pliocene in the central zone (e.g., Michoacan-Guanajuato), and (3) Quaternary farther east (e.g., Chichinautzin). Geochemical evidence suggests that part of the modern calc-alkalic volcanism (e.g., Chichinautzin) may be derived from magma mixing between the OIB mafic magmas and silicic, crust-derived magmas. However, we do not preclude some influence of the subducting slab in the generation of other (e.g., Jorullo) calc-alkalic volcanic rocks. Our model suggests a currently unrooted upper plume attached to the subcontinental lithosphere, which defines a hot zone beneath the Mexican volcanic belt.

Tectonics and volcanism of Sierra Chichinautzin: extension at the front of the Central Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

Abstract Because of its recent activity and position at the southern magmatic front of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB), the Sierra Chichinautzin volcanic field (SCN) is a key area for the understanding of this controversial volcanic province. Volcanic activity has built more than 220 monogenetic volcanoes (shields, scoria cones, thick lava flows, and hydromagmatic structures) during the last 40,000 years, for a total volume of about 470 km 3 . The SCN basalts are geochemically similar to OIBs, while the intermediate and felsic volcanic rocks show a calc-alkaline trend and abundant evidence for magma mixing. The structural analysis of this volcanic field and surrounding areas has been based on field data, satellite images, and a method for detecting volcanic center alignments. The tectonic data, together with geophysical evidence, confirm active general N–S extensional conditions with a strike–slip component for the SCN area, the same structural setting that prevails in the rest of the Central TMVB. Extensional tectonics, a negative regional Bouger gravity anomaly, a low-velocity mantle, high heat flow, and shallow seismicity suggest a rift-type setting involving the upwelling of anomalous mantle beneath the Central TMVB. The combined petrological, structural and geophysical arguments support that the SCN volcanism is rift-related, and rule out processes involving the subduction of the Cocos plate, which casts further doubts on the standard subduction model for the TMVB volcanism.

Tharsis dome, Mars: New evidence for Noachian-Hesperian thick-skin and Amazonian thin-skin tectonics

A photogeological reconnaissance of Viking mosaics and images of the Tharsis dome has been carried out. Fifteen new areas of transcurrent faulting have been located which, together with other structures previously detected, support a model in which the Thaumasia Plateau, the southeastern part of the Tharsis dome, is proposed to be an independent lithospheric block that experienced buckling and thrust faulting in Late Noachian or Early Hesperian times as a result of an E-W directed compression. Evidence is presented that this stress field, rather than the Tharsis uplift, was decisive in the inception of Valles Marineris, which we consider a transtensive, dextral accident. The buckling spacing permits us, moreover, to tentatively reconstruct a Martian Hesperian lithosphere similar in elastic thickness to the mean present terrestrial oceanic lithosphere, thus supporting the possibility of a restricted lithospheric mobility in that period. Tharsis lithosphere was again subjected to shear stresses in Amazonian times, a period in which important accidents, such as strike-slip faults, wrinkle ridges, and straight and sigmoidal graben, were formed under a thin-skin tectonic regime, while the lithosphere as a mechanical unit had become too thick and strong to buckle. The possible causes of those stresses, and especially their relationships to a putative period of plate tectonics, are discussed.

Southward migration of volcanic activity in the central Mexican Volcanic Belt: asymmetric extension within a two-layer crustal stretching model

Abstract Magmatic activity in the Miocene to present Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB) is migrating to the south. Volcanic activity is associated with extension, which is being accommodated along a major, 1000-km-long, E–W-oriented continental rift. In turn, the MVB is cross-cut by older, though active N–S- to NNW-oriented major extensional faults, along which the polygenetic volcanoes are aligned. A southward migration pattern is also observed for the monogenetic volcanism, which however appears to be related to E–W- and N60°E-oriented extensional faults. We suggest that the southward migration of volcanic activity can be explained in terms of a two-layer crustal stretching model (brittle and ductile domains). The layers would be separated at an upper crustal level by a zone of simple-shear decoupling, at the brittle–ductile transition zone (BDTZ). The overall movement above the BDTZ is southward-directed, the only direction to which the Central MVB can extend and grow. Our model suggests that the magmas that feed the volcanism become stored at the BDTZ. Evidence supporting this assumption is provided by the Al-in-hornblende thermobarometer and the Ol–Pl–SiOr pseudoternary diagram, which indicate average pressures between 2.5 and 4xa0kbar. The magmas feeding the monogenetic volcanism ascend rapidly along active E–W and N60°E extensional faults (large strain rates), i.e. they do not have enough time to form large magma chambers. The magmas feeding the polygenetic volcanism are emplaced along N–S to NNW faults (lower strain rates). These magmas remain stored for longer periods at the BDTZ of the N–S to NNW faults, and therefore form large magmatic chambers, shaping vertical overshoots of several kilometers of height. The results from geobarometry indicating magma emplacement depth at around 8xa0km for the polygenetic volcanism, and 12xa0km for the monogenetic volcanism, are in good agreement with the rheological constraints of a BDTZ at about 10xa0km of depth. We envisage a feedback mechanism regarding magma storage and shallowing of the BDTZ, i.e. magma emplacement shallows the BDTZ; in turn, this shallowing controls the new zones for magma emplacement, a southward directed process.

Mineralogical and geochemical constraints for the origin and evolution of magmas in Sierra Chichinautzin, Central Mexican Volcanic Belt

Abstract The Sierra Chichinautzin Volcanic Field is a key area for understanding the origin of the controversial Mexican Volcanic Belt (MVB). This is due to its recent volcanic activity, which is located at the front of the Central MVB. Although a direct genetic relationship between the volcanism of the MVB and the subduction of the Cocos plate is accepted by most authors, geological, geophysical and geochemical key features of the MVB depart from those of typical magmatic arcs. This fact has promoted a debate on the nature of the complex mantle beneath the MVB: (1) slab-induced convection in the mantle wedge that causes advection of asthenospheric mantle and (2) anomalously hot mantle related to the eastward channeling of plume-related material. This is a petrological study of the Sierra Chichinautzin volcanism, using mineralogical data from selected representative samples, together with their geochemistry, to refine the existing models of magmatic processes. The integrated petrological analyses have been used to define four main groups of rocks in Sierra Chichinautzin: (1) Ol-mafic rocks, (2) Opx-intermediate rocks, (3) Opx-felsic rocks, and (4) Qtz-intermediate/felsic rocks. Moreover, two different types of mantle-derived primitive mafic magmas have been described based on their mineralogical and geochemical features: (1) OIB-like mafic magmas (presence of olivine+plagioclase phenocrysts; higher incompatible element contents with no HFSE/LILE negative anomalies), and (2) mafic magmas derived from a metasomatized mantle (no plagioclase phenocrysts and more forsteritic olivine; HFSE/LILE negative anomalies). We prove that the diversity of magmas (basalts to dacites) in Sierra Chichinautzin is un-related to fractional crystallization processes from the mafic magmas. Rather, magma mixing phenomena between mafic magmas and two different crustal-derived felsic magma types (Opx-dacite and Qtz+Bt+Amp+Pl+Cpx+Opx-dacite) explain the textural, mineralogical, and geochemical signatures of most of the Sierra Chichinautzin rocks. There is a strong genetic relationship between the mafic and felsic end members of each mixing trend. The relatively anhydrous OIB-like mafic magmas promote partial melting of a basaltic lower crust under low water fugacity conditions, generating Opx-bearing felsic rocks. On the contrary, hydrous mafic magmas derived from a metasomatized mantle, promote basaltic crustal partial melting under high water fugacities, yielding magmas with a complex hydrous phenocryst assemblage. Several important geodynamical implications for the origin of the MVB magmatism can be extracted from this petrological study: (1) the existence of two different primitive mafic magmas implies the presence of an heterogeneous mantle source beneath Sierra Chichinautzin; (2) present data do not offer enough evidence to constrain the nature of the metasomatizing fluids beneath Sierra Chichinautzin; and (3) the negative Nb anomaly of most of the Sierra Chichinautzin rocks (andesites and dacites) is due to magma mixing, and therefore is not a signature of the role of fluids from the subducting Cocos plate. These geochemical features, together with the geophysical and tectonic scenario of the Sierra Chichinautzin, indicate that volcanism in this area is mainly related to the upwelling of an anomalously hot OIB-like mantle, and cast further doubts on a significant role of the subducting Cocos plate in the origin of this magmatism.

Circular features in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt

One hundred and ninety-one circular or elliptical features have been located on Landsat imagery of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). The origin of most of these features is unknown. Nine have been recognized as collapse calderas (clearly visible on Landsat imagery) and studied in detail, while an equally small number have been tentatively identified as such but not thoroughly investigated. On the basis of the identification of at least five of the nine calderas through their detection on Landsat images, it is proposed that the present inventory is a reliable base to extend the census of the TMVB confirmed calderas, now clearly too small for a population of roughly 8000 volcanic centers, many of which emitted large volumes of felsic pyroclastic products.