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

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The Origin and Tectonic Significance of the Basin and Range–Rio Grande Rift Boundary in Southern New Mexico 2021 Annual Program Report VOL. 31, NO. 10 | OCTOBER 2021 The Origin and Tectonic Significance of the Basin and Range–Rio Grande Rift Boundary in Southern New Mexico, USA The Origin and Tectonic Significance of the Basin and Range–Rio Grande Rift Boundary in Southern New Mexico, USA Jason W. Ricketts, Dept. of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences, The University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave., El Paso, Texas 79968, USA, [email protected]; Jeffrey M. Amato, and Michelle M. Gavel, Dept. of Geological Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA ABSTRACT separated from the Basin and Range Province thermal boundary and reinforce the idea that Cenozoic extension in the western United by the Colorado Plateau, and they exist as the southern Rio Grande rift is a separate States occurred within two iconic domains: distinct structural entities, but in southern structural entity from the adjacent Basin and the Basin and Range and Rio Grande rift. New Mexico, they merge to form an inter- Range Province. These provinces merge in southern New connected zone of extension that continues Mexico to form an interconnected zone of south into Mexico (Fig. 1). The existence of a THE RIO GRANDE RIFT–BASIN AND extension, although the existence, location, discrete boundary between the two domains RANGE BOUNDARY IN SOUTHERN and nature of the boundary between the two and the nature of this transition in southern NEW MEXICO provinces are uncertain. In southern New New Mexico remain unclear, although There are three models for how to assess Mexico, existing thermochronologic, geo- understanding the transition is crucial for the Rio Grande rift–Basin and Range logic, and geophysical data sets, combined assessing how these two extensional prov- Province boundary (Fig. 1): (1) The northern with thermal modeling of zircon (U-Th)/He inces evolved through time. The physio- Rio Grande rift is a separate entity from the (ZHe) data, define a subvertical, 30–40-km- graphic expression of extension in southern Basin and Range Province, and is distin- wide boundary that extends through the New Mexico suggests an indistinct or nonex- guished by its narrow width (dark orange in lithosphere to depths of at least 100 km. istent boundary, favoring models where the Fig. 1); (2) the entire Rio Grande rift exists as Thermal modeling indicates Proterozoic Rio Grande rift is the easternmost segment a separate entity along its entire length (light basement in the upper crust of the south- of the Basin and Range Province (Eaton, and dark orange in Fig. 1); and (3) the two eastern Basin and Range exceeded 225 °C 1982). This view is contentious, however, provinces are contiguous and coeval and during Oligocene magmatism, resetting because thermochronologic (Gavel, 2019) thus the Rio Grande rift is just a localized ZHe dates and creating a thermal boundary and geophysical (e.g., Keller et al., 1990; term for the Basin and Range Province on its that coincides with independent geologic Averill and Miller, 2013; Feucht et al., 2019) eastern margin adjacent to the Colorado and geophysical data sets. Although many data sets highlight important differences Plateau (thick dark green line in Fig. 1). We aspects of this boundary are transient, oth- between the two provinces, supporting mod- investigate the nature of a possible boundary ers may become permanent features to els where they exist as two separate, albeit in southern New Mexico, and use “transition define a lithospheric-scale boundary prone contiguous entities. This nontrivial distinc- zone” to refer to a 40-km-wide zone that to reactivation during future tectonism. tion has implications for the relative role includes major differences in the crust and This assessment of the boundary supports of plate-boundary versus mantle processes lithosphere. Physiographic maps, which are models in which the southern Rio Grande driving extension in western North America based on modern topography and drainage rift is a separate structural entity from the (Dickinson, 2002). basins, lump the southern Rio Grande rift adjacent Basin and Range, and this region A more complete understanding of the with the Basin and Range Province provides an exceptional case study for boundary requires diverse data sets at dif- (Hammond, 1970). Most workers place the understanding how extensional lithospheric- ferent scales to constrain its current charac- boundary at the eastern edge of the transition scale boundaries evolve to become stable teristics and evolutionary history. Here we zone (e.g., Mack, 2004; van Wijk et al., 2018), features of continents. use thermochronologic data, including apa- which coincides with the western edge of the tite fission-track (AFT), apatite (U-Th)/He rift farther north, but it has not yet been INTRODUCTION (AHe), and zircon (U-Th)/He (ZHe), together clearly documented as to why this is a mean- The Rio Grande rift and Basin and Range with a synthesis of geologic and geophysi- ingful or geologically relevant location in Province are two of the most iconic exten- cal data from southwestern New Mexico to southern New Mexico. sional domains on Earth; the Basin and investigate the nature of the transition at a Range Province is the archetypal example of lithospheric scale. We then document a pro- GEOLOGIC AND GEOPHYSICAL a wide rift, and the neighboring Rio Grande nounced thermal boundary across the tran- MANIFESTATIONS OF A BOUNDARY rift is one of the classic modern examples of sition preserved in ZHe data sets. When In southern New Mexico, independent a narrow continental rift (e.g., Buck, 1991). viewed collectively, these independent data data sets highlight a subvertical boundary For most of its length, the Rio Grande rift is sets reveal a complex and dynamic tectono- 30–40 km wide that extends to depths of at GSA Today, v. 31, https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG509A.1. CC-BY-NC. 4 GSA Today | October 2021 BR RM Rio Grande 35 rift CP 5 105 25 85 RGR 121 5 105 GP Mogollon Datil 40 Figure 1 5 volcanic field N 3° transitionrraansnsisitit on Great Plains BR 30 zozzoneonne GPS profile in Fig. 2 28 10510 5 New Mexico Arizona 35 Basin and Range N3 30 32° TeTexasxas Boot Heel ? volcanic field 30 ? Quaternary fault 1 mm/yr; 90% Quaternary basalt flow confidence ellipse Chihuahua Reflection/refraction line 31°N Miocene - Quaternary basin fill 28 N 37-23 Ma calderas Cenozoic volcanic rocks Paleozoic - Mesozoic rocks Magnetotelluric station Bulk crustal conductance (seimens) Proterozoic rocks 0 500 1000 1500 2000 Thermochronology sample 0315 06090 120 (AHe, ZHe, and/or AFT) km 109°W 108°W 107°W 106°W 105°W Figure 1. Geologic map of the southern Rio Grande rift (RGR)–Basin and Range Province transition. Map includes thermochronology data (Kelley and Chapin, 1997; Ricketts et al., 2016; Biddle et al., 2018; Gavel, 2019; Reade et al., 2020), global positioning system (GPS) data (Murray et al., 2019), reflection/refraction line (Averill, 2007; Averill and Miller, 2013), and magnetotelluric data recording bulk crustal conductance (Feucht et al., 2019). Thick dashed black line is the boundary of Mack (2004). Cross-hatched areas show deep basins of the RGR (Seager and Morgan, 1979). Blue lines show crustal thickness (km), and white lines show heat flow (mWm–2) (Keller et al., 1990). AFT—apatite fission-track; AHe—apatite (U-Th)/He; ZHe—zircon (U-Th)/He. Inset shows metamorphic core com- plexes in blue and different models for the RGR–Basin and Range Province boundary, as discussed in the text. BR—Basin and Range; CP—Colorado Plateau; GP—Great Plains; RM—Rocky Mountains. least 100 km (Figs. 1 and 2). Global posi- 60–120 °C, and 50–240 °C, respectively and abruptly shallow toward the Basin and tioning system (GPS) data show variable (Ketcham, 2005; Flowers et al., 2009; Range Province, which have typical depths strain rates between the Great Plains and Guenthner et al., 2013), are compiled across of less than 1 km (Averill, 2007). Additional the Basin and Range Province (Fig. 2A; the transition zone (Fig. 1; Kelley and shallow expressions of this boundary include Murray et al., 2019). The Great Plains has Chapin, 1997; Ricketts et al., 2016; Biddle et more voluminous Quaternary volcanism, low strain rates of 0.68 ± 0.17 nanostrains/ al., 2018; Gavel, 2019; Reade et al., 2020). active faulting (Seager and Morgan, 1979; year (nstr/yr), but strain rates are an order of AFT and AHe dates show little variation Keller et al., 1990), and higher heat flow magnitude higher in the Basin and Range across this region, and ages overlap with the (Keller et al., 1990) in the southern Rio Province and southern Rio Grande rift. time of Cenozoic extension. However, ZHe Grande rift (Fig. 1). Notably, there is a sharp transition from the dates change drastically over short dis- Gravity models are consistent with a welt highest strain rates of 8.54 ± 2.10 nstr/yr in tances (Fig. 2B). West of the transition ZHe of high-density material beneath the axis of the Rio Grande rift to lower rates of 1.45 ± dates are similar to AFT and AHe dates, but the southern Rio Grande rift at depths of 0.31 nstr/yr in the adjacent eastern Basin east of the transition ZHe dates range from ~12–21 km (Fig. 2C; Averill, 2007). This and Range Province. GPS results are con- 2 to 731 Ma. welt thins to the west and becomes absent in sistent with a greater number of Quaternary Across this region, overall crustal thick- the transition zone. Velocity and gravity faults in the southern Rio Grande rift, but ness gradually increases from ~28–30 km models highlight decreased densities and these data also indicate that the rift is beneath the axis of the Rio Grande rift to 35 upper mantle velocities within the southern deforming at interseismic time scales.
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