A Pliocene Ignimbrite Flare-Up Along the Tepic-Zacoalco Rift: Evidence For
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A Pliocene ignimbrite fl are-up along the Tepic-Zacoalco rift: Evidence for the initial stages of rifting between the Jalisco block (Mexico) and North America Holli M. Frey† Rebecca A. Lange Chris M. Hall Department of Geological Sciences, 1100 N. University Ave., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1005, USA Hugo Delgado-Granados Instituto de Geofi sica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Coyoacan 04510 DF, Mexico Ian S.E. Carmichael Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA ABSTRACT prior to the transfer of Baja California from Farallon microplates, the Rivera plate, currently North America to the Pacifi c plate. subducts along the Middle America Trench The Tepic-Zacoalco rift, a NW-trending Additionally, new 40Ar/39Ar dates show that beneath western Mexico (Figs. 1 and 2). There corridor ~50 × ~250 km, is one arm of a tri- the Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic prov- has been considerable speculation as to its future ple-rift system in western Mexico. Together ince extends across the entire width of the fate and whether it will eventually suture to the with the Colima rift and the Middle America Tepic-Zacoalco rift and terminates abruptly Pacifi c plate. Luhr et al. (1985) proposed that Trench, it bounds the Jalisco block, a por- at the northern boundary of the Jalisco block if the Rivera plate does transfer to the Pacifi c, tion of western Mexico that may be moving near the Rio Ameca. In contrast, Paleocene- it is likely to bring a piece of western Mexico independently of North America. The pre- Eocene basement from the Jalisco block with it, analogous to what occurred with Baja dominant basement rock types in the Tepic- extends northward into the Tepic-Zacoalco California. Zacoalco rift are rhyolitic ash-fl ow tuffs and rift, where it is locally overlain by Sierra The process outlined above, namely the cap- lavas, which were previously assumed to Madre Occidental rhyolites. ture of oceanic microplates near continental be Oligocene-Miocene in age, related to the subduction zones, has a substantial impact on Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic province, Keywords: ignimbrite fl are-up, lithospheric ex- the deformational and volcanic history of the or older. New 40Ar/39Ar dates on 41 volcanic tension, plate transfer, 40Ar/39Ar geochronology, overriding plate (Stock and Lee, 1994), espe- samples reveal a previously unrecognized, Rivera plate, Sierra Madre Occidental. cially during incipient rifting of continental voluminous fl are-up of rhyolitic ignimbrites lithosphere. There is an extensive literature on between 5 and 3 Ma throughout the entire INTRODUCTION the extension and diverse volcanism found in corridor of the Tepic-Zacoalco rift; they are western Mexico, onshore from the Rivera plate often associated with Pliocene high-Ti basalts. The approach of the Pacifi c-Farallon spreading (e.g., Nieto-Obregon et al., 1985; Luhr et al., The eruption rate during this Pliocene time ridge to the convergent margin of North Amer- 1985; Serpa et al., 1989; Allan et al., 1991; Wal- period was an order of magnitude higher ica at ca. 28 Ma and the subsequent breakup of lace and Carmichael, 1992; Delgado-Granados, (hundreds of m/m.y.) than that documented the Farallon plate into several microplates have 1993a, 1993b; Ferrari et al., 1994; Michaud in the Tepic-Zacoalco rift over the last 1 m.y. signifi cantly infl uenced the tectonic and volca- et al., 1994; Moore et al., 1994; Righter et al., The Pliocene ash-fl ow tuffs have been faulted nic evolution of western North America (Atwa- 1995; Bandy et al., 1995; Kostoglodov and along NW-trending lineaments, produc- ter, 1970, 1989; Stock and Lee, 1994; Bohannon Bandy, 1995; Maillol et al., 1997; Ferrari and ing vertical offsets up to at least 500 m. The and Parsons, 1995). When the spreading centers Rosas-Elguera, 2000). One region of particular voluminous ignimbrite fl are-up in the Tepic- of the Farallon fragments approached the trench, interest, and the focus of this study, is the Tepic- Zacoalco rift at 5–3 Ma may refl ect the ini- slab pull diminished and subduction stagnated, Zacoalco rift, a NW-trending corridor that is tial stages of rifting of the Jalisco block away leading to the progressive transfer of the various ~50 km wide and extends for ~250 km from from North America, analogous to what microplates to the Pacifi c plate (Stock and Lee, south of Guadalajara to the Pacifi c coast, near occurred in the proto-gulf region at 12–6 Ma, 1994; Lonsdale, 1995; Bohannon and Parsons, the city of Tepic (Fig. 2). 1995; DeMets and Traylen, 2000). As part of The Tepic-Zacoalco rift is part of a triple-rift †Present address: Department of Geology, Ober- this process, a sliver of continental lithosphere system, which intersects ~50 km SSW of the lin College, Oberlin, Ohio 44074, USA; holli.frey@ (Baja California) was transferred to the Pacifi c city of Guadalajara. The other segments are the oberlin.edu; +1-440-775-6701. plate as well. The smallest of the remaining west-trending Chapala rift and the north- trending GSA Bulletin; January/February 2007; v. 119; no. 1/2; p. 49–64; doi: 10.1130/B25950.1; 8 fi gures; 8 tables; Data Repository item 2007002. For permission to copy, contact [email protected] 49 © 2006 Geological Society of America Frey et al. Colima rift. The Tepic-Zacoalco and Colima 110°W 100°W rifts defi ne the northern and eastern boundaries, Puertecitos North American Plate (ca.6.4 -5.8 Ma) respectively, of the Jalisco block, a portion of 30°N western Mexico that Luhr et al. (1985) and Allan et al. (1991) proposed is in the process of being rifted away from North America (Fig. 2). How- ever, if the Jalisco block is presently moving rela- Gulf of California tive to North America, it is moving very slowly, Sierra Madre U.S.A. Occidental on the order of a few mm/yr or less (Bandy and Mexico Pardo, 1994), as global positioning system (GPS) measurements taken over a four-year interval (1995–1999) cannot yet resolve motion of the Jalisco block relative to the stable interior of the North American plate (Hutton et al., 2001). In a Pacific review of the tectonics of the Tepic-Zacoalco rift, Rivera Guadalajara Plate 20°N Ferrari and Rosas-Elguera (2000) concluded that Plate Jalisco Mexico City extension within the rift occurred predominantly N Block during two discrete time periods, one in the late Miocene (12–9 Ma) and the other in the early Fig. 2 Pliocene (5.5–3.5 Ma), with only minor exten- 250 500 1000 km Cocos sional deformation in the Quaternary. Plate The question explored in this paper is whether there was an initiation of rifting of the Jalisco Figure 1. Map of Mexico showing Oligocene to Miocene volcanism and the current confi gu- block away from North America in the Plio- ration of tectonic plates (modifi ed from Ferrari et al. [2002] and Sawlan [1991]). Deposits cene. This question is posed on the basis of new associated with the Sierra Madre Occidental are shown in dark gray, and deposits associ- 40 39 Ar/ Ar dates presented in this study that docu- ated with the rifting of Baja California are shown in light gray. ment a previously unrecognized, voluminous fl are-up of rhyolitic ignimbrites (associated with high-Ti basalts) throughout the entire corridor of the Tepic-Zacoalco rift at 5–3 Ma. Analogously, In this study, we show that rhyolite eruption Kenedi et al., 2005). These thick sequences of rhyolitic ignimbrites are also found along both rates between 5 and 3 Ma in the Tepic-Zacoalco ash-fl ow tuffs were subsequently faulted along margins of the Gulf of California with ages that rift were an order of magnitude higher (hundreds NW-trending lineaments, producing vertical date back to the earliest stages of rifting that cre- of m/m.y.) than is typical of continental arc vol- offsets up to at least 500 m. This extensive rhyo- ated Baja California (ca. 12.5–6 Ma; Sawlan, canism, including that within the Tepic-Zacoalco litic volcanism, driven by the emplacement of 1991; Nagy et al., 1999; Oskin et al., 2001). rift over the last 1 m.y. (Frey et al., 2004b; Lewis- even larger volumes of asthenosphere-derived 108°0'W 107°0'W 106°0'W 105°0'W 104°0'W 103°0'W 102°0'W Tepic Sierra Madre 6 North American Plate 7 5 Occidental Figure 2. General tectonic map Rise Tep4 and digital elevation model Pacific-Rivera ic-Zacoal3 0'N (DEM) (scale 1:50,000) of west- 21°0'N 2 21° ern Mexico (modifi ed from co Rif 1 Delgado-Granados [1993a] and t Guadalajara Rivera Plate Bandy et al. [2005]). Numbered Jalisco L. Chapala Zacoalco triangles in the Tepic-Zacoalco Block Co Chapala Rift and Colima grabens refer to l 20°0'N 20°0'N im central volcanoes: 1—Sierra La Rivera Fracture Rift a 8 Primavera, 2—Volcán Tequila, Zone 3—Volcán Ceboruco, 4—Vol- cán Tepetiltic, 5—Volcán San- 19°0'N 19°0'N ganguey, 6—Volcán Las Nava- Moctezuma Tr jas, 7—Volcán San Juan, and East P 8—Volcán Colima-Nevado. The Middl Tepic-Zacoalco and Colima rifts e America Trench 0'N acific Rise and Middle America Trench 18°0'N Pacific Plate 18° defi ne the boundaries of the ough Cocos Plate Jalisco block. 108°0'W 107°0'W 106°0'W 105°0'W 104°0'W 103°0'W 102°0'W 50 Geological Society of America Bulletin, January/February 2007 A Pliocene ignimbrite fl are-up along the Tepic-Zacoalco rift basalt into the crust, followed by normal fault- are briefl y summarized here.