Margarita López-Martínez

Space-time patterns of Cenozoic arc volcanism in central Mexico: From the Sierra Madre Occidental to the Mexican Volcanic Belt

ABSTRACTA histogram of 778 isotopic ages of magmatic rocks younger than Eocene in centralMexico shows a multimodal distribution with peaks at about 30 Ma, 23 Ma, 10 Ma, and 5 Ma.The sample suite displays systematic spatial variations with age that likely reflect the pro-tracted transition from the north-northwest–trending arc of the Sierra Madre Occidental tothe east-west–trending Mexican Volcanic Belt. The reorientation of the arc is accompanied bya change in the dominant composition of the products from silicic ignimbrites and rhyolites toandesitic and basaltic lavas. The observed transition is related to the Miocene reorganization ofthe subduction system following the cessation of subduction off Baja California and the east-ward motion of the Caribbean–Farallon–North America triple junction along the southeast-ern margin of Mexico. Our data support an early–middle Miocene age for the initiation of sub-horizontal subduction in southern Mexico and confirm that the locus of arc volcanism wasprimarily controlled by the geometry of plate boundaries and the thermal structure of the sub-ducting slab.

Ignimbrite flare‐up and deformation in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental, western Mexico: Implications for the late subduction history of the Farallon plate

geologic mapping, and structural data for the southern part of the SMO demonstrating that most of this volcanic province was built in two episodes of ignimbrite flare-up in Oligocene (31.5–28 Ma) and early Miocene (23.5–20 Ma) time, and that extensional deformation occurred mostly before the transfer of Baja California to the Pacific plate. Extensive ignimbrite successions, with 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages clustering at � 23 and � 21 Ma, cover most of the southern SMO, thus correlating in age with ignimbrites exposed in southern Baja California and central Mexico. Grabens with a 020� to N-S orientation developed in the east almost concurrently with this volcanic episode. Half grabens and NNW striking listric normal fault systems formed at the end of middle Miocene as far as 150 km from the present coast. A belt of left-lateral transpressional structures formed along the southern boundary of the SMO during the same period. We link these magmatic and tectonic events to the evolution and dynamics of the Farallon and North America plates during the Miocene. Particularly, we propose that a first detachment of the lower part of the Farallon plate in early Miocene time produced a transient thermal event and partial melting of the crust via mafic underplating. Middle Miocene extension would be related to a second detachment event, resulting from the slowing subduction that preceded the final capture of the Magdalena microplate by the Pacific plate at 12.5 Ma. Transpression at the southernmost end of the SMO occurred along the inland projection of the MagdalenaCocos plate boundary and may be explained by a difference in subduction rate and by a temporal convergence between the two plates in the eve of the end of subduction of the Magdalena plate. INDEX TERMS: 5480 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Volcanism (8450); 8150 Tectonophysics: Evolution of the Earth: Plate boundary—general (3040); 8109 Tectonophysics: Continental tectonics—extensional (0905); KEYWORDS: ignimbrite flare-up, Sierra Madre Occidental, western Mexico, extensional tectonics, slab detachment

The Acambay graben: Active intraarc extension in the trans‐Mexican volcanic belt, Mexico

The trans-Mexican volcanic belt is an active volcanic arc related to subduction along the Middle America trench. The central part of the belt is being deformed by the Chapala-Tula fault zone, an approximately 450-km-long and 50-km-wide zone of active extension. The volcanic arc and the arc-parallel Chapala-Tula fault zone are superposed nearly perpendicularly on the preexisting stress and deformation province of the Mexican Basin and Range. The Acambay graben, about 40 km long and 15 km wide, is located approximately 100 km northwest of Mexico City and is one of the major troughs within the Chapala-Tula fault zone. The border faults of the Acambay graben, Acambay-Tixmadeje in the north and Pastores in the south, are separated in the west by stepovers from range-bounding faults of similar orientation, Epitacio Huerta in the north and Venta de Bravo in the south. The stepovers occur at the intersection of these faults with an older system of Basin and Range faults. An early-stage right-lateral component of motion along the Venta de Bravo and Pastores faults is inferred on a map scale from a left-stepping en echelon array of normal fault segments. The divergence of the en echelon segments from the general fault trend decreases gradually from west to east, suggesting that the early extension was rotational. The present relative displacement along the southern margin of the system, on the other hand, results in a left-lateral strike-slip component. This is documented on a map scale from extension structures at left stepovers and on an outcrop scale from fault striations indicating left-oblique slip. The striations measured at the northern system margin indicate nearly pure extensional dip slip without a consistent lateral displacement component. This is supported on a map scale by the structure of the right stepover between the Acambay-Tixmadeje and Epitacio Huerta faults, which shows no evidence of local extension or shortening. The divergence between the present directions of motion at the southern and northern margins of the extended zone can be explained by a minor rotational deformation component with the pole of rotation being located to the east of the zone of deformation. This could explain why no active extension has been observed to the east of the Chapala-Tula fault zone, in the eastern part of the trans-Mexican volcanic belt. During the Ms = 6.9 Acambay earthquake of November 19, 1912, surface rupture occurred along both margins of the graben at the base of multiple-event scarps. Along the Acambay-Tixmadeje fault, the coseismic rupture is 41 km long. The vertical offset increases gradually from the eastern end of the surface rupture to its center where it is with 50 cm at a maximum. Furthermore, the change in the vertical surface offset along the fault is approximately proportional to the change in height of the Acambay-Tixmadeje multiple-event fault scarp. The easternmost part of the ground rupture passes through a plain and not at the base of a multiple-event scarp as farther west. It may therefore correspond partly to an increase in length of the Acambay-Tixmadeje fault during the 1912 earthquake. The slip rate along the southern border of the Acambay graben can be estimated from the displacement and age of a basalt flow for which we have obtained a 40Ar/39Ar age of 0.4±0.1 Ma. This basalt may be displaced up to 15 m by the Pastores fault, which indicates a middle-late Quaternary slip rate of ≤0.04 mm/yr. Furthermore, based on a coseismic surface rupture of approximately 20 cm along this fault in the 1912 earthquake, we estimate a recurrence interval of ≥5000 years for major earthquakes along the faults of the Acambay graben.

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.

Arc-rift transition volcanism in the Puertecitos Volcanic Province, northeastern Baja California, Mexico

The Neogene Puertecitos Volcanic Province of northeastern Baja California records a transition from arc-related volcanic activity to rift volcanism associated with opening of the Gulf of California. The eastern Puertecitos Volcanic Province is divided into three volcanic sequences based on mapping, petrology, and ^(40)Ar/^(39)Ar geochronology. The lowest sequence comprises early to middle Miocene (20–16 Ma) arc-related andesitic lava flows, volcanic necks, and proximal pyroclastic and epiclastic deposits up to 400 m in thickness, with minor basaltic lava flows. Following the initiation of crustal extension in the region (11–6 Ma), synrift volcanism produced two rhyolitic sequences that discordantly overlie the arc-related rocks. The older synrift sequence (6.4–5.8 Ma) is composed of rhyolite domes and a series of pyroclastic flows up to 300 m thick. The upper sequence (3.2–2.7 Ma) consists of ash-flow tuffs and pumice-lapilli pyroclastic flows, collectively up to 200 m thick. Minor andesite eruptions followed each episode of silicic synrift volcanism. Synvolcanic faults produced topographic relief that controlled deposition of the pyroclastic flows and caused gentler dips upsection. Rhyolite domes are aligned parallel to the predominant north-northwest to north-northeast fault pattern. All three volcanic sequences are calc-alkaline. However, the synrift andesite is characterized by lower K_(2)O, lower incompatible element concentrations, and less fractionation of light rare earth elements than the arc-related basalt and andesite. This suggests that the primary melts were more primitive for synrift andesite than for the arc-related rocks.

Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene rifting and synextensional magmatism in the southwestern Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico: The beginning of the Gulf of California rift

Although Basin and Range–style extension affected large areas of western Mexico after the Late Eocene, most consider that extension in the Gulf of California region began as subduction waned and ended ca. 14–12.5 Ma. A general consensus also exists in considering Early and Middle Miocene volcanism of the Sierra Madre Occidental and Comondu Group as subduction related, whereas volcanism after ca. 12.5 Ma is extension related. Here we present a new regional geologic study of the eastern Gulf of California margin in the states of Nayarit and Sinaloa, Mexico, backed by 43 new Ar-Ar and U-Pb mineral ages, and geochemical data that document an earlier widespread phase of extension. This extension across the southern and central Gulf Extensional Province began between Late Oligocene and Early Miocene time, but was focused in the region of the future Gulf of California in the Middle Miocene. Late Oligocene to Early Miocene rocks across northern Nayarit and southern Sinaloa were affected by major approximately north-south– to north-northwest–striking normal faults prior to ca. 21 Ma. Between ca. 21 and 11 Ma, a system of north-northwest–south-southeast high-angle extensional faults continued extending the southwestern side of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Rhyolitic domes, shallow intrusive bodies, and lesser basalts were emplaced along this extensional belt at 20–17 Ma. Rhyolitic rocks, in particular the domes and lavas, often show strong antecrystic inheritance but only a few Mesozoic or older xenocrysts, suggesting silicic magma generation in the mid-upper crust triggered by an extension-induced basaltic influx. In northern Sinaloa, large grabens were occupied by huge volcanic dome complexes ca. 21–17 Ma and filled by continental sediments with interlayered basalts dated as 15–14 Ma, a stratigraphy and timing very similar to those found in central Sonora (northeastern Gulf of California margin). Early to Middle Miocene volcanism occurred thus in rift basins, and was likely associated with decompression melting of upper mantle (inducing crustal partial melting) rather than with fluxing by fluids from the young and slow subducting microplates. Along the eastern side of the Gulf of California coast, from Farallon de San Ignacio island offshore Los Mochis, Sinaloa, to San Blas, Nayarit, a strike distance of >700 km, flat-lying basaltic lavas dated as ca. 11.5–10 Ma are exposed just above the present sea level. Here crustal thickness is almost half that in the unextended core of the adjacent Sierra Madre Occidental, implying significant lithosphere stretching before ca. 11 Ma. This mafic pulse, with subdued Nb-Ta negative spikes, may be related to the detachment of the lower part of the subducted slab, allowing an upward asthenospheric flow into an upper mantle previously modified by fluid fluxes related to past subduction. Widespread eruption of very uniform oceanic island basalt–like lavas occurred by the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, only 20 m.y. after the onset of rifting and ∼9 m.y. after the end of subduction, implying that preexisting subduction-modified mantle had now become isolated from melt source regions. Our study shows that rifting across the southern-central Gulf Extensional Province began much earlier than the Late Miocene and provided a fundamental control on the style and composition of volcanism from at least 30 Ma. We envision a sustained period of lithospheric stretching and magmatism during which the pace and breadth of extension changed ca. 20–18 Ma to be narrower, and again after ca. 12.5 Ma, when the kinematics of rifting became more oblique.

Chronological constraints on the thermal and tilting history of the Sierra San Pedro Mártir pluton, Baja California, México, from U/Pb, 40Ar/39Ar, and fission-track geochronology

The tectonothermal history of the four major phases of the Sierra San Pedro Martir pluton and surrounding metamorphic rocks of the Mesozoic Peninsular Ranges batholith of Baja California is presented on the basis of U/Pb, 40 Ar/ 39 Ar step-heating, and fission-track dating, in combination with Al-in-hornblende geobarometry. A previous model proposed up to 90° of east-side-up tilting of the pluton, exposing >20 km of crustal section to account for its crescent shape, asymmetrical zoning, internal structure, the eastward younging of K-Ar dates across the intrusion and eastward increase in the metamorphic grade of the country rocks, from greenschist to amphibolite facies. The U/Pb data suggest that the different phases of the pluton were emplaced sequentially from west to east between 97.0 +4 / −1 Ma and 93.8 +1 / −1 Ma. All except one of the 105 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age spectra have well-defined plateaus and are interpreted as cooling ages. Samples from the pluton give hornblende and biotite 40 Ar/ 39 Ar plateau dates and apatite fission-track dates that young from west to east; thus, hornblende dates decrease from 95 to 91 Ma, biotite dates decrease from 94 to 88 Ma, and apatite dates decrease from 72 to 57 Ma. Muscovite, biotite, and plagioclase from the same rock sample collected at the easternmost phase of the pluton yield concordant 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates of 88 Ma. The exposed part of the pluton underwent rapid cooling (approximately equal to 40 °C/Ma) down to ≈250 °C in the first 10 m.y. after intrusion. Modeling of track-length distribution in apatite is consistent with monotonic slow cooling from ca. 80 Ma to the present. The data do not support a history that includes major tilting of the pluton. Eastward younging of 40 Ar/ 39 Ar and fission-track dates may be explained by approximately equal to 15° of east-side-up tilting of the pluton at or after 88 Ma about a north-south horizontal axis. Furthermore, the fission-track data suggest that part or all of this tilting may have taken place at or after 57 Ma, and therefore may be a consequence of regional-scale crustal extension associated with the opening of the Gulf of California in Neogene time. Such tilting is in agreement with the Al-in-hornblende geobarometry for the hornblende-biotite intrusive phase that yields pressures of 5.2 ± 0.6 kbar. An approximately equal to 15° northeast-side-up tilt of the crustal block containing this pluton would explain the apparent paleomagnetic inclination discrepancies with cratonic North America and militates against large-scale northerly transport of Baja California.

Jurassic volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the La Silla and Todos Santos Formations, Chiapas: Record of Nazas arc magmatism and rift-basin formation prior to opening of the Gulf of Mexico

Stratigraphic relationships, detrital zircon provenance, U-Pb and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology, and trace element geochemistry in volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Sierra homocline of central Chiapas near La Angostura reservoir in Mexico document an extensive pulse of Early–Middle Jurassic arc magmatism in rocks that overlie and intrude the Permian–Triassic Chiapas massif. Upper Jurassic rift-basin strata unconformably overlie the volcanic rocks and the massif. A Pliensbachian U-Pb (zircon) SHRIMP (sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe) age from porphyritic andesite (191.0 ± 3.0 Ma), Early to Middle Jurassic 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates from andesitic dikes, U-Pb grain ages of detrital zircons in overlying strata (196–161 Ma), and previously reported K-Ar dates indicate that subduction-related magmatism occurred in the western portion of the Maya block from Early to latest Middle Jurassic time. We assign the volcanic rocks to the La Silla Formation, which correlates with the informal Pueblo Viejo andesite of the Cintalapa and Uzpanapa regions to the northwest. La Silla magmatism predates opening of the Gulf of Mexico Basin. The Todos Santos Formation, which overlies La Silla Formation, was deposited in extensional basins during the early stages of gulf opening. We recognize a lower El Diamante Member of the Todos Santos, consisting of red fluvial sandstone, mudstone, and minor conglomerate containing primarily volcanic-lithic detritus; this member is characterized by a nearly unimodal Jurassic detrital zircon age population that indicates a Callovian or younger depositional age. Volcanic activity continued into the upper part of the El Diamante Member, but with a more mafic character. We also recognize an upper member, which we term the Jerico Member. This member is characterized by thickly bedded, coarse-grained pebbly arkose intercalated with several thick intervals (tens of meters) of conglomerate and pebbly sandstone. Sandstone petrology indicates a source in the granitic rocks of the Chiapas massif, with a tendency to show deep-seated sources and a diverse zircon population in the upper part of the section. The upper Todos Santos Formation in the study area is gradational into the overlying San Ricardo Formation (Kimmeridgian–Tithonian). The La Silla Formation was deposited in volcanic-complex environments, with a clear lack of differentiated volcanic rocks. Fluvial strata of the El Diamante Member were deposited in a mud-rich sinuous river system. The Jerico Member was deposited in large, sand-rich fluvial systems, which probably represent deposits of rift-axis trunk streams; conglomerate facies were deposited in adjacent and interfingering alluvial fan systems. We suggest that the stratigraphic record of the western Maya block records a transition from volcanic arc to intra-arc basin and subsequently to rift basin during Pliensbachian to Oxfordian time.

Pulling apart the Mid to Late Cenozoic magmatic record of the Gulf of California: is there a Comondú Arc?

Abstract The composition of the lithosphere can be fundamentally altered by long-lived subduction processes such that subduction-modified lithosphere can survive for hundreds of millions of years. Incorrect petrotectonic interpretations result when spatial–temporal–compositional trends of, and source contributions to, magmatism are not properly considered. Western Mexico has had protracted Cenozoic magmatism developed mostly in-board of active oceanic plate subduction beneath western North America. A broad range of igneous compositions from basalt to high-silica rhyolite were erupted with intermediate to silicic compositions in particular, showing calc-alkaline and other typical subduction-related geochemical signatures. A major Oligocene rhyolitic ignimbrite ‘flare-up’ (>300 000 km3) switched to a bimodal volcanic phase in the Early Miocene (c. 100 000 km3), associated with distributed extension and opening of numerous graben. Extension became more focused c. 18 Ma resulting in localized volcanic activity along the future site of the Gulf of California. This localized volcanism (known as the Comondú ‘arc’) was dominantly effusive and andesite–dacite in composition. Past tectonic interpretations of Comondú-age volcanism may have been incorrect as these regional temporal–compositional changes are alternatively interpreted as a result of increased mixing of mantle-derived basaltic and crust-derived rhyolitic magmas in an active rift environment rather than fluid flux melting of the mantle wedge above the subducting Guadalupe Plate. Supplementary material: References from which whole-rock geochemical and radiometric age data have been compiled in this paper are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18645

Timing of rifting in the southern Gulf of California and its conjugate margins: Insights from the plutonic record

The Gulf of California is a young example of crustal stretching and transtensional shearing leading to the birth of a new oceanic basin at a formerly convergent margin. Previous studies focused along the southwestern rifted margin in Baja California indicated rifting was initiated after subduction and related magmatism ceased at ca. 14–12.5 Ma. However, the geologic record on the Mexico mainland (Sinaloa and Nayarit States) indicates crustal stretching in the region began as early as late Oligocene. The timing of cooling and exhumation of pre- and synrift plutonic rocks can provide constraints on the timing and rate of rifting. Here, we present results of a regional study on intrusive rocks in the southern Gulf of California sampled along the conjugate Baja California and Nayarit-Sinaloa rift margins, as well as plutonic rocks now exposed on submerged rifted blocks inside the gulf. Forty-one samples were dated via U/Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar mineral ages, providing emplacement age and thermochronological constraints on timing and rate of cooling. We found an extensive suite of early and middle Miocene plutons emplaced at shallow depths within the basement Cretaceous–Paleocene Peninsular Range and Sinaloa-Jalisco Batholiths. Early Miocene granitoids occur in an elongated WNW-ESE belt crossing the entire southern gulf from southern Baja California to Nayarit and Sinaloa. Most have an intermediate composition ( 75 SiO2 wt%) was emplaced 20.1–18.3 Ma, near the end of the early Miocene. Age span and chemical composition of the early Miocene silicic plutons essentially overlap ignimbrites and domes exposed in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental and in southern Baja California, suggesting that eruptive sources for the early Miocene ignimbrite flare-up may also have been located within the southern Gulf of California. Early Miocene plutons cooled below the 40Ar-39Ar biotite closure temperature (350–400 °C) in less than 2.5 m.y., which we interpret as evidence of a regional extensional event leading to the opening of the Gulf of California. A less widely distributed suite of intermediate-composition, middle Miocene granitoids (15–13 Ma) was sampled from the central-western part of the gulf, west of the Pescadero Basin, and these correspond to an episode of scarce volcanism recorded by the middle and upper members of the onshore Comondu Group in Baja California. Our widely spaced sampling of the generally sediment-covered igneous crust suggests that middle Miocene primary volcanic rocks are much less abundant than implied by previous models in which the gulf was the site of a robust Comondu arc. Thermobarometry data also indicate a very shallow depth (<5 km) of emplacement for the middle Miocene plutonic rocks. Some of these rocks also show a distinctive inequigranular texture indicative of at least two crystallization stages at different pressure. Early and middle Miocene granitoids away from the gulf axis yielded 40Ar-39Ar cooling ages very close to U-Pb zircon ages, demonstrating rapid cooling to <350 °C, which we attribute to their shallow emplacement and, possibly, to exhumation soon after intrusion. Since Comondu-age and middle Miocene magmatism in the gulf region coincided with rapid cooling of young plutons that predate the end of subduction, we suggest that intense crustal stretching controlled the pattern and timing of Comondu-age magmatism, rather than the middle Miocene magmatism controlling the locus of <12 Ma extension.