See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281068040 Sierra de Catorce: Remnants of the ancient western equatorial margin of Pangea in central Mexico Chapter · March 2012 DOI: 10.1130/2012.0025(01) CITATIONS READS 11 683 3 authors: José Rafael Barboza-Gudiño Roberto Molina Garza Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 37 PUBLICATIONS 571 CITATIONS 135 PUBLICATIONS 1,593 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Timothy Lawton University of Texas at Austin 160 PUBLICATIONS 4,194 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Tectónica sedimentaria del Jurásico inferior a Medio en el centro y noreste de México View project Chortis-Mexico connections View project All content following this page was uploaded by Roberto Molina Garza on 18 August 2015. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. fl d025-01 1st pgs page 1 The Geological Society of America Field Guide 25 2012 Sierra de Catorce: Remnants of the ancient western equatorial margin of Pangea in central Mexico José Rafael Barboza-Gudiño* Instituto de Geología, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Manuel Nava 5, Zona Universitaria C.P. 78240 San Luis Potosí, S.L.P, México Roberto S. Molina-Garza Centro de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Campus Juriquilla, Querétaro Timothy F. Lawton Department of Geological Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA ABSTRACT The Sierra de Catorce in northern San Luis Potosí, Mexico, represents an uplifted block with exposures of the oldest rocks of the region which include Upper Trias- sic turbidites interpreted as deposits of a submarine fan system (“Potosí Fan”) and overlying Lower Jurassic volcanic and volcaniclastic strata interpreted as a record of the Early-Middle Jurassic volcanic arc (“Nazas Arc”) of western North America. These lower Mesozoic units, recognized in several exposures in the region, are inter- preted as remnants of the ancient western margin of Pangea prior to accretion of Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous magmatic arc complexes and associated marginal basins that constitute the Guerrero composite terrane in western Mexico and that resulted in construction of a new Pacifi c margin. A fi eld trip in the Sierra de Catorce and sur- rounding exposures of the Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic succession allows observa- tion and discussion of key features that demonstrate the sedimentary and tectonic history of the western equatorial margin of Pangea. INTRODUCTION faults, which are cut also by west-northwest–striking normal faults. The Sierra de Catorce is reached by an ~200 km freeway The Sierra de Catorce, located at the eastern edge of the from San Luis Potosí to Matehuala and then to Cedral, along the Mesa Central Province, directly west of the Sierra Madre Orien- northern side of the Sierra. The village of Real de Catorce, in the tal, in northern San Luis Potosí, Mexico, represents an uplifted internal part of the sierra is reached by a 14 km long road, and block with an internal folded structure and exposures of the old- the ~2.7 km long “Tunel de Ogarrio,” constructed in 1800 as the est rocks of the region. The current horst structure of the sierra access to the old mining district located at an altitude of 2700 m is delimited by “basin and range” north-south–striking normal (Fig. 1). *[email protected] Barboza-Gudiño, J.R., Molina-Garza, R.S., and Lawton, T.F., 2012, Sierra de Catorce: Remnants of the ancient western equatorial margin of Pangea in central Mexico, in Aranda-Gómez, J.J., and Tolson, G., eds., [[space for volume title space for volume title space for volume title space for volume title space for volume title]]: Geological Society of America Field Guide 25, p. 1–18, doi:10.1130/2012.0025(01). For permission to copy, contact [email protected]. ©2012 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved. 1 fl d025-01 1st pgs page 2 2 Barboza-Gudiño et al. Discovered before 1773, Real de Catorce was an important Triassic to Lower Jurassic lithostratigraphic units exposed mining district during the nineteenth and part of the twentieth cen- in the Sierra de Catorce, as well as in several places in the Mesa turies. The district attracted the attention of Mexican and foreign Central, such as Charcas, Presa de Santa Gertrudis, La Ballena, miners, as well as geoscientists. For geologists, the district offers Zacatecas, and Sierra de Teyra, are closely related to the ancient an interesting stratigraphic section which records the complex tec- western equatorial margin of Pangea. After collision and suturing tonic evolution described in several published works (del Castillo of Laurentia and Gondwana during the Late Paleozoic, the region and Aguilera-Serrano, 1895; Baker, 1922; Erben, 1956; Mixon, of what today is central Mexico occupied a remnant basin at the 1963; Bacon, 1978; Cuevas-Pérez, 1985; Zarate del Valle, 1982; westernmost culmination of the Ouachita-Marathon belt, at the López-Infanzón, 1986; Barboza-Gudiño, 1989; Barboza-Gudiño west equatorial margin of Pangea. The earliest deposits in this et al., 1999, 2004; Franco-Rubio, 1999; Hoppe, 2000). paleo-pacifi c sub-basin were Middle to Upper Triassic turbidites 28To Laredo 33To Monterrey 38 Estación Vanegas CCedraledral Í N S S A O C T E O T P 263 A RealReal C S I La A N U Estación dede CatorceCatorce Z L Paz N Catorce A S Matehuala Santa RRefugioefugio ddee Rita SAN LUIS POTOSÍ CoronadosCoronados S a Guadalupe nL N uev del Carnicero ui s o P León otos VillaVilla dede GuadalupGuadalupe í 258 258 SSanan FFranciscorancisco CCharcasharcas Estación San Charcas Rafael Entronque Veenadonado El Huizache 63 253 253 Cd. del To MMoctezumoctezuma 57 16 Maíz Arista Guadalcázar 49 La illa Hidalgo slp Ballena Viillalla HHidalgoidalgo sslplp La AhualulcoAhualulco To Zacatecas To Pendencia 248 248 Villa Hidalgo Pinos MexquiticMexquitic zac. SANSAN LUISLUIS POTOSÍPOTOSÍ s To Ríoverde To 70 Zacateca San Luis Potosí Key areas 80 57 JALJ 243 AL km 243 ISCOIS CO OjuelosOjuelos 01020 50 GUANAJUAGGUANAJUATOUANAJUATOTO 23 28 To Queretaro 33 38 Figure 1. Locality map and access to the selected areas. fl d025-01 1st pgs page 3 Sierra de Catorce 3 known as the Zacatecas Formation and interpreted as deposits of In our interpretation, the Potosí Fan was formed in a basinal a submarine fan named the Potosí Fan (Silva-Romo et al., 2000). setting at the western margin of Pangea. As a consequence of Deposition of the fan was followed by deposition of volcanic latest Triassic–Early Jurassic subduction along this continental and volcaniclastic strata of the Lower Jurassic Nazas Formation, margin, the Potosí Fan was deformed and uplifted, so that the fi rst interpreted as remnants of the Early Jurassic continental volcanic volcanic deposits of the Nazas Formation are subaerial and rest arc, known also as “Nazas Arc.” Overlying the Nazas succession, unconformably on the Triassic Zacatecas Formation. The Nazas the La Joya Formation, consisting of Middle to Upper Jurassic Formation is unaffected by the intense folding and thrusting alluvial to lagoonal and shallow marine deposits, represents a registered in the Triassic rocks. Deposits of La Joya Formation basal transgressive succession in the region (Michalzik, 1988). represent development of an erosional unconformity following This unit grades upsection to the Upper Jurassic–Cretaceous the main period of volcanic activity and erosion of the arc in an carbonate and evaporitic successions of the Gulf Series which extensional setting. are widely distributed from north-central to northeastern Mexico The main goal of this excursion is to visit some of the Lower (Figs. 2 and 3). Mesozoic stratigraphic units (Upper Triassic–Middle Jurassic) 101° Monterrey G.G. PalacioPalacio COAHUILA N Villa Torreónoorreónrreón JuarezJuarez Saltillo SierraS de Jimulco ie r NUEVO ra d e LEÓN J im S u i lc e o r S r a SierraS de S.S i ie r . San ra S e d a GaleanaGaleana e Rodeo n RamirezR JJulián S.MARCOSS.MARCOS r a CaopasCaopas u DURANGO m l i i S. de Teyra á r r n M ez a a d La Boca Canyon M r e 24°24° a AAramberriramberri - s d E o . L r n eL oC MiquihuanaMiquihuana l Al y r S e a n Mesa Central B c b aO r aA e RC Canyon o CCaballeros t a O HuizachalHuizachal C e MatehualaMatehuala VValleyalleyalley dde Catorce O r a r r e i c i SierraS e c n i . de TAMAULIPASTAMAULIPAS ZACATECAS S 23° d t Charcas CharcasCharcas e a 50 km n l t SAN LUIS POTOSÍ a Zacatecas l s a n i linasl a S LaLa BallenaBallena e Sa d . SanSan LuisLuis PotosíPotosí S.S d Jurassic-Cretaceous volcano- Cenozoic (Neogene) cover sedimentary sequence Cenozoic volcanics Pre-Mesozoic rocks and UpperTriassic- Lower Jurassic marine-continental red beds and volcanics Upper Jurassic-Cretaceous Thrust Normal fault sedimentary cover fault Fig ure 2. Synthesis of regional geology. fl d025-01 1st pgs page 4 4 Barboza-Gudiño et al. SERIES Ma System E R A E R STAGE HOLOCENE 0.01 Alluvium QUATER. PLEISTOCENE 1.68 Conglomerate PLIOCENE 5.1 MIOCENE 23.7 Basalt OLIGOCENE 37 EOCENE TERTIARY 55 Quartzmonzonit C E N O Z I PALEOCENE 53 Ma PALEOGENE NEOGENE 67 MAASTRICHTIAN 71.5 CAMPANIAN 83 Mudstone - Sandstone SANTONIAN 86 (Caracol Formation) SENONIAN CONIACIAN 89 Limestone - Mudstone TURONIAN (Indidura Formation) 91 Limestone CENOMANIAN (Cuesta del Cura Formation) 97.5 ALBIAN 108 Limestone - Marl (Formación Tamaulipas Superior Formation) APTIAN Marl -mudstone (La Peña Formation) CRETAEOUS 114 BARREMIAN Limestone N A I (Tamaulipas Inferior Formation) LOWERHAUTERIVIAN UPPER M O C O VALANGINIAN E Marl - Mudstone N (Taraises Formation) BERRIASIAN 140 Siltstone - Marl TITHONIAN (La Caja Formation) UPPER KIMMERIDGIAN Limestone (Zuloaga Formation) OXFORDIAN 160 CALLOVIAN Siltstone-Sandstone BATHONIAN M E S O Z I C Polimictic Conglomerate- La Joya Formation BAJOCIAN breccia M IDDLE Rhyolitic Porphyr AALENIAN (174.7 ± 1.3) JURASSIC 184 Dacit TOARCIAN PLIENSBACHIAN Volcanic succession (Nazas Formation) Andesit SINEMURIAN LOWER andesític- HETANGIAN basaltic dike 210 Sandstone-mudstone Cerro El Mazo beds UPPER 230 siliciclastic succession MIDDLE (”Fm.