Geology and tectonics of the southeastern portion of the Sierra de Guanajuato1
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Published:January 01, 2012
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CiteCitation
José Jorge Aranda-Gómez, Pablo Dávila-Harris, Luis Fernando Vassallo-Morales, Martha Godchaux, Bill Bonnichsen, Juventino Martínez-Reyes, Gerardo de Jesús Aguirre-Díaz, Maria Amabel Ortega-Rivera, 2012. "Geology and tectonics of the southeastern portion of the Sierra de Guanajuato", The Southern Cordillera and Beyond, José Jorge Aranda-Gómez, Gustavo Tolson, Roberto S. Molina-Garza
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Abstract
Guanajuato has a long history (450 years) of mineral exploitation and remarkable silver and gold production from a complex system of fault-veins. Despite this, it is only in the past 40 years that the systematic study of its geology has been conducted. Mid-Tertiary epithermal veins occur in all the Mesozoic and Paleogene rock units exposed in the mining district, and mineralization seems to be the result of the combination of several geologic factors, such as the occurrence of greenschists in the basal complex, a thick sequence of Early Paleogene red beds overlain by a thick succession of Oligocene volcanic...
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Contents
The Southern Cordillera and Beyond

Prepared in conjunction with the 2012 GSA Cordilleran Section Meeting, Querétaro, Mexico, this volume's eight field guides showcase three aspects of the geology of the southern end of the North America cordillera: Mid-Tertiary and Quaternary volcanology, environmental geology, and Mesozoic tectonics. Field Guide 25 explores the Cenozoic stratigraphy of Sierra de Guanajuato, one of the most important Mexican mining districts, and addresses a controversial topic, the accretion of the Guerrero terrane and its possible role in the Late Cretaceous—Early Tertiary orogeny. Three guides related to the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, an active magmatic arc related to subduction of the Rivera and Cocos plates, include new data about the recent volcanic history, physical volcanology, and volcanic hazards in Mexico's most densely populated area. Bringing the geosciences into societal problems, one guide presents data on ground deformation related to water extraction in urbanized areas of the Mexico City basin, and another explores the ghost town of the Mineral de Pozos mining district and the effect of mine tailings on groundwater.