Tectono-sedimentary evolution of Southern Mexico. Implications for Cretaceous and younger source-to-sink systems in the Mexican foreland basins and the Gulf of Mexico
Por:
Villagomez, D., Steffensen, C., Pindell, J., Molina-Garza, R. S., Gray, G., Graham, R., O'Sullivan, P., Stockli, D., Spikings, R.
Publicada:
1 ago 2022
Categoría:
Earth and planetary sciences (miscellaneous)
Resumen:
An extensive dataset of existing and new geo/thermochronological data
from several areas in Southern Mexico constrains the tectonic history of
the region, as well as various source-to-sink relationships and local
burial histories. Our interpretation acknowledges that not all
cooling/heating observed in the source areas is due to erosional
exhumation/burial but, in some cases, due to advective heat transfer
from magmatic sources, which potentially overprinted earlier events. In
this work, we identified several areas that have been exhumed since the
Early Cretaceous and potentially provided clastic material to the
southern Gulf of Mexico area.We help to document how the Mexican
(Laramide) Orogeny propagated eastwards and southwards from the Late
Cretaceous through the early Oligocene. The first sediments reaching the
Tampico-Misantla and Veracruz basins derived mostly from eroded
Cretaceous carbonate material that covered the Sierra Madre Oriental,
the Sierra de Ju acute accent arez Complex and the Cuicateco belts, as
well as foredeep/intra-orogenic basin deposits formerly covering them.
Possibly by the end of the Mexican Orogeny, the clastic Jurassic and
older crystalline basement rocks became exposed and became the main
sources of quartz-rich clastic material to the most easterly foreland
basins and Gulf of Mexico. Exposure was probably assisted by higher
angle basement thrusts such as the Vista Hermosa/Valle Nacional faults.
The Mixtequita and Guichicovi blocks have also provided an important
source of quartz-rich and metamorphic lithic-rich material to the
southern Veracruz Basin possibly since the Eocene.For most of the
Cenozoic, the Chiapas and the Sureste basins were sourced from areas
south of the Chiapas Massif, i.e., the North America-Caribbean plate
boundary zone along today's Chiapas coastal plain. This plate boundary
zone accommodated relative displacement between Mexico and the Chortis
Block of the Caribbean Plate. Paleocene-middle Miocene sediments within
the Chiapas Basin were at least partially sourced from i) metamorphic
complexes in the northern Chortis Block; ii) the parautochthonous
Chontal Complex, an oceanic like basin sandwiched between Chortis and
southern Mexico; iii) the elongating volcanic arc along southern Mexico
and western Chortis; and iv) the Cretaceous and Jurassic sedimentary
cover of the southern flank of the Chiapas Massif,The westward
telescoping of southern Mexico onto the Cocos Plate in the wake of
Chortis has produced flat slab subduction geometry and
eastwardly-younging uplift of the Xolapa Belt (Oligo-Miocene) and the
Chiapas Massif (late Miocene). It also caused reorganization of the
drainage systems providing material to the Chiapas and Sureste
basins.Our results highlight the importance of understanding relative
block and plate boundary displacements in a dynamic hinterland and
consider the role of major faults when interpreting source-to-sink
relationships in the area. We describe the latter relationships for
several geologic time intervals in which reservoir-prone sediments were
delivered to the southern Gulf of Mexico. Finally, we integrate the
source-to-sink history to provide an assessment of reservoir quality and
hydrocarbon prospectivity in the region.
Filiaciones:
Villagomez, D.:
(Corresponding Author), Tecton Anal Ltd, Duncton, Burton House GU28 0LH, West Sussex, England
Tecton Anal Ltd, Duncton, Burton House GU28 0LH, West Sussex, England
Steffensen, C.:
Viking GeoSolut LLC, Houston, TX 77224 USA
Pindell, J.:
Tecton Anal Ltd, Duncton, Burton House GU28 0LH, West Sussex, England
Molina-Garza, R. S.:
Univ Nacl Autonoma Mex, Ctr Geociencias, Juriquilla 76, 230, Mexico City, Mexico
Gray, G.:
Rice Univ, Dept Earth, Environm & Planetary Sci, Houston, TX 77055 USA
Graham, R.:
Imperial Coll, Dept Geol, London SW7 2BP, England
O'Sullivan, P.:
GeoSep Serv, Moscow, ID 83843 USA
Stockli, D.:
Univ Texas Austin, Dept Geol Sci, Austin, TX 78712 USA
Spikings, R.:
Univ Geneva, Fac Sci, Dept Mineral, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland
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