Transition from Late Jurassic rifting to middle Cretaceous dynamic foreland, southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico Timothy F. Lawton1,†, Jeffrey M. Amato2, Sarah E.K. Machin1, John C. Gilbert3, and Spencer G. Lucas4 1 Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78758, USA 2 Department of Geological Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA 3 Office of Management and Enterprise Services, State of Oklahoma, 2401 North Lincoln Boulevard, Suite 118, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105, USA 4 New Mexico Museum of Natural History, 1801 Mountain Road, N.W., Albuquerque, New Mexico 87104, USA ABSTRACT renewed Albian–Cenomanian subsidence, the middle Cretaceous, an extensional tectonic set- arc continued to supply volcanic-lithic sand ting of northern Sonora, southern Arizona, and Subsidence history and sandstone prov- to the Altar-Cucurpe basin, which by then southwestern New Mexico contrasted with re- enance of the Bisbee basin of southwestern was the foredeep of the foreland basin. Sand- gional tectonics to the north, where crustal short- New Mexico, southern Arizona, and north- stone of the Bootheel basin is more quartzose ening of the Sevier orogeny was well under way ern Sonora, Mexico, demonstrate basin evo- than the Altar-Cucurpe basin, but uncommon by Aptian time in southern Nevada, Utah, and lution from an array of Late Jurassic–Early sandstone beds contain neovolcanic lithic Wyoming (Armstrong, 1968; Heller et al., 1986; Cretaceous rift basins to a partitioned middle fragments and young zircon grains that were Lawton, 1994; DeCelles, 2004; Yonkee and Cretaceous retroarc foreland basin. The fore- transported to the basin as airborne ash. Lat- Weil, 2015). Flexural subsidence adjacent to the land basin contained persistent depocenters est Albian–early Cenomanian U-Pb tuff ages, Sevier orogenic belt created an adjacent retroarc that were inherited from the rift basin array detrital zircon maximum depositional ages foreland basin (sensu Ingersoll, 2012), termed and determined patterns of Albian–early ranging from ca. 102 Ma to 98 Ma, and am- the Cordilleran foreland basin, whose foredeep Cenomanian sediment routing. Upper Ju- monite fossils all demonstrate equivalence of lay along the western flank of the epicontinental rassic and Valanginian–Aptian strata were middle Cretaceous proximal foreland strata Western Interior seaway (Jordan, 1981; Lawton, deposited in three narrow extensional basins, of the U.S.-Mexico border region with distal 1982, 1994; Robinson Roberts and Kirschbaum, termed the Altar-Cucurpe, Huachuca, and back-bulge strata of the Cordilleran foreland 1995; Currie, 1997, 1998). Dynamic topography Bootheel basins. Initially rapid Late Jurassic basin. Marine strata buried a former rift created by the subducted Farallon slab beneath subsidence in the basins slowed in the Early shoulder in southwestern New Mexico dur- western North America likely contributed to Cretaceous, then increased again from mid- ing late Albian to earliest Cenomanian time long-wavelength subsidence in the central and Albian through middle Cenomanian time, (ca. 105–100 Ma), prior to widespread trans- eastern parts of the basin (e.g., Cross, 1986; marking an episode of foreland subsidence. gression in central New Mexico (ca. 98 Ma). Pang and Nummedal, 1995; Nummedal, 2004). Sandstone composition and detrital zir- Lateral stratigraphic continuity across the In comparison, development of a retroarc fore- con provenance indicate different sediment former rift shoulder likely resulted from re- land basin in the U.S.–Mexico border region, as sources in the three basins and demonstrate gional dynamic subsidence following late Al- inferred from subsidence analysis of the Lower their continued persistence as depocenters bian collision of the Guerrero composite vol- Cretaceous section in southwestern New Mexico during Albian foreland basin development. canic terrane with Mexico and emplacement (Mack, 1987a), did not begin until late Albian Late Jurassic basins received sediment of the Farallon slab beneath the U.S.–Mexico time, or at least 20 m.y. later than farther north. from a nearby magmatic arc that migrated border region. Inferred dynamic subsidence Studies of foreland basin depositional history westward with time. Following a 10–15 m.y. in the foreland of southern Arizona and south- and tectonics have tended to focus on latitudes depositional hiatus, an Early Cretaceous con- western New Mexico was likely augmented in north of Las Vegas, Nevada, as demonstrated tinental margin arc supplied sediment to the Sonora by flexural subsidence adjacent to an by extensive reviews of basin history adjacent Altar-Cucurpe basin in Sonora as early as incipient thrust load driven by collision of the to the Sevier orogenic belt (Lawton, 1994; ca. 136 Ma, but local sedimentary and base- Guerrero superterrane. DeCelles, 2004; Yonkee and Weil, 2015). In ment sources dominated the Huachuca basin contrast, mechanisms of Late Jurassic to mid- of southern Arizona until catchment exten- INTRODUCTION dle Cretaceous sedimentary basin development sion tapped the arc source at ca. 123 Ma. The in the U.S.–Mexico border region of Arizona, Bootheel basin of southwestern New Mexico A fundamental plate tectonic reorganization Sonora, and southwestern New Mexico, and received sediment only from local basement took place during middle Cretaceous (Albian– their relationship with the Cordilleran foreland and recycled sedimentary sources with no Cenomanian) time in the southwest U.S.– basin, remain poorly understood because of less contemporary arc source evident. During Mexico border region immediately following extensive study and uncertainty regarding age Jurassic–Early Cretaceous continental rifting and depositional setting of the Upper Jurassic– (Bilodeau, 1982; Lawton and McMillan, 1999; Cretaceous section. Basin geometry and strati- †[email protected]. Dickinson and Lawton, 2001b). Prior to the graphic architecture are extensively concealed GSA Bulletin; November/December 2020; v. 132; no. 11/12; p. 2489–2516; https://doi.org/10.1130/B35433.1; 13 figures; 5 tables; Data Repository item 2020158. published online 8 April 2020 © 2020 The Authors. Gold Open Access: This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license. 2489 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/132/11-12/2489/5206817/2489.pdf by guest on 25 September 2021 Lawton et al. by younger sedimentary and volcanic rocks son et al., 1986; Lawton and McMillan, 1999; potentially rendering inception of foreland his- and overprinted by subsequent deformation Lawton, 2000, 2004; Dickinson and Lawton, tory difficult to recognize. and magmatism (e.g., Soreghan, 1998; McKee 2001b). Basin geometry, forebulge develop- The Bisbee basin, an important archive of the et al., 2005; Amato et al., 2009; Mauel et al., ment, and the migration history of foreland sedimentary history of the U.S.–Mexico bor- 2011; González-León et al., 2011; Clinkscales basins formed on recently rifted lithosphere der region, initially formed as part of the Late and Lawton, 2018). In addition, the middle Cre- differ significantly from equivalent character- Jurassic Mexican Border rift system (Fig. 1; taceous foreland basin formed on continental istics of basins developed upon old lithosphere MBR, originally termed Mexican Borderland crust only newly extended during Jurassic– that behaves like an unbroken elastic plate (Fil- rift; Lawton and McMillan, 1999). The MBR Cretaceous rifting (Bilodeau, 1982; Dickin- dani and Hessler, 2005; Fosdick et al., 2014), extended from the McCoy basin of southern Explanation USA North 40° N 85-100 Ma plutons 100-148 Ma plutons Map area Mexican Undifferentiated Sierra Nevada border rift 30° N batholith NE of San Andreas fault Gulf of Baja magnetic anomaly Mexico Figure 1. Location map of 20° N Mexico Intra-rift uplift Basement age localities discussed in text. province boundary 110° W 100° W 90° W 80° W Communities: A—Albuquer- que; Ba—Batopilas; En— Nevada Ensenada; EP—El Paso; Central Nevada 115° W 110° W 105° W LA—Los Angeles; LV—Las thrust belt n Vegas; P—Phoenix; SC—Sil- ver City; T—Tucson. Geologic Utah Colorado localities of study: Ar—Arizpe; WPt Sevier orogenic belt Arizona New Mexico CC—Clyde Canyon (Burro SJb Mountains); CM—Chirica- LV hua Mountains; CR—Cookes Range; Cu—Cucurpe; Ha— SY CordilleranColorado foreland basi Plateau Ha Hagan basin; HM—Huachuca Mountains; LHM—Little California Mogollon 35° N SAf A Hatchet Mountains; PM—Pel- Mojave LA Yavapai oncillo Mountains; SA—south- C.P. C.P. Mazatzal C.P. ern San Andres Mountains; McC Highlands Fig. 11 SR—Saddlerock Canyon (Burro Mountains); SY—San SR Fence diagram P Ysidro; Tu—Tuape. Geologic CC SC SA abbreviations: ABf—Agua rift flank PM CR Blanca fault; Cah—Cana- EP Bisbee T CM nea high; Cht—Chihuahua En BootheLHM Bisbee trough; C.P.—Proterozoic ABf HM el Huachuca crustal province; McC—Mc- Gulf of California Altar Coy basin; Saf—San Andreas -CucurpeCah fault; SJb—San Juan basin; Caborca block Basin Grenville C.P. Cu WPt—Wheeler Pass thrust. Ar Pacific Tu 30° N Altar-Cucurpe, Bootheel, and Ocean rift flank(?) Huachuca labels indicate sub- Cht basins of Bisbee basin. Plutonic Sonora belts are igneous roots of mag- Baja California Inner flank of matic arcs discussed in text (adapted from Jacobson et al., Peninsula Guerrero composite Chihuahua 2011; Hildebrand and Whalen, terrane 2014). Colorado Plateau for Ba Mexico geographic