Southern and Central Mexico: Basement Framework, Tectonic Evolution, and Provenance of Mesozoic–Cenozoic Basins

This volume furthers our understanding of key basins in central and southern Mexico, and establishes links to exhumed sediment source areas in a plausible paleogeographic framework. Authors present new data and models on the relations between Mexican terranes and the assembly and breakup of western equatorial Pangea, plate-tectonic and terrane reconstructions, uplift and exhumation of source areas, the influence of magmatism on sedimentary systems, and the provenance and delivery of sediment to Mesozoic and Cenozoic basins. Additionally, authors establish relationships between basement regions (sediment source) in the areas that supplied sediment to Mesozoic rift basins, Late Cretaceous foreland systems, and Cenozoic basins developed in response to Cordilleran events.
Definition of tectonic elements in Tehuantepec, southeast Mexico: An integrated geophysical, geochronological, and stratigraphic perspective
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Published:December 09, 2021
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CiteCitation
Roberto S. Molina Garza, James Pindell, Henry Coombs, Bodo Weber, Tomás Peña Alonso, 2021. "Definition of tectonic elements in Tehuantepec, southeast Mexico: An integrated geophysical, geochronological, and stratigraphic perspective", Southern and Central Mexico: Basement Framework, Tectonic Evolution, and Provenance of Mesozoic–Cenozoic Basins, Uwe C. Martens, Roberto S. Molina Garza
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ABSTRACT
We redefine the “Chontal arc” of the southern Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico, as the Chontal allochthon. The Chontal assemblage is composed of Upper Cretaceous low-grade metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks included in the Chivela lithodeme. By means of field observations, laser-ablation detrital zircon geochronology, and trace-element geochemistry, we constrained the provenance and tectonic setting of these rocks. We concluded that they form an allochthon emplaced during a Paleogene transpressive event. Basement structure in the greater Oaxaca-Chiapas area was assessed by qualitative interpretation of Mexican State aeromagnetic maps. Chivela lithodeme sediments include a contribution from Albian–Turonian volcanic arc rocks no longer...