End Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic Western Pangean Reconstruction and Its Implications for the Distribution of Precambrian and Paleozoic Rocks Around Meso-America
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Precambrian Research, 42 (1989) 411-444 411 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam -- Printed in The Netherlands END PALEOZOIC-EARLY MESOZOIC WESTERN PANGEAN RECONSTRUCTION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF PRECAMBRIAN AND PALEOZOIC ROCKS AROUND MESO-AMERICA DAVID B. ROWLEY Department of Geophysical Sciences, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 (U.S.A.) JAMES L. PINDELL Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755 (U.S.A.) (Received February 18, 1988; revision accepted July 11, 1988) Abstract Rowley, D.B. and PindeU, J.L., 1989. End Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic western Pangean reconstruction and its impli- cations for the distribution of Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks around Meso-America. Precambrian Res., 42:411- 444. We present a detailed, palinspasticaUy restored reconstruction of the circum-Central Atlantic continents and in- corporate information on the distribution, age and correlation of Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks. The Late Paleozoic Appalachian-Ouachita Suture marks a fundamental break which separates Gondwanan from North American base- ment and pre-Late-Paleozoic assemblages. The westward continuation of the suture across Mexico continues to be problematic, primarily because of the scarcity of pre-Late-Paleozoic rocks. Biogeographic affinities of some Lower Paleozoic assemblages provide some constraints; for example, the North American affinities of the Ordovician and Silurian of Cuidad Victoria versus the Gondwanan affinities of Tremadocian rocks of Oaxaca. The ultramafic rocks within the Mixteca Terrane of southern Mexico may represent the only surface exposure of this suture, the northward strike projection of these exposures to the Coahuila region are compatible with the biogeographical constraints. Some confusion has resulted from geochronologic determinations of 'Grenville' ages from Oaxaca, the Chuacus metamor- phics of Yucatan, and the Rio Cana Complex of Cuba; such ages have led to suggestions that these assemblages were derived from North America. We suggest that they are instead part of the Rondonian/Sunsas Orogenic Belt of western Brazil and Ecuador, and that, if this is true, the Rondonian/Sunsas Belt would have represented the areally most extensive basement age province of the Amazon Shield. The Late Paleozoic suture coincidentallyjuxtaposes basement age provinces of similar age, and therefore basement ages appear to be undiagnostic of the paleogeographic affinities of different elements. In addition, we show the geometric correlation of the Senegal Block, west of the Late Precam- brian Pan-African Mauritanide Suture, with the Brunswick magnetic 'terrane' of offshore eastern North America. Other correlations, many of which have been previously recognized, are also highlighted. Introduction reconstruction of the circum-Atlantic conti- nents have been proposed, most of which differ Since Wegener's (1912) suggestion of a su- only in detail. Reconstructions are based upon: percontinent, Pangea, many variations of the geometric fitting of opposing continental mar- 0301-9268/89/$03.50 © 1989 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. 412 ~9 /' ag D i ~, ~ / / 413 Late Precambdan-Pan-African- ........... InferredPan-African Congo-Sao -- Archean Brasilian Orogen-Fomland Foldbeh ~ and Late Precambrian deformed "% Francisco suture m passive margin sections ~ Reworked Archean and Late Precambrian to Cambrian(and "~ Pan-African suture Early Proterozoic ~ possibly younger) intermediate volcanic and plutonic assemblages ~ Early Proterozoic (2.2 - 1.9 Ga) ~ Osceola Granite (post-Pan-African "~ Devonian (?'JCentral Piedmont i Ebumian-Tadilian-Trans-Amazonian pluton) suture Early Proterozoic (Southwestern -] Known, but isolated Precambrian Province, U.S.A.)-Metasedimentary basement outcrops (N, South Late Paleozoic (Alleghenide) and metavolcanic suite iiatruded America and Mexico) and subcrop suture by 1.7 to 1.63 Ga plutonic suite. (Florida) Precambrian and/or Paleozoic Late Early Proterozoic (-1.7-1.5 Ga) i ,.~5 ,,., i metamorphic assemblages Pan-African Foreland-type thrust Rio Negro-Juruena Magmatic Arc r ",." ," i (generally outcrops, but locally Undeformed Early Proterozoic (-1.9- subcrop (W. Venezuela) Undeformed Ordovician to Devonian Pan-African Strike-slip Faults (locally 1.6 Ga)-Intrusives and sedimentary Sediments (Gondwanan Platform) reactivated during the opening of the and volcanic cover ~" SouthAtlantic) ~ Middle ProterozoicGranite-Rhyolite ~ Extemides-Late Paleozoic (1.4 to 1.34 Ga) Appalachian-Ouachita-Marathon ~..jL Late Paleozoic Foreland-type thrust Foldbelt ~ Interides-LatePaleozoic Ouachita- (~'~a~) Post-Cambrian basins (South ~ Uruaqu Orogenic Belt (-1.2 Ga) Marathon Foldbelt America only) with >3 km of ~'-''- sediment Region inferred to be of South ---~ Rondonian & Sunsas Orogenic Belt ~ American Precambrian and/or (-1.4 &-l.0 Ga) includes older Paleozoic derivation, now part of ~..__ Reconsmacted Block Boundaries granulitic components North American continent Region of displaced blocks of Grenville Orogenic Belt (1.11 to 1.07 11 i F I i [ northern S. Am.underlain by variably I" ~/,,x-'[ Ga)-includes older supracrustals and II ~ I : I I remobilized Rondonian/Sunsas (1.4- ~ Present day coastline I " uintrusives (anorthosites)(1.4-1.25Ga) 1.0 Ga) basement Late Proterozoic to Cambrian Cover ~ Region inferred to be underlain by • Well Location ~ (generally undeformed) I~ h i II Senegal Block (includes Brunswick magnetic 'terrane') ~Late Precambrian-Pan-African- ~ Offshore region of South America Basilian Orogenic Belt (includes large [ i I i [and West Africa infened to be the ----~ Mesozoic-Cenozoic Cover areas of older reworked crust) northern extension of Amazonian basement Fig. 1. End Paleozoic-Early Mesozoic reconstruction of western Pangea with an emphasis on Precambrian and Paleozoic basement geology. Map compiled from sources listed in the Appendix and Choubert and Faure-Muret (1968), Almeida et al. (1973)andUNESCO (1978). gins (Bullard et al., 1965), realignment of mar- the equatorial Atlantic, and (4) the presence of ginal offsets of opposing margins (LePichon Yucatan (Pindell and Dewey, 1982) and Chor- and Fox, 1971; Klitgord and Schouten, 1987), tis (White, 1980) or absence of continental or paleomagnetic constraints (Van der Voo and blocks {Van der Voo and French, 1974) in the French, 1974; Irving, 1977). Significant varia- eventual site of the Gulf of Mexico. Recent work tions in western Pangea reconstructions pri- has begun to address relatively detailed corre- marily include the following: (1) western Af- lations across the basins of the Atlantic. We rica against eastern North America (most present below a detailed reconstruction of the authors) versus northwest South America circum-central and equatorial Atlantic conti- against eastern North America (Morel and Irv- nental masses that (1) incorporates a North ing, 1981), (2) the realignment of geomorphic America-West Africa juxtaposition, (2) re- features of opposing continental margins (e.g., aligns marginal offsets and restores crustal at- the 1000 fathom isobath) versus realignment of tenuation in opposing margins, (3) includes a offset marginal fracture zones (Le Pichon and tight equatorial Atlantic fit, (4) places Yuca- Fox, 1971), (3) a loose (Bullard et al., 1965) or tan, but not Chortis, in the eventual site of the a tight (Pindell and Dewey, 1982) closure of Gulf of Mexico, (5) restores the north margin 414 of South America to its approximate pre-Ter- insula, have been restored (Pindell, 1985). tiary configuration, and (6) places Mexico and Continental crust attentuated during the Chortis along the western margin of Colombia. breakup of this part of Pangea has been re- We use the reconstruction to outline many of stored to its approximate prerift configuration; the previously proposed trans-Atlantic corre- the reconstruction of the margins relies on pre- lations, and to suggest others. The reconstruc- viously published estimates of extension based tion provides a framework that can be tested primarily on restoration of the crust to 'normal' and used to predict the geology of poorly known (~30 kin) continental thickness (Pindell, areas along and across strike from one margin 1985). to another, and as a base upon which to exam- Poles of rotation used to generate the recon- ine other potential pre-breakup correlations. struction displayed in Fig. 1 are presented in Table I. Various aspects of the fit are discussed below. The reconstruction EquatorialAtlanticandnorthernSouth Figure 1 shows our reconstruction of the cen- Atlantic tral, equatorial and northern south Atlantic, and the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico region. South America and northwest Africa must be Shorelines are shown, but the limits of pre-Me- reconstructed along the equatorial Atlantic. sozoic continental crust beneath the continen- Both margins have a step-like morphology in tal margins are of greatest importance. Impor- their basements extending from the Demerara tant offshore areas of continental crust include Rise to the eastern horn of Brazil in South the Guinea Plateau (gp)* off West Africa, the America, and from the Guinea Plateau to the Demerara Rise (dr) off Surinam and Guyana, subsurface continuation of the Anambra plat- the Campeche Shelf off Yucatan, and the west- form under the Niger Delta (Whiteman, 1982 ) ern Bahamas (Ladd and Sheridan, 1987). Pri- in Africa; salients must be matched with re- mary areas of Precambrian and Paleozoic rocks TABLEI are shown; other areas composed of either