Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra

We report an interesting Aptian ammonite record from the La Peña Formation in the Sierra de Parras, Coahuila State. This assemblage is analyzed from a paleoecological perspective. It contains the first reported occurrence of a macroconch of Dufrenoyia from Mexico, and the largest known specimen of 'Gargasiceras' adkinsi. Such an assemblage yielding large ammonites is unusual in deposits of this age in Mexico. To properly document this ammonite record, we review 'Gargasiceras' adkinsi, formerly misidentified as Rhytidoplites robertsi, and allied taxa. From our analysis, we conclude that 'Gargasiceras' adkinsi exhibits strong intraspecific variability. We also analyze in detail the differences that exist between 'Gargasiceras' adkinsi and Rhytidoplites robertsi, and emend the concept of the genus Rhytidoplites. These revisions are important from a biostratigraphic point of view since 'Gargasiceras' adkinsi is an index species for the lower Aptian ammonite zonation of Mexico.

The Cerro Mercado pluton, emplaced in the Coahuila fold belt, contains magmatic, ductile, and brittle fabrics that suggest local and regional deformation during igneous emplacement, later affected by regional deformation in the area. The Cerro Mercado pluton intruded, deformed and uplifted Upper Cretaceous strata in the southern edge of the central depression of the Sabinas basin. A hornblende mineral separate from the pluton yielded a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar plateau age of 44.29 ± 0.19 Ma (1σ), interpreted as an approximation to the crystallization age of the monzonite. A younger biotite total fusion age of 41.23 ± 0.21 Ma (1σ) from a different rock sample is interpreted to represent slow cooling (~80°C/Ma) of the Cerro Mercado pluton. Paleomagnetic analyses of the pluton yield well defi ned remanent magnetizations of nearly uniform reverse polarity, with a grand mean of D=178.2° and I=-61.7° (N=9 acceptable sites; k=57.5, α95 = 6.8°). These data are discordant with respect to the Eocene reference direction, indicating apparent clockwise rotation (~8°) and inclination steepening (~21°). The simplest interpretation of the discordance is that northwestward tilting of the pluton occurred during basin inversion within a weakly right lateral transpressive regime with NNW directed contraction. The strain fi eld is consistent with contraction during the Laramide orogeny. Also, remanence acquisition is contemporaneous with both tectonic and magmatic fabrics in the pluton indicating that it is syntectonic. This suggests -in agreement with stratigraphic data -that the Laramide orogeny in central Coahuila ended some time after about 44 Ma. We propose that reactivation of the San Marcos fault and other basement faults in the Sabinas basin represents the last manifestation of shortening produced by the Laramide orogeny. This was a short episode of deformation that ended by the time of emplacement of younger plutons of the Candela-Monclova magmatic belt ca. 41 Ma. This indicates that culmination of the Laramide orogeny in central Coahuila is only slightly younger than in central Chihuahua.

Capas continentales de edad Jurásico Superior y Cretácico Inferior, en el núcleo del anticlinal de la Sierra de La Fragua en el centro de Coahuila, presentan una magnetización característica de polaridad dual, que interpretamos como una magnetización primaria remanente química. Areniscas eólicas y fluviales del Jurásico Superior que conforman las capas Colorado, presentan una media de D=10.2° I°=28.2° (n=18 sitios, k=22.1, α 95 =7.5°). Areniscas fluviales del Cretácico Inferior de la Formación San Marcos dan una media combinada de D=358.1°, I=46.4° (n=13 sitios, k=22.7, α 95 =8.9°), pero los sitios estratigráficamente inferiores en el lado este del anticlinal tienen una dirección sur-suroeste y una magnetización negativa moderadamente alta (D=191.7°, I=-54.9°; k=38.7, α 95 =9.8, n = 7 sitios), los cuales son estadísticamente diferentes de la magnetización dirigida al noroeste (D=333.6°, I=58.0°; k=28.3, α 95 =12.8°, n=7 sitios) observada en los sitios estratigráficamente más altos en la parte central-occidental del anticlinal. Interpretamos la diferencia en las inclinaciones en la Formación San Marcos como el resultado de la rotación durante la depositación de esta unidad. La magnetización característica con inclinación somera en los estratos jurásicos es también discordante con respecto a la dirección de referencia para el Jurásico Tardío. Tanto la Formación San Marcos como las capas Colorado indican rotación en sentido horario de 38.5°±8.3° y 30.0°±2.3° respectivamente. Los sitios de muestreo se encuentran localizados dentro de una cuña clástica que registra la actividad de la Falla San Marcos durante el Jurásico Tardío y el Cretácico Temprano. Datos estructurales indican que durante la depositación de las capas Colorado y la Formación San Marcos, la falla se comportó como una falla normal con una pequeña componente lateral-derecha. El area de Potrero Colorado se interpreta como una zona de relevo en la falla San Marcos, la cual acomodó rotación horaria registrada en los estratos Jurásico Superior-Cretácico Inferior.

The 102 Ma El Potrero pluton, in the western foothills of Sierra San Pedro Mártir, in north-central Baja California, was emplaced during a long period of contractional deformation bracketed between 132 and 85 Ma that affected this segment of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith. The pluton records regional and emplacement related deformation manifested by: (1) a solid-state fabric developed on its eastern contact, which is produced by eastward lateral pluton expansion; (2) cleavage triple point zones in the host-rock NW and SE of the pluton; (3) subhorizontal ductile shear zones indicative of top-to-the-east transport; (4) magmatic and tectonic foliations parallel to regional structural trends and regional shear zones; (5) variable axial ratios of microgranitoid enclaves close to pluton-wall rock contacts; (6) evidence of brittle-emplacement mechanisms in the western border of the pluton, which contrast with features indicating mainly ductile mechanisms toward the east; and, (7) markedly discordant paleomagnetic directions that suggest emplacement in an active tectonic setting. The overall mean for 9 accepted paleomagnetic sites is Dec = 34.6°, I = 25.7°(k = 88.3, α 95 = 5.5°), and is deviated ∼35°with respect to the reference cratonic direction. This magnetization is interpreted to indicate a combination of tilt due to initial drag during vertical diapiric ascent (or westward lateral-oblique expansion) of the adjacent San Pedro Mártir pluton and later rotation (∼ 15°) by Rosarito Fault activity in the southwest; this rotation may have occurred as eastward contraction acted to fill the space emptied by the ascending San Pedro Mártir pluton. The Rosarito fault may have tilted several plutons in the area (Sierra San Pedro Mártir, El Potrero, San José, and Encinosa). Magnetic susceptibility fabrics for 13 sites reflect mostly emplacement-related stress and regional stress. Paleomagnetic data and structural observations lead us to interpret the El Potrero pluton as a syntectonic pluton, emplaced within a regional shear zone delimited by the Main Mártir Thrust and the younger Rosarito Fault.

The 102 Ma El Potrero pluton, in the western foothills of Sierra San Pedro Mártir, in north-central Baja California, was emplaced during a long period of contractional deformation bracketed between 132 and 85 Ma that affected this segment of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith. The pluton records regional and emplacement related deformation manifested by: (1) a solid-state fabric developed on its eastern contact, which is produced by eastward lateral pluton expansion; (2) cleavage triple point zones in the host-rock NW and SE of the pluton; (3) subhorizontal ductile shear zones indicative of top-to-the-east transport; (4) magmatic and tectonic foliations parallel to regional structural trends and regional shear zones; (5) variable axial ratios of microgranitoid enclaves close to pluton-wall rock contacts; (6) evidence of brittle-emplacement mechanisms in the western border of the pluton, which contrast with features indicating mainly ductile mechanisms toward the east; and, (7) markedly discordant paleomagnetic directions that suggest emplacement in an active tectonic setting. The overall mean for 9 accepted paleomagnetic sites is Dec = 34.6°, I = 25.7°(k = 88.3, α 95 = 5.5°), and is deviated ∼35°with respect to the reference cratonic direction. This magnetization is interpreted to indicate a combination of tilt due to initial drag during vertical diapiric ascent (or westward lateral-oblique expansion) of the adjacent San Pedro Mártir pluton and later rotation (∼ 15°) by Rosarito Fault activity in the southwest; this rotation may have occurred as eastward contraction acted to fill the space emptied by the ascending San Pedro Mártir pluton. The Rosarito fault may have tilted several plutons in the area (Sierra San Pedro Mártir, El Potrero, San José, and Encinosa). Magnetic susceptibility fabrics for 13 sites reflect mostly emplacement-related stress and regional stress. Paleomagnetic data and structural observations lead us to interpret the El Potrero pluton as a syntectonic pluton, emplaced within a regional shear zone delimited by the Main Mártir Thrust and the younger Rosarito Fault.

The 102 Ma El Potrero pluton, in the western foothills of Sierra San Pedro Mártir, in north-central Baja California, was emplaced during a long period of contractional deformation bracketed between 132 and 85 Ma that affected this segment of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith. The pluton records regional and emplacement related deformation manifested by: (1) a solid-state fabric developed on its eastern contact, which is produced by eastward lateral pluton expansion; (2) cleavage triple point zones in the host-rock NW and SE of the pluton; (3) subhorizontal ductile shear zones indicative of top-to-the-east transport; (4) magmatic and tectonic foliations parallel to regional structural trends and regional shear zones; (5) variable axial ratios of microgranitoid enclaves close to pluton-wall rock contacts; (6) evidence of brittle-emplacement mechanisms in the western border of the pluton, which contrast with features indicating mainly ductile mechanisms toward the east; and, (7) markedly discordant paleomagnetic directions that suggest emplacement in an active tectonic setting. The overall mean for 9 accepted paleomagnetic sites is Dec = 34.6°, I = 25.7°(k = 88.3, α 95 = 5.5°), and is deviated ∼35°with respect to the reference cratonic direction. This magnetization is interpreted to indicate a combination of tilt due to initial drag during vertical diapiric ascent (or westward lateral-oblique expansion) of the adjacent San Pedro Mártir pluton and later rotation (∼ 15°) by Rosarito Fault activity in the southwest; this rotation may have occurred as eastward contraction acted to fill the space emptied by the ascending San Pedro Mártir pluton. The Rosarito fault may have tilted several plutons in the area (Sierra San Pedro Mártir, El Potrero, San José, and Encinosa). Magnetic susceptibility fabrics for 13 sites reflect mostly emplacement-related stress and regional stress. Paleomagnetic data and structural observations lead us to interpret the El Potrero pluton as a syntectonic pluton, emplaced within a regional shear zone delimited by the Main Mártir Thrust and the younger Rosarito Fault.

En estas localidades aflora una secuencia de conglomerados, areniscas inmaduras y lodolitas rojas, cementadas por hematita; esta secuencia de ambiente continental está asignada al Cretácico Temprano. Todos los especímenes, de un total de 35 sitios, fueron sujetos a procesos de desmagnetización por campos alternos y térmico, siendo este último el más efectivo para aislar la magnetización característica (alta temperatura). La componente característica fue aislada entre 625 º y 660 ºC, se identificaron magnetizaciones de polaridades normal e inversa con una dirección media general de Dec = 352.7 º, Inc = 55.5 º, N = 3 localidades (18 sitios), k = 27.07, α 95 = 6.8 º. Este resultado sugiere una pequeña rotación horaria con respecto la dirección promedio del Cretácico esperada, calculada de la curva de vagabundeo polar aparente para Norteamérica. Sin embargo, los datos sugieren que existieron rotaciones relativas entre las localidades muestreadas y que las rotaciones son respecto a ejes verticales locales. La zonación de polaridad magnética identificada sugiere que la edad aproximada de la Formación San Marcos comprende desde el Barremiano Temprano al Aptiano Temprano. La correlación con la escala magnética de polaridad global sugiere que esta unidad se relaciona con la Formación

Cartografía geológica-estructural en la sierra Cuesta El Infierno (SCI), ubicada en el borde occidental del levantamiento de Plomosas, permitió identificar dos sucesiones volcánicas del Paleógeno que descansan discordantemente sobre rocas sedimentarias del cinturón plegado de Chihuahua. Las sucesiones volcánicas, a las que llamamos informalmente sucesión inferior (flujos piroclásticos félsicos y depósitos clásticos continentales) y sucesión superior (derrames de lava andesítica y una ignimbrita riolítica) están separadas por una discordancia angular y afloran en dos dominios estructurales diferentes. Estos dominios estructurales están separados por una falla de basamento inferida (N70ºW) con una historia compleja y que desde el Paleógeno medio-tardío actuó como una zona de transferencia, que acomodó la deformación con fallas con diferentes orientaciones en las áreas situadas al norte y al sur de su traza. Esta falla de basamento controló localmente el emplazamiento de algunos flujos piroclásticos y derrames de lava y la distribución de esfuerzos durante la actividad extensional del Cenozoico asociada a la provincia de Cuencas y Sierras ("Basin and Range province"). En el dominio estructural septentrional de la SCI se distingue un sinclinal con rumbo N20°W que buza hacia el SSE asociado con un sistema de fallas lístricas, paralelas al eje del sinclinal que fue desarrollado en rocas de la sucesión inferior y con un anticlinal "roll-over" pequeño. El sinclinal es interpretado como un pliegue por doblez de falla ("fault bend fold"); por otra parte, en la parte meridional del área estudiada hay una zona de acomodo entre dos fallas lístricas antitéticas entre sí que dieron origen, por rotación de los bloques de techo, a una antiforma con una orientación N45°W.

The Zona Canteras-Puerto Peñasco area, previously known as Seven Hills, is located ~20 km ENE of the town of Puerto Peñasco in NW Sonora, Mexico. Crystalline basement in this area is key to defining Proterozoic provinces of SW Laurentia and has important implications for Phanerozoic tectonics and formation of the active continental margin of North America. New U-Pb zircon ages (LA-MC-ICPMS) of two banded gneisses in this area yield 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages at 1764 ± 3 Ma and 1725 ± 3 Ma. Zircons from both samples are well-behaved in the U-Pb systematics and present age and compositional homogeneity, suggesting that these rocks are Paleoproterozoic orthogneisses. These crystallization ages combined with whole rock major-and trace-element geochemistry and Sm-Nd in whole rock and Lu-Hf isotopic determinations on zircons by laser ablation suggest that the banded gneisses have affinities with rocks of the Yavapai province as defined in the Quitovac area ~45 km to the east and in the region of Gunnison-Salida, Colorado, USA. Both samples plot in the volcanic arc environment of granite formation (Y vs Nb discrimination diagram) and have epsilon Hf (initial) values between +1.85 and +5.05 with corresponding single-stage Hf model ages (T DM) at 1.98-2.07 Ga and two-stage Hf model ages (T DM C) at 2.07-2.50 Ga. Sm-Nd whole rock isotopic analyses from three Paleoproterozoic gneisses have epsilon Nd (initial) values between +1.86 and-0.57 with corresponding Nd model ages (T DM) at 1.91-2.02 Ga. The magmatic protoliths of these gneisses could have been formed mostly from mantle sources with some degree of crustal contribution, which is similar to rocks from the Yavapai province in SW North America. This petrogenesis contrasts with typical Mojave-province rocks that are characterized by significantly greater crustal contamination (as much as 30-40% in Death Valley). If these Mojave province rocks exist in NW Sonora they must be located to the west of the Zona Canteras-Puerto Peñasco area.

A semi-quantitative thermochronological study, combining U-Pb and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar geochronology, has allowed assessment of the crystallization and cooling history of the Laramide Sierrita Blanca granite as well as the thermal effects resulting from the intrusion into the Mesoproterozoic host rocks (~1.1 Ga Murrieta granite). The U-Pb zircon age discrepancy between two samples of the Sierrita Blanca granite (72.6 ± 1.2 Ma and 69.7 ± 1.0 Ma) could be explained by a process of faster magma cooling in the contact zone with the host Murrieta granite. However, that the Sierrita Blanca granitic unit was made up of multiple intrusions of similar compositions emplaced relatively close in time cannot be discarded. The 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages of both biotite and K-feldspar for the granite collected close to the contact are also significantly older than the ages for the sample collected in a more internal zone of the intrusion. The initial cooling of the Sierrita Blanca granite was fairly fast and monotonous from the closure temperature of zircon to that of biotite (~36-32°C/Ma). Subsequently, the cooling of these Laramide rocks became relatively slow (~10-9°C/Ma) between the closure temperature of biotite and K-feldspar. These estimated cooling rates are similar, perhaps slightly slower, to the ones estimated for other Laramide granitoids in NW Mexico. Three samples of the host Murrieta granite, collected at different distances from the Laramide intrusion, were dated by U-Pb zircon geochronology at ~1.1 Ga, reiterating that the U-Pb zircon systematics are quite resistant to thermal effects inflicted by intrusions like the one in the Sierrita Blanca. However, close inspection of the U-Pb zircon data suggests the presence of Pb loss for some of the zircons. This Pb-loss phenomenon is most pronounced in the zircons from the sample collected at the contact with the Sierrita Blanca intrusive where heat and/or hydrothermal fluids are released by the Laramide intrusion. It is important to note that away from the intrusion-host contact there is a gradual decrease of such thermal effects in the rocks until samples with zircons that show no effects of resetting as suggested by their total U-Pb zircon concordance. This thermal resetting is more prominent in the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar systematics of biotite and K-feldspar, since they are totally reset to Laramide ages, including the sample collected the farthest away from the contact. The estimation of post-resetting cooling of biotite and K-feldspar from the host rocks at ~18-15°C/Ma is, in a sense, coherent with the cooling estimates for the same minerals for the Sierrita Blanca granite. This suggests that the general cooling of the Sierrita Blanca after the Laramide intrusion was, for the most part, coherent for the entire area and ended, as expected, in the more internal zones of the Laramide intrusion. Lastly, it is important to point out that the Miocene magmatic pulse present in the Sierrita Blanca and adjacent areas has not caused any thermal disturbance to the Cretaceous or Mesoproterozoic igneous rocks studied in the area.

El presente estudio reporta información petrográfica y geoquímica del Complejo Plutónico El Peñuelo (CPEP), perteneciente al Cinturón de Intrusivos de Concepción del Oro (CICO, noreste de México). El CPEP es una estructura semi-circular, constituida por tres centros de emplazamiento, ubicada en el extremo oriental del CICO y en la extensión norte de la traza del sistema de fallas Taxco-San Miguel de Allende. Sin embargo, el complejo no fue deformado por la actividad de este sistema de fallas. El CPEP está constituido por rocas intrusivas que varían desde cuarzo monzodiorita a cuarzosienita, siendo ésta última la unidad que cubre la mayor parte de la superficie del complejo. El CPEP se emplazó en rocas sedimentarias marinas del Cretácico superior. La cuarzosienita es cortada por diques de cuarzomonzodiorita y mesosienita porfíritica. Además, esta unidad contiene enclaves microgranulares de monzodiorita distribuidos de forma irregular y diques pegmatíticos cortan al resto de las unidades litológicas. La asociación mineralógica en el CPEP presenta cantidades variables de plagioclasa + feldspato alcalino + cuarzo ± anfíbol + biotita ± ortopiroxeno + clinopiroxeno + óxidos de Fe-Ti. Las rocas intrusivas tienen una composición química en SiO 2 = 45.7-72.0 %, Mg# = 39.2-60.2 y n-Fe = 0.54-0.73. Presentan patrones de tierras raras, normalizados a condrita, enriquecidos en elementos ligeros [(La/Yb) N = 6-11] sin anomalías de Eu. Los diagramas multielementos, normalizados a manto primordial, muestran patrones de enriquecimiento en elementos LILE en relación a los HFSE. Su geoquímica de elementos traza es similar a la de granitoides de alto Ba-Sr: (a) una alta concentración de Ba (= 594-2302 ppm) y Sr (= 444-2192 ppm); (b) una baja concentración de Y (= 10-46 ppm) y Nb (= 6-17 ppm); y (c) valores altos para las relaciones Sr/Y (= 25-85) y La/Yb (= 8.9-16.5). El origen del CPEP se ha relacionado a la fusión parcial de un manto litosférico enriquecido, en condiciones post-orogénicas, seguida de cristalización fraccionada acoplada con asimilación de material cortical. Palabras clave: Noreste de México, granitoides de alto Ba-Sr, magmatismo post-orogénico.

The Mercurio structural dome is a poorly exposed and complex structure located in the transitional region between the Coahuila Calcareous Platform and the San Pedro El Gallo sector of the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico. It is located in the State of Chihuahua, close to the limits with Coahuila and Durango, Mexico. The dome is a circular structure, ~16 km in diameter, that can be seen in air-photos, satellite images, and shaded relief maps, but that has a subtle topographic expression on the ground. As seen in the field, the most conspicuous topographic features in the area are several hills with the morphology of volcanic necks that rise up to 250 m above the surrounding terrain. The deformation fringe of the dome is a series of cuesta-like low hills, less than 30 m high, where a poorly lithified volcano-sedimentary succession (litharenites, polymictic conglomerates, and ignimbrites) is almost completely masked by desert pavement, which is mainly constituted by well-rounded calcareou...

Chávez-Cabello et al. 28 28 FSM sepultada por productos del Campo Volcánico de Camargo, al sureste de Chihuahua. Los dos últimos eventos parecen estar presentes sobre los segmentos de la FSM en Coahuila; sin embargo, aquí no afectan a rocas jóvenes por lo que no es posible establecer sus edades.

El software 2D Move (v. 5.1) se empleó para realizar una restauración estructural (modelado inverso de la deformación) de los pliegues y fallas inversas en el borde del cinturón plegado y cabalgado de la Sierra Madre Oriental (SMO) en el cañón Santa Rosa, al suroeste de Linares, Nuevo León. La cartografía geológica de detalle permitió reconocer cuatro fallas importantes en la localidad: (a) la falla más joven se propagó desde el basamento y alteró el relieve estructural entre el traspaís de la SMO y el frente de montaña, (b) una cabalgadura secundaria en el área del Puente Santa Rosa yuxtapuso a rocas del Cretácico Inferior sobre rocas del Cretácico Superior, (c) la cabalgadura principal, con al menos 1900 m de salto estructural, sobrepuso a rocas del Jurásico Superior sobre rocas del Cretácico Superior y, final¬mente, (d) una falla lateral izquierda cortó y desplazó por cerca de 2000 m a las estructuras más antiguas como la charnela del anticlinal de Jaures y a la cabalgadura frontal de la SMO. La restauración de la deformación permitió dilucidar la existencia de pliegues tempranos de despegue que crecieron a partir de las evaporitas del Jurásico Superior. Se interpreta que estructuras que originalmente fueron pliegues anticlinales alteraron su geometría con el incremento del acortamiento regional, y se rompieron en su flanco frontal por la propagación de una falla. Finalmente, esas estructuras fueron transportadas sobre ésta misma falla, evolucionando a una geometría de rampa. Con base en la geometría de las estructuras se estimó un acortamiento mínimo de 37 % en la zona con una dirección de transporte tectónico en dirección este-noreste.