The Mojave-Sonora megashear model, which implies left-lateral strike-slip motion of northern México in Jurassic time, remains one of the most influential ideas concerning the geology of México. A comprehensive review of the literature related to this topic does not yet allow resolution of the controversy over the validity of this hypothesis. A clear conclusion is that the original hypothesis was based on a relatively simplistic model of the geology of Sonora, as the basement of the Caborca terrane is not simply a fragment of the Mojave Precambrian basement province of eastern California. Attempts to use quantitative techniques in testing the model have yielded results contrary to the hypothesis, such as clockwise rotations indicated by paleomagnetic data, and the diversity and complexity of the basement of Caborca indicated by geochemical and geochronological data. Other quantitative methods such as zircon provenance studies in quartzites of the sedimentary cover yield inconclusive results. The main conclusion of the studies of detrital zircons is that Grenvillean zircons are relatively abundant, but that their presence cannot be attributed solely to sources in the Grenville province in a fixist model. Stratigraphic correlations of upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks in Caborca with similar sequences in California and Nevada do not provide convincing arguments of large displacement, but should be evaluated in more detail. Elements that have the potential to test the hypothesis with greater certainty include detailed studies of basement rocks, a refined stratigraphy of the Jurassic volcanic and volcaniclastic arc rocks south of the inferred fault trace, and an increased understanding of depositional trends in the miogeoclinal sequence. Structural studies are sparse in this region. It is particularly important to gain a better understanding of the effects in time and space of Late Cretaceous–Tertiary contractional deformation. A tectonic evolution model that does not conflict with the existing data is the proposal that displacement of a para-autochthonous Caborca terrane may have occurred in the late Paleozoic. Nonetheless, available data and geologic relations in the Caborca region do not require Late Jurassic slip of several hundred kilometers. El modelo de la megacizalla Mojave-Sonora, el cual implica desplazamiento lateral izquierdo en el norte de México durante el Jurásico, permanece como una de las ideas más influyentes en la geología del país. Una revisión general de la literatura relacionada con el tema no permite aún resolver la controversia sobre la validez de la hipótesis, pero una conclusión clara es que la hipótesis original estaba basada en un modelo relativamente simplista de la geología de Sonora, ya que el basamento del terreno Caborca no es un simple fragmento de la corteza Mojave del este de California. Intentos de utilizar métodos cuantitativos han dado resultados contrarios a la hipótesis, como el de las rotaciones horarias indicadas por el paleomagnetismo y la diversidad de basamentos en Caborca que sugieren la geocronología y geoquímica; otros métodos producen resultados indeterminados, como la proveniencia de circones en las cuarcitas de la cobertura del terreno Caborca. La conclusión más relevante de esos estudios es la abundancia de circones de edad Grenvilleana, pero su presencia no puede simplemente atribuirse a fuentes en la Provincia Grenville en un modelo fijista. Las correlaciones estratigráficas entre secuencias Paleozoico tardío y Mesozoico en Caborca y secuencias similares en California y Nevada no producen argumentos convincentes a favor de grandes desplazamientos, pero deben considerarse con datos más detallados. Elementos que podrían evaluar la hipótesis con mayor contundencia son estudios más detallados del basamento, una estratigrafía fina del arco volcánico Jurásico y de las rocas volcanoclásticas al sur de la traza inferida de la falla y un mejor conocimiento de la secuencia miogeosinclinal. Son pocos los estudios estructurales en la región y en particular un problema importante es resolver en tiempo y espacio los efectos de la deformación compresional Cretácico-Terciario. Un modelo que no entra en conflicto con la evidencia existente es la propuesta de que el desplazamiento del terreno parautóctono Caborca haya ocurrido en el Paleozoico tardío. Sin embargo, los datos existentes y las relaciones geológicas en la región de Caborca, no requieren de un desplazamiento de cientos de kilómetros en el Jurásico Tardío.

The Caltepec shear zone is a dextral transpressional tectonic boundary between the Oaxacan and Acatlán Complexes, which are crystalline basements of the Zapo-teco and Mixteco terranes in southern México, respectively. The terrane boundary (2–6 km wide) reveals protracted and polyphase tectonic activity from at least Early Permian to the present. The major tectonothermal event in the Caltepec fault zone was related to the oblique collision of the metamorphic complexes during the amalgamation of Pangea. An anatectic leucosome and the resulting syntectonic granite (Cozahuico Granite) in the fault zone yielded U-Pb zircon ages of 275.6 ± 1.0 Ma and 270.4 ± 2.6 Ma, respectively. The initial 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.70435–0.70686) and Sm-Nd model ages (T DM ) (1.0–1.6 Ga) for the Cozahuico Granite and leucosome indicate a magmatic mixture that originated from melted Proterozoic crust and a component of depleted mantle. The Leonardian age of the cover (Matzitzi Formation) and a 40 Ar/ 39 Ar cooling age (muscovite) of 268.59 ± 1.27 Ma for mylonitic mica schist at the base of the thrust imply high cooling rates (∼180 °C/Ma) and uplift during the Permian. The adjacent sedimentological record indicates intense tectonic reactivation during Early Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene along the long-lived Caltepec fault zone, alternating with periods of relative tectonic quiescence during Triassic, Jurassic, and Mid-Cretaceous times. The trend of the Caltepec fault zone parallel to the Oaxaca fault, 50 km to the east, is interpreted as part of a synchronous and dynamically coupled tectonic system that has been releasing tectonic stresses associated with the rupture of Pangea and the evolution of the Pacific margin of southern México from Jurassic to Holocene times.

We utilize new geological mapping, conventional isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) and sensitive high-resolution ion microprobe (SHRIMP) U-Pb zircon analyses, and whole-rock radiogenic isotope characteristics to distinguish two contrasting Proterozoic basement complexes in the international border region southeast of Yuma, Arizona. Strategically located near the truncated southwest margin of Laurentia, these Proterozoic exposures are separated by a northwest-striking Late Cretaceous batholith. Although both complexes contain strongly deformed Paleoproterozoic granitoids (augen gneisses) intruded into fine-grained host rocks, our work demonstrates marked differences in age, host rock composition, and structure between the two areas. The Western Complex reveals a >5-km-thick tilted section of finely banded felsic, intermediate, and mafic orthogneiss interspersed with tabular intrusive bodies of medium-grained leucocratic biotite granite (1696 ± 11 Ma; deepest level), medium-grained hornblende-biotite granodiorite (1722 ± 12 Ma), and coarse-grained porphyritic biotite granite (1725 ± 19 Ma; shallowest level). Penetrative ductile deformation has converted the granites to augen gneisses and caused isoclinal folding and transposition of primary contacts. Exposed in a belt of northwest-trending folds, these rocks preserve southwest-vergent shear fabric annealed during amphibolite facies metamorphism, when crystalloblastic textures developed. Deformation and regional metamorphism occurred before emplacement of 1.1 Ga(?) mafic dikes. Throughout the Eastern Complex, meta-arkose, quartzite, biotite schist, and possible felsic metavolcanic rocks comprise the country rocks of strongly foliated medium- and coarse-grained biotite granite augen gneisses that yield mean 207 Pb/ 206 Pb ages of 1646 ± 10 Ma, 1642 ± 19 Ma, and 1639 ± 15 Ma. Detrital zircons from four samples of host sandstone are isotopically disturbed; nevertheless, the data indicate a restricted provenance (ca. 1665 Ma to 1650 Ma), with two older grains (1697 and 1681 Ma). The pervasively recrystallized Paleoproterozoic map units strike parallel to foliation and are repeated in south-trending folds that are locally refolded about easterly hinges. Southeasterly lineation developed in augen gneiss and host strata becomes penetrative in local domains of L-tectonite. Regional metamorphism associated with this tectonism persisted until ca. 1590 Ma, as recorded by metamorphic growths within some zircon grains. Mesoproterozoic intrusions that crosscut the Paleoproterozoic metasediments and augen gneisses include coarsely porphyritic biotite granite (1432 ± 6 Ma) and diabase dikes (1.1 Ga?). Emplacement of the granite was accompanied by secondary high-U overgrowths, dated at 1433 ± 8 Ma, on some of the Paleoproterozoic detrital zircons, and apparently was also responsible for resetting the whole-rock Pb isotopic systematics (1441 ± 39 Ma) within these Eastern Complex augen gneisses. Younger plutons emplaced into both Proterozoic basement complexes include medium-grained quartz diorite (73.4 ± 3.3 Ma and 72.8 ± 1.7 Ma), Late Cretaceous hornblende-biotite granodiorite, and Paleogene leucocratic biotite granite. Neogene sedimentary and volcanic strata overlie basement along unconformities that are tilted to the northeast, southeast, or southwest. A brittle normal fault, dipping gently northeast, juxtaposes Tertiary andesite with Paleoproterozoic metasandstone. These relationships suggest that the area shares a common history of mid-Tertiary extension with southwestern Arizona. Later influence of the southern San Andreas fault system is implied by multiple dextral offsets of pre-Tertiary units across northwest-trending valleys. Our structural, geochronologic, and isotopic data provide new information to constrain pre–750 Ma Rodinia reconstructions involving southwestern Laurentia. Whole-rock U-Th-Pb and Rb-Sr isotopic systematics in both Paleoproterozoic gneiss complexes are disturbed, however, well-behaved Sm-Nd analyses preserve depleted initial ε Nd values (+2 to +4) that are distinct from the Mojave crustal province, but overlapping with the Yavapai and Mazatzal Provinces of Arizona. The Eastern Complex has the appropriate age and Nd isotopic signature to be part of the Mazatzal Province, but records major tectonism and metamorphism at ca. 1.6 Ga that postdates the Mazatzal orogeny. Deformed granitoids of the Western Complex have “Yavapai-type” ages and ε Nd but display structures discordant to the southwesterly Yavapai trend in central Arizona. The Western Complex lies along-strike with similar-age rocks (1.77 Ga to 1.69 Ga) of the “Caborca block” that have only been studied in detail near Quitovac and south of Caborca. Collectively, these rocks form a northwest-trending strip of basement situated at the truncated edge of Laurentia. The present-day basement geography may reflect an original oroclinal bend in the Yavapai orogenic belt. Alternatively, the western Proterozoic belt of Sonora may represent displaced fragments of basement juxtaposed against the Yavapai-Mazatzal Provinces along a younger sinistral transform fault (e.g., the Late Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear or the Permian Coahuila transform). Crustal blocks with these specific petrologic, geochronologic, and isotopic characteristics can be found in south-central and northeastern portions of the Australian Proterozoic basement, further supporting a connection between the two continents prior to breakup of the Rodinian supercontinent.

Restoration of 12%–30% Basin and Range extension allows direct interpretation of ductile fabrics associated with a stack of Laramide thrust faults in the Quitovac region in northwestern Sonora. The inferred direction of displacement of these thrusts varies gradually from N63°W to N23°E and is interpreted to represent a clockwise rotation of the direction of Laramide thrusting through time. The thrust faults represent a piggy-back sequence of thrusting propagating north, toward the foreland. The average direction and sense of displacement of the thrusts is N18°W, and the cumulative 45 km of estimated northward-directed displacement corresponds to ∼86% of shortening. Based on geochronological constraints, onset of thrusting in Quitovac occurred sometime between 75 and 61 Ma, whereas cessation occurred at ca. 39 Ma. The presence of Paleocene-Eocene orogenic gold mineralization, spatially associated with thrusting, strengthens our idea that compressional tectonism associated with the Laramide orogeny is a very important and widespread dynamometamorphic event in the region. Similarities in age, kinematics, and structural stratigraphy indicate that the thrusting in the Quitovac region may be equivalent to the Laramide Quitobaquito Thrust in southwestern Arizona. In both areas, thrust faults juxtapose the Paleoproterozoic Caborca and “North America” basement blocks. This juxtaposition was previously proposed as exclusively related to movements along the hypothetical Upper Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear. The Laramide northward displacements and clockwise rotations recorded in the Caborca block rocks in Quitovac contradict the southward displacements (∼800 km) and counterclockwise rotations inherent in the left-lateral Upper Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear hypothesis. We conclude that if this megashear exists in northwestern Sonora, its trace should be to the southwest of the Quitovac region.