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Tectonic History of the Chihuahua Trough, Mexico and Adjacent USA, Part II: Mesozoic and Cenozoic

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Tectonic History of the Chihuahua Trough, Mexico and Adjacent USA, Part II: Mesozoic and Cenozoic 38 Haenggi BOLETÍN DE LA SOCIEDAD GEOLÓGICA MEXICANA, TOMO LV, NÚM . 1, 2002, P. 38-94 Tectonic history of the Chihuahua trough, Mexico and adjacent USA, Part II: Mesozoic and Cenozoic Walter T. Haenggi 2007 Tradewinds Drive, Missouri City, TX 77459-2331 [email protected] Abstract The Chihuahua trough is a right-lateral pull-apart basin that began to form ~159 to ~156 Ma (Oxfordian) during a period of relative counterclockwise rotation of the North American plate. Jurassic seas were well established by latest Oxfordian time and there was little change in basin configuration throughout the remainder of Late Jurassic, Neo- comian and Aptian time. Elements of a broad zone of intersecting pre-existing northwest-trending and north-trending lineaments, along the southwest border of the North American craton, provide the fabric for development of the pull- apart basin between the Diablo and Aldama platforms. During Tithonian and Neocomian time sedimentation eventu- ally outpaced tectonic subsidence and, as an ensuing “regressive” event commenced, the eastern area of the Chihuahua trough was the locus of extensive evaporite (including halite) deposition. Near the end of Aptian time, during deposi- tion of the Cuchillo and equivalent formations, faulting along the margins of the Chihuahua trough ceased and the seas began to transgress onto adjacent platform areas. By middle Albian time seas had advanced onto previously emergent areas and the Chihuahua trough became a site of shallow-water carbonate deposition that prevailed, with minor inter- ruptions, until early Cenomanian time. The Ojinaga Formation (early Cenomanian -Santonian?) records a marine clas- tic influx into the Chihuahua trough, coeval with Upper Cretaceous clastic wedges in the Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway of the United States. Retreat of the Cretaceous sea is reflected in the transition from marine to non-marine beds in the Santonian San Carlos Formation and overlying non-marine El Picacho Formation. During the Laramide orogeny (84 to 43 Ma) the Chihuahua trough was inverted to form the Chihuahua tectonic belt. Laramide deformation is the result of left-lateral transpressional tectonics involving renewed movement along the pre-existing fabric that controlled the location of the Jurassic-Aptian basin. In the evaporite basin portion of the trough (eastern area) reactivation of basin-boundary-faults as Laramide reverse faults, with possible left-lateral components of motion, accompanied by development of gentle “ancestral” folds, was followed by amplification of folds in post- evaporite rocks caused by flow of evaporites toward the crests of anticlines. As deformation progressed, structural development involved thrust faulting (principally toward the Diablo Platform) and diapiric injection of evaporites along the margins of the evaporite basin. In the northwestern area of the trough, structure reflects northeast-southwest- oriented compression and includes relatively minor southwest-directed thrusting toward and onto the Jurassic Aldama platform. Paleozoic formations are involved in the thrusts and all thrusting can be interpreted as a consequence of faulted basement rather than regional-scale décollement. Post-Laramide tectonic activity includes a continuation of evaporite tectonism, scattered igneous intrusion, minor volcanism, gravity tectonics and late Oligocene-Miocene to Quaternary block faulting. In the eastern area of the Chihuahua trough, erosion, after formation of Laramide structure and before emplacement of Oligocene volcanic rocks, created a topography that was similar to that of the present day. During this interval, gravity-induced flaps and detached flaps developed on flanks of several large anticlines. Collapse structures, related to evaporite solution, have deformed Tertiary and Cretaceous formations in areas of diapiric intrusion along tear fault zones. Tertiary normal fault- ing occurred after realignment of the regional stress system from east-northeast compression to east-northeast exten- sion ca. 31 Ma. Initial faulting in Chihuahua is probably coeval with inception of block faulting in Trans-Pecos Texas (about 24 Ma). Seismic data in the northwestern area of the trough shows that a large part of the area has been affected by Miocene normal faults that are probably coeval with some of the faulting described in the Rio Grande rift. Tectonic history of the Chihuahua trough: Mesozoic and Cenozoic 39 Extensive Neogene and some Quaternary faulting has affected the area, along the Rio Grande, between El Paso and the Big Bend. This area is the continuation of a postulated intracontinental transform along the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau and has been the locus of faulting related to right transtension during the past 24 m.y. Many of the Cenozoic fault trends of this area are along elements of the pre-existing structural fabric that influenced the develop- ment and location of the Chihuahua trough. Keywords: Chihuahua through, stratigraphy, tectonics, Mesozoic, Cenozoic. Resumen La Cuenca de Chihuahua es una cuenca pull-apart de movimiento lateral derecho que empezó a formarse hace 159- 156 Ma (Oxfordiano) durante un periodo de rotación relativa de la placa de Norteamérica en sentido antihorario. Los mares jurásicos estaban bien establecidos a finales del Oxfordiano y la configuración de la cuenca tuvo pocos cambios a lo largo del Jurásico Tardío, Neocomiano y Aptiano. Estructuras de una amplia zona de lineamientos preexistentes que se intersectan, de orientación noroeste y norte, localizados a lo largo del borde suroeste del cratón de Norteamé- rica, proveen la fábrica para el desarrollo de la cuenca pull-apart entre las plataformas Diablo y Aldama. Durante el Titoniano y Neocomiano, la tasa de sedimentación eventualmente superó a la de subsidencia tectónica y, al iniciarse un evento “regresivo” resultante, ocurrió extensivo depósito de evaporitas (incluyendo halita) en el área oriental de la cuenca de Chihuahua . Hacia el final del Aptiano, durante el depósito de la Formación Cuchillo y formaciones equiva- lentes, cesó el fallamiento a lo largo de las márgenes de la cuenca de Chihuahua y los mares empezaron a transgredir las áreas adyacentes de plataforma. En el Albiano medio, los mares habían avanzado sobre áreas previamente emergen- tes y en la cuenca de Chihuahua inició el depósito de carbonatos de agua somera, la cual prevaleció con interrupciones menores hasta el Cenomaniano temprano. La Formación Ojinaga (Cenomaniano temprano - Santoniano?) registra un aporte de clásticos marinos hacia la cuenca de Chihuahua, sincrónico con las cuñas clásticas del Cretácico Superior en el Mar Cretácico del Interior Occidental (Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway) de los Estados Unidos. La regresión del mar cretácico se refleja en la transición de estratos marinos a no marinos en la Formación San Carlos del Santoniano y en la sobreyaciente formación no marina El Picacho . Durante la orogenia Laramide (84 a 43 Ma), la cuenca de Chihuahua se invirtió formando el cinturón tectónico de Chihuahua. La deformación Laramide es el resultado de tectónica transpresiva con movimiento lateral izquierdo que involucró movimiento a lo largo de la fábrica preexistente, la cual controló la localización de la cuenca del Jurásico- Aptiano. En la porción evaporítica de la cuenca (área oriental), la reactivación de fallas limítrofes de la cuenca como fallas inversas laramídicas, con posibles componentes de movimientos izquierdos, acompañada por el desarrollo de pliegues suaves “ancestrales”, fue seguida por la amplificación de los pliegues en rocas post-evaporíticas causada por el flujo de las evaporitas hacia las crestas de los anticlinales. Al avanzar la deformación, el desarrollo estructural incluyó cabalgaduras (principalmente hacia la Plataforma Diablo) e inyección diapírica de evaporitas a lo largo de las márgenes de la cuenca evaporítica. En el área noroeste de la cuenca, la estructura refleja compresión con orientación noreste-suroeste e incluye cabalgamiento menor en dirección suroeste hacia y sobre la plataforma jurásica de Aldama. Las cabalgaduras involucran a formaciones paleozoicas y todo el cabalgamiento puede ser interpretado como conse- cuencia de un basamento fallado y no como una zona de despegue (décollement) de escala regional. La actividad tectónica post-laramídica incluye una continuación del tectonismo evaporítico, intrusiones ígneas dispersas, volcanismo menor, tectónica gravitacional y fallamiento en bloques del Oligoceno tardío - Mioceno al Cuaternario. En el área oriental de la Cuenca de Chihuahua, la erosión, posterior a la formación de la estructura laramí- dica y anterior al emplazamiento de las rocas volcánicas oligocénicas, creó una topografía similar a la actual. Durante este intervalo se desarrollaron deslizamientos y corrimientos gravitacionales en los flancos de algunos anticlinales grandes. Estructuras de colapso, relacionadas a disolución de evaporitas, deformaron las formaciones cretácicas y ter- ciarias en áreas de intrusión diapírica a lo largo de zonas de falla de desgarre. El fallamiento normal del Terciario ocu- rrió después del realineamiento del sistema de esfuerzos regional, de compresión E-NE a extensión E-NE hace aproxi- madamente 31 Ma. El fallamiento inicial en Chihuahua es probablemente contemporáneo al inicio del fallamiento en bloques en Trans-Pecos, Texas (hace aproximadamente 24 m.a.). Datos sísmicos en el área noroccidental de la cuenca muestran que una gran parte del área ha sido afectada por fallas normales miocénicas,
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