c..

Pg/-005 UN le \",
&3
1040

Tectono~stratigraphic terranes and mineral resource distributions in Mexico 1

MARIA FERNANDA\CAMPA
Petroleas Mexicanos. Mexico. D.F.
AND
J. CONEY
PETER
Department ofGeosciences, Univcrsity of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 8572/, U.S.A.
Received March 11, ) 982

Accepted May ID, 1982

About 80% ofthe southem part of the North American Cordillera within the Republic of Mexico is made up of suspect terraDes.
These terranes are suspeCI because Iheir paleogeographie setting with respect to cratonic North America at various times through
much of Phanerozoic time is uncertain, Much of northeastern and southeastem Mexico is underlain by basement accreted during
late Paleozoic time, an extension of the Appalachian-Ouachita orogeny. This orogen has been eonsiderably modified by Jurassk
strike-slip translations related to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico. Western and southwestern Mexieo is largely made up o(
several distinet but coeval latest Jurassie to Late Cretaceous suhmarine magmatie are terranes with unknown basement Iha!
appear to have aeereted against the disrupted North American margin by earJy Tertiary time. Only northeastern Sonora and the
State of Chihuahua appear to be floored by un moved North American cratonie basement. The combined effect of Mesozoc
aceretIOns and translatons essentially eliminates the overIap of Soulh America upon Mexico hat is drived frumlate Paleozoic
early Mesozoie reconstructions of the closed Atlantic Deean. This new vision of aeeretionary and translational leclonics in
Mexiea has profound implicatiol.s for the study of teetogenesis in the soulhem Cordillera as well as for Ihe interpretaton 1)(
Mexieo' s vasl natural resourees. l'reliminary analy~is indicates thal Mexico's gold-slver and lead-zinc deposils are directly O!
indirectly related 10 Ihe terrane distribulions discussed.

Environ 80% de la partie sud de la Cordillere de l'Amrique du Nord a I'intrieurde la Rpublique du Mexique est formede
terrans mal dfinis. Ces terrains sont mal dfillis paree que leur contexte palogographque en rapport avec le eraton de
"Amrique du Nord pour les diffrents temps gologiques surtout pour le Phanrozoique est indtermin. De grandes rgonsdu
nord-est et du sud-est du Mexique reposent sur un socle rsultant d'une aeertion au cours du Palozo'ique suprieur, une
extension de l'orognese Appalache-Ouachita. Cette orognese fut eonsidrablement affecte par des translations le long de
dcroehements au Jurassique aecompagnant I'ouverture du golfe du Mcxique. L'ouest e sud-ouest du Mexique es!
principalement eonstitu de terrains de nalure diffrente mais eontemporains de la fin du Jurassique suprieur jusqu'au Crtac
suprieur, formanl des ares d'origine magmatique sous-marine, dont le sacie esl inconnu mais semble rsulter d'une aecrtion FIG. l. Tectono-stratigr.
eontre la marge rupture de l' Amrique du Nord durant le Tertiaire infrieur. Seulement le nord-est de Sonora el I'tat du Cerranes shown by V palie
Chihuahua semblent prsenler un socle com::spondanl au eralon non-dplae de l' Amrique du Nord. L 'effet l'ombin des
accrtions et des Iranslations du Msozolque cartent I'hypothese d'un chevauehement de l' Amrique du Sud sur le Mexique resource disrributions jn
invoque dans les reconstitutions de la fermeture de I'ocan Atlantique durant la priode du Palozolque suprieur jusqu'au controUed by rhe tcrr
Msozoique infrieur. Cette nouvelle approehe de teetonique d'accrlions et de translations pour le Mexique peul eontribuer au relationship that has not
dveloppemenl de la teetognese du sud de la Cordillere et galement al'interprtation eoncernant les vas tes ressources naturellcs The tectoncs af Mexi
du Mexique. Des tudes prliminaires indiquenl que les gileS d'or-argent et de plomb-zine du Mexique sonI dircetemenl el not shared by most uf rh
indireetement relis a la distribulion de terrans discuts dans le prscnt aniele. Paleozoic Appalachian ,
Can. J, Earth SeL 10,1040-1051 (1983)
(Trdduil par le journa\1 and Gulf of Mexico feal
!'lart~ American Cardo
Introduction Ben-Avraham et al. 1981). The approach has also unphcations of this com~
Tectono-stratigraphic lerrane-. ~nalysis (J ones and yielded preliminary insights into the distribution and mystery. and inelude the
Silberling 1979) has proven fruitful in sludies of the genesis of Cordilleran mineral resources (Albers 1981; No~ American Jale Pn
Nonh American Cordillera. It has resulted in a series of Berg 1981), contInental margin in this
new maps (Coney et al. 1980; Berg et al. 1978; Jones et Tectono-stratigraphic terrane analysis is in its infancy and ~esozoic interactiom ~
al. 1981) that have shed .much light on Cordilleran in Mexico. We report here the results of preliminary relatlOnships between the :
tectonc evolution and has focused attention Ol~ major work now in progress (Campa and Coney 1981). We are - Ce~tral America reg.
issues in the interpretaron of the tectonic evolution of cenain future work will require revision of what we Arnenca. Most of these F
continental rnargin mountain systems (Coney 1981; ponray here, but we are confident that the broad oUllne from geometric reconstrU!
we propose is in general valid. These prelirninary results Ocean in Permo-Triassic t
lThis paper was presented at a symposium entitled provide a different vision of the tectonics of Mexico and kno.wn overJap of South
"Metallogeny and Tectonics of the North American al the same time provide insight into the teclonic Canbbean Sea and Central
Cordillera" held al Ihe GAC IMAC I CGU Joint Annual Meeting evoluton of the southern part of the North American 50% o~ the Mexican R(~r
in Calgary, Alberta, May 13, 1981. Cordillera. Finally. we suggesl that sorne mineral coneluslOns; (1) rocks expo

..

 CAMPA AND CONEY 1041

LEGEND
CHI Chihuahua
CA C.borca
COA Coahulla
M May ..
SM 95.rr. Madr.
A "lIalto.
G Guerrero
J Jt.I ar e::.:

O O ca
MI Mi.teca
XO Xolap.

,et ten'anes. COA S Sonabar.

R Rual
ncs through
'Cted during V Vlzc.",o

by Jurassie
SMO SI.rr. M,adre Occldenta.
made up of TMV Tr.nt-Uexleo volcante Axla
sement that
lora and lhe
f Mesozoc
Paleozoic
tectonics in
pretation of
: dircctly Of

;t fortne de
e craton de
s rgionsdu
>rieur. une
s le long de

lexique es!

-= 304) ,""

l'au Crtac
FIG. l. Tectono-stratigraphic ten'anes ofMexico. Basement ten'ane boundarics are shaded black Iines. Superjacent (overlap)
le accrtion terranes shown by V panero.

et l'tat du

ombin des
resouree distributions in Mexico appear to be markedly did not exist during Perrno-Triassic time, or (2) they
le Mexique controlled by the terrane distributions. This is a
,ur jusqu'au relatonship that has not pr:eviously be en pereeived.
Clntribuer au Tbe teetonics of Mexico has an inherent complexity
!s naturelles
not shared by most of the Cordillera to the north: here,
'ectement el
Paleozoic Appalaehian and Mesozoic Atlantic Ocean
r le jouroal) and Gulf of Mexico features mingIe with those of the
North American Cordillera. The paleogeographic
h has also implicadons of this complex union have a1ways been a
buton and mystery, and inelude the earHest configuration of the
lbers 1981; North American late Precambrian - early Paleozoie
continental margin in this region as welllater Paleozoic
infancy
were somewhere eIse. When these geometric facts are
taken into consideration along with the nature of much
of the geology of this region, the implied moblty of
tectonic eIements places severe doubts on classic
interpretations of Mexican tectonic history. When these
geometric relationships are combined with our terralle
analysis they indicate, for example, that only about 20%
of Mexieo can be unequivoeal1y underlain by unmoved
autochthonous North American Precambrian basement.
The remainder of the Republic is thus "suspe el" (Coney
et al. J 980; Coney 1981) in its paleogeographic

I ts and Mesozoic interactions, Added complexilies are the affinities during long periods of Phanerozoic time.
oreliminary relationships between the southem Mexieo - Caribbean

Description oC terranes
81). 'Ve are - Central Ameriea region and northwestem South
)f what we Ameriea. Most of these problems derive at the oulset A preliminary teetono-stratigraphic terrane map of
'oad oUlline
from geometrie reconstructions of the elosed Atlantic Mexico is shown as Fig. l. The map shows the
nary results
Ocean in Perrno-Triassic time (Coney 1978). The well distribution of major basement terranes, which in most
Mexcoand lcnown overIap of South Ameriea upon all of the cases are areas assumed to be underlain by a basement
he tectonc Caribbean Sea and Central Ameriea and including up to Iitho-tectonic assemblage defined as intemalIy homoge
1 American 50% of the Mex.ican Republic leads to one of two neous within the boundaries of the terrane. Sorne
ne mineral conclusions: (1) rocks exposed in the overlapped region terranes are designated as "eomposite," and inelude
 -,
1042 CAN. J. EARTH sel. VOL. 20. 19RJ
internal complex.ities the details of which are still to be
worked out. The proposed intemal homogeneity of
terranes is represented by a stratigraphic record (in other
words, a geologic history) that ties the terrane together
as a tectono-stratigraphic entity in space and time.
Boundaries between terranes are major diseontinuities
in stratigraphy that we believe mark abrupt or cryptic
changes in age and (or) lithology that cannot be easily
explaincd as due to a facies change or an unconformity.
Many of the houndaries are known faults and all are
suspected to be.
- Most of Mex.ico is in fact covered at the surfaee by
what are termed "superjacent" terranes or overlap
assmblages. Only so me of thcsc are shown in Fig. l.
1 These younger overlap assemblagcs cross lerrane
! boundaries, indicating paleogeographic unily over a
region larger Ihan that represented by the basement
terranes. Examples would be the mid-Tertiary volcanic
plateau of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the late
Tertiary trans-Mexico volcanic axis, both of which are
shown in Fig. l.
The basement terranes of Mexico may be grouped
into zonations that divide the Republic into three major
tectono-stratigraphic subdivisions: (1) a northwestern
zone, which is a direct eontinuation soulhward ioto
Mexico of autochthonous North American cratonic
Precambrian basement and ils Paleozoic-Mesozoic
cover; (2) an eastem zone, surrounding Ihe Gulf of
Mexico, of mainly late Paleozoic age, which though
heterogeneous has a common origin as material accreted
to North America during the latest Paleozolc
Appalachian-Ouachita-Marathon orogeny; and (3) a
western zone, making up Mexico's wider Pacific
margin, which is characterized by a heterogeneous
assemblage of mainly submarine volcanic and
sedimentary rocks of late Mesozoic age. with presently
unknown basement. Also found here lre scattered
smaller terranes, which inelude in part older rocks and
whose paleogeographic affinities with North America
are presenlly unknown or al best very speculative.
Zone 1: nortbwestern Mexico
Zone 1 (Fig. 2) is made up of two terranes: the
autochthonous North American cratonic terrane of
Chihuahua and what may be a para-autochthonous
displaced fragment of North America, the Caborca
terrane in the State of Sonora.
Chihuahua terrane
The Chihuahua terrane is underlan by unmoved
cratonic North American Precambrian basement. This
basement outcrops in only scattered loealities in
northeastern Sonora, bUI it has been penetrated in wells
in the State o~ Chihuahua (unpublished well reports,
Petroleos MeXIcanos, Gerencia de Exploracion; see also
~--
. . _---._------~----------------.......-..._-...:::::::==--
Lopez 1979, Figs. 4-3). The Precambrian basement is
overlain depositionaIly by a cratonic assemblage ofup to
3000 m of Paleozoic sandstones. shales, and limestoDes
(Malpica and de la Torre 1980) with a fauna and J u(
lithologies very similar to those of well known
sequences in Arizona and New Mexico of the
southwestcrn United States (Peirce 1976). Toward Ihe u.
southeastern edge of the terrane, upper Paleozoic
delrilial sequences sccm lo reftect proximity to the MIs
southwestward ex.tremity of the Appalachian-Ouachita
-Marathon orogenic belt (Bridgcs 1964). Dev
The southeastem boundary of the terranc is an
assumed deep-seated fault along the northwestem
frontal zone of the accreted late Paleozoic Ouachita
Marathon ocogen. The southwestem boundary is a ma,jor
tectonic discontinuity separating disparate Precambrian
c."
age belts and Paleozoic - early Mesozoic slratigraphy.
The discontinuity has been tenned the Mojave-Sonora
megashear (Silver and Anderson 1974; Antlerson and
Silver 1979). We simply tenn it the Mojave-Sonora
discontinuity. The lerrane is covered by latest Jurassic U. P
and younger Mcsozoic rocks, which are partofthe greal
transgression out of the Gulf of Mexico.
Caborca terrane
The stratigraphic column for the Caborca terrane is
based on isolated outcrops west of the cily of Cahorca,
Sonora, which yield a Precambrian basement (Damon el
al. 1962; Anderson and Silver 1979) overlain by a very
thck mogeoclinal sequence of late Precambrian
through Pa1eozoic age (Cooper and Are 11 ano 1946; P,ec
Malpica and de la Torre 1980), considered to be very
similar to the Cordilleran mogeoclinal sequence of
southwestern Nevada and soulhern California (Weber el
al. 1979; Anderson et al. 1979). Overlying the
Paleozoic rocks are Upper Triassic marine and
continental deposits of the Barranca Formation and
Liassic to Upper Jurassic claslc and volcanoclastic
rocks (Anderson and Silver 1979). The Caborca terrane
I
is certainly composite since southeast of Hcrrnosillo,
Sonora there are outcrops of lower Paleozoic sequences [
of deep-marine affinity (Peiffer 1979) and there are
exposures of Lower Mesozoic rocks of uncertain affinity
in northeast Baja California (Gastil and Miller 1981).
FIG. 2. Teclo~o-str
The elose similarity of the pre-Lale Jurassic Abbreviations: Precam.
sequences to those of southwestem Nevada and southem Ord. = Ordovician; Sil
California and the marked contrast to sequences of Ihe Trias. Upper Triassi,
same age in nearby Chihuahua terrane have led lO Ihe Cre!. = Upper Ccetace(
suggestion that the Caborca terrane is a displaced Turon. = Turonan; San
fragment of North American Precambrian basement and citations in text, unpubJ
ils Pa1eozoic miogeoclinal cover plus various Paleozoic
allochthons and younger overlap asscmblages, all ZoneJ
broughl southeastward up to 800 km along the Middle Much of easlern
Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear (Slver and Ander Mesozoic and Cenozc
son 1974; Anderson and Silver 1979). part of the great post
 GAMPA AND CONEY 1043

~is
Caborca Chihuahua
liaptD
:srones Jurasstc e 4) n o ~
:e and
'i;:rnJwn
o the
u~ Trasslc
'2.r.-dthe
leozoic Alb.
10 me
lI.Ia.:hta Dev.-Miss.
o rd.
: is an
westem A P t.

laChita Camb
a major
N 90 C.
mbrian
ignlphy.
-Sonora
'Son and
Ti t on.
-Sonora
Jwassic U P r e e B mb.
Perm.
!he great
?enn.-Misa.

o e v~
Sil.
:..-nme is O rd.
:abarca, e a m b '-I-~~_-;
lamon el
Precamb.
rw a very

:W.brian

Precamb
o 1946;
be very
lence of
kVeber el
ring fue
1: ,,~ ~ I
volunlc

im: and
tion and
oclastic
Bterrane
:rnosillo,
:;(f..tences
I~ A"" lev"po,He
t.ere fu-e
oa.'iiniry }
1981). FlG. 2. Tectono-stratigraphic columns for northwestem Mexico. Also shows lithologic symbols for Figs. 3 and 4.
Jmassic Abbrevialions: Precam. == Precambrian basement; U. Prccamb. = Upper Precambrian sedimentary rocks; C.amb. = Cambrian;
scufuem Ord. Ordovcan; Sil. Silurian; Dev. == Devonian; Miss. = Mississippian; Penn. = Pennsylvanian; Perro. = Perrnian; U.
es oI me Tras. == Upper Triassic; L., M., U. Jura. Lower, Middlc, and Upper Jurassic; L. Cre!. == Lower Crctaceous; U.
ed (O me =
Cret. Upper Cretaceous; Titon. =; Tilhonian; Neoc. = Neocomian; Ap!. = Aptian; Alb. = Albian; Cenu. == Cenomanian;
L.'P1aced Turon. = Turonian; San!. = Santonian; Campo = Campanian; Tert. = Tertiary; Pateo. Paleocene; Plio. "" Pliocene. Sources:
mentand citalions in text, unpublished data fmm Pemez and Instituto Mexcano del Petroleo files, and fieldwork by the authors.
'al:eoz:oic
[!reS, all
Zone 11: easlern Mexico of the newly opened Gulf of Mexico. However, in
;~1ddle Much o eastern Mexico is overlain by upper scattered exposures and from well data there is evidence
d Ander Mesozoic and Cenozoic superjacem terranes, which are beneath the cover of the basement terranes of concem
part of the great post-Middle Jurassic transgression out here (Fig. 3). The largest are me CoahuiJa and Maya

------.. ------~-----
log

C. mp.
Coahuila
CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 20, 1983

Maya
1 interpret to be p~

arc. Accretion of

the North A:-lleric

Paleozoic lO Mi,

S ant.
- - -- Pal9c.-PLio.
Madre terranes. h

lo North America

e e no.Turon~ U. e r et Jurassic Iimeslofi<

"'lb
terranes. The mo

.... p t.
Lo Cre\.
terranes is relate

NOQCw Tllon.,} ~iliI U. Jura.

Monterrey discol

ently the southea!

Jura.
M. J u r 8. discominuity. rv

l. J u r a.
occurred after the

Perol.
Jurassic.

Permian
Pan n.
Miss. Coahuila terrafle
O e.., ~ The known lith
of two parts. On
?
mildly metamor
Permian) flysch w
granodioritic pll
Sierra Madre Paleozoic radiom(
1959; Flawn er al.
u. e r 9. t.

part is the so-cal

Marathon orogen
Turco.
through late Palc(
L. erel
northwestward O'
Ouachita and Mar
U. J ti r a.
M. Ju r IL
are Jikewise Ihrus
terrane in Mex
U.Trills. basement terranes
L. J u r a. of Late Triassic t
Humphrey 1956).
The upper Pale.
Pe f m. the "hinterland" e
V.rtte rrow b.,lda co'umn Ouachita-Marath,
M s,.
Peno.
O e v.

Sil.

ji;~t Ihow. rana. o, ba ment tetrano

Rockl above .r. lup.rJac::ent Cov.flap) t.rtana
represent magma
accreted agalns! t
Camb.-Ord.
closure of the prc
Preeamb. may have becn dis
south of North P
evaporitic sequer
FIG. 3. Tectono-stratigraphic columns for eastern Mexico. See caption lo Fig. 2 for details. similar facies fuur
regions to the nor
terranes. which are both certainly composite but appear Sierra Madre basement terrane may' be a displaced assumed to be rela
to be late Paleozoic accretions to North America reJated fragment of North American basement similar !o the opening of the Gu
10 c10sure of the proto-Atlantic Ocean as Africa and Chihuahua terrane. of the Coahula
South America impinged on North America, which Tbe terranes of eastem Mexico are overlapped first by discontinuity.
produced the 1ater stages of the Appalachian-Ouachita a Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic early rift assemblage
-Marathon orogeny in latest Paleozoic time (Graham of continental redbeds and evaporites, then by a Maya rerrane
elal. 1975; Flawn el al. 1961). A third basementterrane post-Middle Jurassic through Late Cretaceous marine Where exposed
is the Sierra Madre. This poorly exposed and poorly transgression assemblage. Both of these sequences are heterogeneous Ih
understood basement terrane is probably composite and part of the history of the opening of the Gulf of Mexico. probably a displa<
is here portrayed as including part, at leas!, of the The Sierra Madre and Maya terranes are also both Iarge meta-plulor.
Altiplano region of central Mex:ico in the Sta!es of locally overlain by an Early to Middle Jurassic (?) Permo-Triassic ag
Durango, Zacatacas, and San Luis Potosi. Part of the continental redbed and vo1canic sequence, which we. al.1981;Webben
, 1
~
CAMPA ANO CON6Y
interpret to be part of a Jurassic continental magmatic
are. Accrelion of lhe Coahula and Maya terranes onto
!he North Arllerican continent occurreu uuring lhe lalest
Paleozoic lo Middle Triassic. The Maya and Sierra
Madre terranes, however, were still mobile with respect
10 North America until Late Jurass.ic time, since Upper
Jurassic lime~tones are the first units to overlap all three
terranes. The mobility of the Maya and Sierra Madre
terranes is related to movemcnt along lhe Torreon
Monterrey discontinuity. The discontinuity is appar
ently lhe southeastern eXlension of the Mojave-Sonora
diseontinuity. Movement along the feature thus
oceurred after the Middle Triassic and before the Late
:
Jurassic.
Coahuila terrane
The known Iithology of the Coahuila terrane consists
~{ of two parts. One is a much deforrned and generally
mildly meramorphosed upper Paleozoic (moslly
Perrnan) ftysch with andesitic volcanics cut by scattered
I granodoritic plutons, whch usually yield latest
Paleozoic radiometric ages (Bose 1921; Flawn and Daz
1959; Flawn el al. 1961; Denison el al. 1971). A second
part is the so-caBed "frontal zone" of the Ouachita
Marathon orogen, which ineludes rocks of Cambrian
through late Paleozoic age. These sequences are thrust
northwestward over cratonic North America in the
Ouachita and Marathon Mountains and we assume they
are Iikewise thrust northwestward over the Chihuahua
terrane in Mexico. Unconforrnably aboye these
basement terranes lie continental redbeds and evaporites
of Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic age (lmlay 1943;
Humphrey 1956).
The upper Paleozoic rocks are here interpreted to be
the "hinterland" or interior zone of the Appalachian
Ouachita-Marathon orogenic belt and probably
represent magmatic are and fore-arc assemblages
accreted against North America during late Paleozoic
c\osure of the proto-Atlantic Ocean. The frontal zone
may have been distal, deep ocean-floor deposits that lay
south of North America. The Mesozoic redbed and
evaporitic sequences are considered equivalent to
similar facies found along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal
regioos to the north in the United States and are here
: a displaced assumed to be related to early rifting that later led to the
limilar to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico. The southern boundary
of the Coahulla terrane is the Torreon-Monterrey
lapped first by discontinuity.
ft assemblage
, then by a Maya terrana
.ceous marine Where exposed the Maya terrane is apparently more
sequences are heterogeneous than, but somewhat similar to, and
llf of Mexico. probably a displaced part of, the Coahuila terrane. A
are also both large meta-plutonic complex, at least in part of
~ Jurassic (7) Perrno-Triassic age. is exposed in Chiapas (Damon el
ce, which we. al. 1981; Webber and Ojeda Rivera 1957), amlthere are
1045
highly deformed and metamorphosed Paleozoic ftysch
sequences,(Hernandez 1973). In southernmost Chiapas
and neighboring Guatemala there are Devonian to
Perrnian sediments and possible older early Paleozoic
and Precambrian rocks whose affinities with North
America are unknown (Clemons el al. 1974). Jurassic
redbeds and volcanic rocks and Middle-Upper Jurassic
to Cretaceous transgressive marine sequences cover the
basement terrane.
The boundary hetween the Maya and Coahuila
terranes is not known. but it is possibly the southcastern
extension of the Torreon-Monterrey discontinuity
where it enters the Oulf of Mexico somewhere between
Matamoros and Vera Cruz.
Sierra Madre
The Sierra Madre Oriental is mainly a sequence of
foIded and imbricately thrusHaulted upper Mesozoic
limestones, shales, and sandstones of the superjacent
Gulf of Mexco transgressive sequence deforrned during
Ihe Late Cretaceous - early Tertiary Laramide orogeny
(deCsernaetal. 1977; Tardy 19RO;deCserna 1956). In
several anticJinoria. however. an oIder basement terrane
is revealed (Carrillo 1961, 1965; Ramirez 1978; de
Cserna et al. 1977). NearCiudad Victoria the crystalline
basemeot is a metamorphic complex of "Grenville" age
(Fries el al. 1962b). Structurally aboye it is a
sedimentary sequence Ihat ranges from Cambro
Ordovician (1) to Pennsylvanian in age and culminates
in a Perrnian fiysch (Carrillo 1961; Malpica and de la
Torre 1980). This sequence is perhaps not unlike what
one might expect as a southeasternmost occurrence of
the North American craton in Chihuahua terrane or
perhaps the fromal zone of lhe Coahuila terrane here
displaced far to the southeast. Farther south near the
trans-Mexico vo1canic axis a Lower Jurassic marine
scdimentary sequcnce with a fauna of "Pacific" aspect is
exposed structurally aboye Paleozoic rocks of Mississip
pian and Perrnian age. which in turn le aboye
Precambrian rocks. How far and to what degree the
Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks extend beneath the
remainder of the Sierra Madre terrane are presently
unknown. 11 seems likely the Sierra Madre terrane as
portrayed in Fig. 1 is composite.
At scattered localities between Torreon and Ciudad
Victoria along the northem margin of the terrane south
of the Torreon-Monterrey discontinuity there are
exposures of red conglomerate!'l, siltstones, sandstones,
and silty shales below Upper Jurassic limestones
(Zuluaga Forrnation) (Crdoba 1963). The red
sediments frequently have a considerable volcanic
content, and there are occasional volcanle rocks as well.
Usually evaporitc shales and siltstones intervene
between !he redbeds alld the Zuluaga limestones. The
rocks are often slightly metamorphosed, retaning a faint
1046 CAN. J. EARTH
cleavage. Sorne of these rocks have been eonsidered
Paleozoic basement. Recent fieldwork suggests most are
equivalent to the Lower to Middle Jurassic Nazas
Formation (Pantoja-Alor 1963) exposed west of
Torreon, whieh we inlerpret to be part uf the Lower lO
Middle Jurassie magmatie are (Damon et al. 1981)
known from southem Arizona and Sonora, where it les
depositionalIy upon whal we terro the Chihuahua
terrane. If the correlalion is correct, these roch are
displaced far to the southeast from their equivalents to
the north. Since the basement of these rocks is not
known they are shown in a separate column beside the
Sierra Madre Oriental terrane eolumn in Fig. J.
Zone IlI: western Mexico
This vast region makes up almosl one half of the
Republic of Mexico ami is forroed by a composle group
of suspect terranes here considered 10 have accreted lo
North America in laler Mesozoic lO early Tertiary time.
The principal basement terranes (Fig. 4) are a series of
submarine vo\canic and sedimentary rocks of magmatic
arc aspect, and are at least of Late Jurassic to late middle
Cretaceous age and possibly reach back to fue Late
Triassic and (or) Jurassic. Scattered through these
terranes are smaller terranes with older ages and distincI
facies. AH of the aboye terranes are dfficult to organize
into any paleogeographic reconstruction with the re
mander of Mexico until late Mesozoic or even early
Cenozoic time. Any portrayal of this complex region is
complicated by the fact that much of it is covered by
middle Tertiary and younger superjacent terranes such
as Ihe Sierra Madre Occidenlal and the trans-Mexieo
volcanic axis.
The main late Mesozoic arc terranes are the Alisitos
terrane of Baja California, the composite Guerrero
terrane of southwestern Mexico, and the Juarez terrane
in !he State ofOaxaca. The smaller terranes are Mixteca
and Oaxaca; both inelude Paleozoic rocks and the
Oaxaca a1so ineludes Precambrian rocks. The Xolapa
and Sonabari terranes are meta-plutonic complexes of
largely unknown age and origino Important deep-seated
faults are known to bound these smaller terranes in
several places, and we know of no evidence that permits
the conclusion that any of them necessarily forrns a
basement to the larger submarine magma tic are terranes.
The terranes of westem Mexico were apparently
accreted onto and consolidated wth the North American
continent during what might be termed the "greater"
Laramide orogeny, which took place from Late
Cretaceous to early Tertiary time. Folding, faulting, and
sorne metamorphism at Ihis time are widespread
throughout this eomplex and varied region. In any
event, poorly dated continental sediments considered to
be of Lale Eocene to Oligocene age and better dated
middle Tertary volcanic sequences, mostly in the Sierra
Madre Occidental and beneath the younger trans-
se!. VOL. 20. 1983
Mexico volcanic axis, uneonformably cover the
basement terranes as an overlap assemblage in many
areas.
Alisitos terrane
This lerrane is mainly a very Ihick Lower to Middle
Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) submarine to partIy
continental andesitic volcanic and associated volcano
elastic sequence thal forms much of the western part uf
northem Baja California (AllisOll 1955; Gastil el al.
1978). The terrane possibly ineludes older rocks that
may extend into latest Triassic oc Jurdssic time. The
terrane is inlrudeq by Crelaceou!> plulons and is in part
metamorphosed. The terrane no doubt has correlatives
across the Gulf ofCalifornia in southern Sonora south of
Guaymas and in Sinolo (shown in Fig. 1 as the
Guerrero terrane). It may also reappear in southernmost
Baja California soulh of La Paz.
Guerrero lerrane
This vast terrane is best known in the Sierra Madre del
Sur south of the Irans-Mexieo volcanic axis. 1t is
certainly composite, and al the time of this wriling can
be subdivided into at least three separate sequences. The
relationships one lo another of these Ihree subdivisions
is slill nol c1ear. Al! three subterranes are at least Late
~
Jurassie to mid-Cretaceous in age and are composed of '
submarine volcanic and sedimentary squences, but there ? "
are Upper Triassic rocks known near Zacateeas L.
(McGehee 1976). The stratigraphy in eaeh is diffcrcnt, Cret
as are grade of metamorphism and deformational slyle. u. -:-\
Jur a., v
The three subterranes are: (1) Teloloapan-Ixtapan, (2)
u.
Zihuatanejo, and (3) Huetamo (sce Fig. 4). ere
The Telolapan-Ixlapan terrane (Campa et al. 1974) is Alb
a sequence of andesitic volcanic and volcanocIastic
sediments inlcrstratified with Iimestone, shale, anu
sandstone. The sediments have yielded fossils uf Late
Jurassic and Early Cretaceous ages. No older basement
1S presently known. The assemblage has been affected
by low-grade regional metamorphism and is quite F!e
severely deformed. Along the eastem margin of the
terrane in the State of Guerrero the volcanic and tic sedirnents is (
sedimentary assemblage is Ihrusl eastward over shelf sequence of sands
carbonates of Cretaceous age tha! are part of the Mixteca into Albian limes
terrane platform (Campa el al. 1976). beds. Upwards the
The Zihuatanejo terrane is best known along the sou!h the entire upper :
coasl of Michoaean and in Colima. It is made up of redbeds and ignl
mainly andesitic volcanic rocks, interbedded limcstones Lale Crelaceous i
wilh Albian fauna, and sorne shalc, sandstone, and moderalely tight
conglomerate. There are also locally continental phosed. There is
redbeds with dinosaur footprints. The assemblage is marine sediments '
deformed, but shows no significant metarnorphism
(Campa el al., in press). A recent Pemex well in the Juarez terrane
Stale of Colima has penetrated over 3000 m of andesitic The J uarez terra
volcanic rocks and Iimestones. Mesozoic submari
The Huetamo terrane is besl known in Michoacan blages. It is, in fae
where a sequence of Upper Jurassic marine volcanocIas Mexico where easl
'.

 CAMPA AND COKF.Y \047

bly cover the AllaUo. Guerrero

nblage in many
ZlhuataneJo Huetamo Teloloapan
. -'1,-"'

.()wer [O Middle Al b ~v=~~"~~4 T., r t. U. Cret.

'v",
V' '.
',,1+ v. '"
, v
" ~ " :r~:.

I\
rioe lO partly v. ."
Alb
.ciated volcano- ? Apt.
AIb .I=:t==::z::~
o westcm part of
5; Gastil er al.
N 90 c..
)Ider rocks that
assc time. The
ns and is in part
has con'clatives
?
Sonora south of

Fig. 1 S the

in southemmost

Sierra Madre del

lnie ax.is. It is
.Juarez Mixteca Oaxaca
this writing can

. scquences. The

ree subdivisions

are at Ieast Late

Te t t. u Alb.
lA.
_ ""1.::::.,, "
!fe composed of

? ",_v
_v-"" u ~=~_I=~:;:';'~
e r e t {.
Neoc.
ences. but there

near Zacatecas
L,or61 Perm.

i!1
eh s tlfferent,

offi1ational style.

an-l:dapan, (2)
Ponn.
.4).
Mi $ 8.

oaela/. 1974) is

i volcanoclastic
Paleozoc
.ne, shale, and

Pr El' e a m b~
1 fossils of Late

older basement

15 been affected

(l and is quite

FIG. 4. Tectono-stratigraphic columns for weslem Mexico. See caplion 10 fig. 2 for details.
. margn of the

~ volcanic and
tic sediments is overlain by a Neocomian Hysch-like de Juarez has carried it ovcr the Maya terrane and the
Nard over shelf
sequence of sands and shales. The tlysch passes upward Oulf coastal plain. The Juarez terrane s also distinctivc
:t of the Mixteca
into Albian limestones interbedded with tuff and red in that it les "inboard," Ihat is, east. of the Oaxaca
beds. Upwards the abundance of redbeds increases and Precambrian terrane. Deforrnation is very scvere, bul a
Ialong the south the entire upper part of the assemblage is continental provisional column is made up of Upper Jurassil.: y
is made up of redbeds and ignimbritic volcanics that are probably calcareous shale and sandstones, Neocomian thin n
dded limestones Late Cretaceotls in age. The terrane is defunned in bedded cherty Jimestones, and pillowed anuesitic y
sandslone. amI moderately tight upright folds but is nut metamor volcanic rocks (Charlestun 1980; Carfantan 1981).
By continental phosed. There is no known basement older than the There are also u1tramafic occurrences. Along the
: assemblage is le
marine sediments of Late Jurassic age. westem margn of the terrane the base of the assemblage
metamorphism { ,
appears to be made up of a very thick east-dipping
llell. well in the
Juarez terrane mylonitic gneiss of unknown age.
The Juarez terrane is the most easterly of the Upper m
{) m of andesitic of
Mesozoic submarine volcanic and sedmentary assem Mixteca terrane
1 in Michoacan blages. 11 is, in fact, found within 200 km orthe Oulf of The Mixteca terrane consis[s of a tectonically
ne volcanoclas- Mexico where eastward verging thrust faulting in Sierra juxtaposed two-part metamorphic basement with an

J -"

'.

104S CAN, J, EARTH se!. VOL 20, 1983

intervening ultramafic body. Radiometric age detennina
tions from metamorphic rocks of the lower package
yield early Paleozoic apparent ages (Ortega 1978). The
metamorphic rocks are overlain in places by defonned
Pennsylvanian terrigenous sediments (Caldern Garda
1956; Silva 1970), and in other places Lower to Middle
Jurassic marine rocks overlie the metamorphic rocks,
Jose de las Rusias terrane (Malpica and de la Torre 1980)
is a Carbonifcrous sedimentary sequence. The origins
and relationships of these terranes are unknown lo the
authors at this time and are not further discussed unti1
work in progress is completed.

These rocks are in tum overlain by Neocomian shales Mineral resource distribution in Mexico and
and Iimestones. Aptian-Albian-Cenomainian Iime tbe tectono-stratigraphic terranes
stones, and finally a flysch-like Upper Cretaccous The distribution of Mexico's mineral resources has
sequence (Caldern Garcfa 1956). becn described largely as a funetion of prcsent-day

Oaxaca terrane major physiographlc-geologic provinccs (Salas 1975)

The Oaxaca terrane consists of a granulite and

and more recently as a funclion of paleoBenioff zone

anorthositic crystalline metamorphic basement aboye

morphology (Damon et al. 1981), The fonner study was
which sits depositionally an upperrnost Cambrian to largc1y descriptive and was accompanied by a useful
Ordovician terrigenous deposit that is overlain by map (Salas 1975). The tatter study carried a genetie
Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Pennan sedments implication based largely on agc distribution of mineral
(Pantoja-Alor and Robinson 1967), The basement has deposit zonations identfied by groupings of deposit
been isotopical1y dated as "Grenville" in age (Fries el al. types (Damon et al. 1981). We present a prcliminary
1962a; Ortega et al. 1977). The earIy Paleozoie fossils alternative portrayal, whieh is also descriptive (Fig. 5).
found aboye the basement cumplex are apparenUy most We show that at least two major commodity
similar to South American fonns rather than North distributions seem to be a function of the distribution of
American (Robinson and Pantoja-Alor J 968). Above the basement terranes presented in this reporto We offer
the Paleozoic rocks are redbeds and Aptian-Albian no genetic explanation, but we feel the relationshps are
limestones. interesting and worth further study. They are consistent
with the eonclusions of studies elsewhere (Albers 19~ 1;
,Y%~~pa tcrrane Berg 1981).
The Xolapa terrane occurs as a long narrow belt along Our data base fOf mineral resouree distribution is the
the southern coast of the States of Oaxaea and Guerrero. metallogenetic map of Mexico compiled by Salas
It is defined by its complex metamorphic-plutonic (1975). His map shows the principal producing mines of o
aspect and mueh development of migmatite. Wherc its Mexico sinee colonial times, a period of ovcr400 years,
northem boundary is known it is in contact with terranes About 400 localities are shown on the map. We have
north of it by major deep-seated faults. lsotopic ages simply superimposed the terrane map of our Fig, I on the FIG. 5. Selec'
from the terrane range from Jurassic to Tertiary (de metallogenetic map of Mexico. Then we counted accreted tenane:
Csema 1965; Guerrero et al. 1978; Campa et al., in occurrences, regardiess of size. 01' two major (1975). TerraOl
press). commodity groups: (1) the precious metals, gold and
Vizcano terrane silver, with or without lead, zinc, and cobalto and (2) the Mesozoic
The Vizcaino terrane, which is certain Iy composite. is deposits of lead and zinc, with or without associated within (he M"
(5) Of the

--
used here to encompass a very eomplexjuxtaposition of gold, slver, and cobalto
When we perfonned this exercise we found the deposils, al!
oeeanie roeks found on the westem coast of Baja aceretionary t
following:
Califomia on the Vizcaino pennsula and on Cedros (1) Over 70% uf Mexco's important gold and silver The distril
sland. The terrane may underle much of southern teresting whe
mines are located within the Mesozoic accreted terranes
Baja California. Lithologies inelude ophiolitic rocks, of Alisitos, Guerrero, and Juarez. If one adds in the the massive :
mlanges, and submarine volcanic sequences of arc coneerned are
aspecto Ages range from Triassic through Jurassc and ~e~~~~~e j~s:~:s~~~~':~u~;!~~ t~!a~~n~a~ r~~~~~c~f 1975; Damon
inlo Early Cretaceous (Rangin 1976. 1978; Minch et al. basement terr
Presently unknown basement, the pereentage goes to
iJ7~kttna f~G~~~aA1J~~n~.i~ca~-lik;,~n over 84%. also younger
tf'rr,mf:~ nf Nc
@PJL SET RET=MEDIUM
@PJL SET ECONOMODE=OFF
@PJL ENTER LAN

--l '.
CAMPA AND eONEY
o 300 km
heewe """"'*"
FIG. 5. Selected mineral resource distributions in Mexco. Distribution of gold-silver and lead-znc in Mexico with rcspect to
acaeted terranes of Alisitos. Guerrero. and Juarez and cratonic North America terrane of Chihuahua. Mineral localities after Salas
(1975). Terranes after Fig. 1 of this reporto
the Mesozoic accrctcd tcrranes and only J4% are found
within the Maya-Coahuila .terranes.
(5) Of the known massive sulfide volcanogenetic
deposits, all are in the Mesozoic submarine volcanic
accretionary terranes.
The distribution patterns reported' abo ve are in
teresting when one considers that with the exception of
the massive sulfides the vast majority of the depusits
concemed are Late Cretaceous or Cenozoic in age (Salas
1975; Damon eral. 1981), and are thus younger than the
basement terranes upon which they are found. They are
also younger than the accretion of the various suspect
terranes ofNorth America. We would certainly nOI wish
to convey the impression that Ihe distribution panerns
we discem necessarily nullify the genetic models based
on Benioffzone morphology. We would simply point
out that the distribution pattem we observe strongly
suggests a significant elernent of basement control on
resource distributions io Mexico. This we feel is
provocative and warraots further analysis both for future
resource discovery strategies and for deeper insight into
mineral deposit genesis in Mexico.
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Petroleos Mexicanos, the
1049
AIIIllo" GUfur.ro t and Juarlz 1.rran
~ Gold enel Sil
Jnstituto Mexicano del Petroleo, the University of
Guerrero, and the National Science Foundation for
support, particularly field work leading to this report,
This work is also pllrt of a larger intemational effort
supported by the United States Geological Survey
(usos), the Canadian Geological Survey (ose), and
Petroleos Mexicanos, which involves Norm Silberling
and David L. Jones (usos), James Monger (ose), Maria
Femanda Campa (Pemex), and Peter J. Coney
(University of Arizona). The objective of this in progress
project is to compile a tectono-stratigraphic terrane map
of the North American Cordillera. Continuing
cooperation in Mexico with Paul Damon and
discussions with Spencer Titley (University of Arizona)
have been very use fuI , particularly in our understanding
of Mexican mineral deposits, Discussions with Henry
Berg and John Albers (usos) aod with W. R. Dickinson
(University of Arizona) have been encouraging and very
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.. ..

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