Tectono-stratigraphic terranes and mineral resource distributions in ~ e x i c o '

MARIAFERNANDA
CAMPA
Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico, D .F .
AND
PETERJ. CONEY
Can. J. Earth Sci. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by CAPE BRETON UNIV on 05/16/13

Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, U.S.A.

Received March 11, 1982
Accepted May 10, 1982

About 80% of the southern part of the North American Cordillera within the Republic of Mexico is made up of suspect terranes.
These terranes are suspect because their paleogeographic setting with respect to cratonic North America at various times through
much of Phanerozoic time is uncertain. Much of northeastern and southeastern Mexico is underlain by basement accreted during
late Paleozoic time, an extension of the Appalachian-Ouachita orogeny. This orogen has been considerably modified by Jurassic
strike-slip translations related to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico. Western and southwestern Mexico is largely made up of
several distinct but coeval latest Jurassic to Late Cretaceous submarine magmatic arc terranes with unknown basement that
appear to have accreted against the disrupted North American margin by early Tertiary time. Only northeastern Sonora and the
State of Chihuahua appear to be floored by unmoved North American cratonic basement. The combined effect of Mesozoic
accretions and translations essentially eliminates the overlap of South America upon Mexico that is drived from late Paleozoic -
early Mesozoic reconstructions of the closed Atlantic Ocean. This new vision of accretionary and translational tectonics in
Mexico has profound implications for the study of tectogenesis in the southern Cordillera as well as for the interpretation of
Mexico's vast natural resources. Preliminary analysis indicates that Mexico's gold-silver and lead-zinc deposits are directly or
For personal use only.

indirectly related to the terrane distributions discussed.

Environ 80% de la partie sud de la Cordill2re de 1'AmCrique du Nord a I'intCrieur de la RCpublique du Mexique est formke de
terrains ma1 dCfinis. Ces terrains sont mal dCfinis parce que leur contexte palCogCographique en rapport avec le craton de
1' AmCrique du Nord pour les diffkrents temps gCologiques surtout pour le PhanCrozo'iqueest indCterminC. De grandes regions du
nord-est et du sud-est du Mexique reposent sur un socle rCsultant d'une accrCtion au cours du PalCozoique su@rieur, une
extension de I'orogCnkse Appalache-Ouachita. Cette orogCnkse fut considkrablement affectke par des translations le long de
dCcrochements au Jurassique accompagnant l'ouverture du golfe du Mexique. L'ouest et sud-ouest du Mexique est
principalement constitut de terrains de nature diffkrente mais contemporains de la fin du Jurassique suptrieur jusqu'au CrCtacC
sugrieur, formant des arcs d'origine magmatique sous-marine, dont le socle est inconnu mais semble rCsulter d'une accrCtion
contre la marge rupturCe de 1'AmCrique du Nord durant le Tertiaire infkrieur. Seulement le nord-est de Sonora et 1'Etat du
Chihuahua semblent prksenter un socle correspondant au craton non-dCplacC de 1'AmCrique du Nord. L'effet combink des
accrktions et des translations du MCsozo'ique Ccartent l'hypothkse d'un chevauchement de 1'AmCrique du Sud sur le Mexique
invoquCe dans les reconstitutions de la fermeture de 1'ocCan Atlantique durant la pCriode du PalCozoique supCrieur jusqu'au
MCsozoique infkrieur. Cette nouvelle approche de tectonique d'accrCtions et de translations pour le Mexique peut contribuer au
dCveloppementde la tectogknkse du sud de la Cordillkre et tgalement a l'interprttation concernant les vastes ressources naturelles
du Mexique. Des Ctudes prkliminaires indiquent que les gites d'or-argent et de plomb-zinc du Mexique sont directement et
indirectement reliCs 21 la distribution de terrains discutks dans le prCsent article.
[Traduit par le journal]
Can. J. Earth Sci. 20, 1040-1051 (1983)

Introduction Ben-Avraham et al. 1981). The approach has also

Tectono-stratigraphic terrane analysis (Jones and
Silberling 1979) has proven fruitful in studies of the
North American Cordillera. It has resulted in a series of
new maps (Coney et al. 1980; Berg et al. 1978; Jones et
al. 1981) that have shed much light on Cordilleran
tectonic evolution and has focused attention on major
issues in the interpretation of the tectonic evolution of
continental margin mountain systems (Coney 1981;
'This paper was presented at a sympos~um entitled
"Metallogeny and Tectonics of the North American
Cordillera" held at the GAC/MAC/CGU Joint Annual Meeting
in Calgary, Alberta, May 13, 1981.
yielded preliminary insights into the distribution and
genesis of Cordilleran mineral resources (Albers 1981;
Berg 1981).
Tectono-stratigraphicterrane analysis is in its infancy
in Mexico. We report here the results of preliminary
work now in progress (Carnpa and Coney 1981). We are
certain future work will require revision of what we
portray here, but we are confident that the broad outline
we propose is in general valid. These preliminary results
provide a different vision of the tectonics of Mexico and
at the Same time provide insight into the tectonic
evolution of the southern part of the North American
Cordillera. Finally, we suggest that some mineral
 CAMPA AND CONEY
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FIG.1. Tectono-stratigraphicterranes of Mexico. Basement terrane boundaries are shaded black lines. Superjacent (overlap)
terranes shown by V pattern.
resource distributions in Mexico appear to be markedly
controlled by the terrane distributions. This is a
relationship that has not previously been perceived.
The tectonics of Mexico has an inherent complexity
not shared by most of the Cordillera to the north: here,
Paleozoic Appalachian and Mesozoic Atlantic Ocean
and Gulf of Mexico features mingle with those of the
North American Cordillera. The paleogeographic
implications of this complex union have always been a
mystery, and include the earliest configuration of the
North American late Precambrian - early Paleozoic
continental margin in this region as well later Paleozoic
and Mesozoic interactions. Added complexities are the
relationships between the southern Mexico - Caribbean
- Central America region and northwestern South
America. Most of these problems derive at the outset
from geometric reconstmctions of the closed Atlantic
Ocean in Permo-Triassic time (Coney 1978). The well
known overlap of South America upon all of the
Caribbean Sea and Central America and including up to
50% of the Mexican Republic leads to one of two
conclusions: (1) rocks exposed in the overlapped region
LEGEND
did not exist during Permo-Triassic time, or (2) they
were somewhere else. When these geometric facts are
taken into consideration along with the nature of much
of the geology of this region, the implied mobility of
tectonic elements places severe doubts on classic
interpretations of Mexican tectonic history. When these
geometric relationships are combined with our terrane
analysis they indicate, for example, that only about 20%
of Mexico can be unequivocally underlain by unmoved
autochthonous North American Precambrian basement.
The remainder of the Republic is thus "suspect" (Coney
et al. 1980; Coney 1981) in its paleogeographic
affinities during long periods of Phanerozoic time.
Description of terranes
A preliminary tectono-stratigraphic terrane map of
Mexico is shown as Fig. 1. The map shows the
distribution of major basement terranes, which in most
cases are areas assumed to be underlain by a basement
litho-tectonic assemblage defined as internally homoge-
neous within the boundaries of the terrane. Some
terranes are designated as "composite," and include
 1042 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 20, 1983

internal complexities the details of which are still to be
worked out. The proposed internal 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 discontinuities
in stratigraphy that we believe mark abrupt or cryptic
changes in age and (or) lithology that cannot be easily
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Lopez 1979, Figs. 4-8). The Precambrian basement is
overlain depositionallyby a cratonic assemblageof up to
3000 m of Paleozoic sandstones, shales, and limestones
(Malpica and de la Torre 1980) with a fauna and
lithologies very similar to those of well known
sequences in Arizona and New Mexico of the
southwestern United States (Peirce 1976). Toward the
southeastern edge of the terrane, upper Paleozoic

explained as due to a facies change or an unconfonnity.
Many of the boundaries are known faults and all are
suspected to be.
Most of Mexico is in fact covered at the surface by
what are termed "superjacent" terranes or overlap
assmblages. Only some of these are shown in Fig. 1.
These younger overlap assemblages cross terrane
boundaries, indicating paleogeographic unity over a
region larger than 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. 1.
The basement terranes of Mexico may be grouped
into zonations that divide the Republic into three major
For personal use only.
detritial sequences seem to reflect proximity to the
southwestward extremity of the Appalachian-Ouachita
-Marathon orogenic belt (Bridges 1964).
The southeastern boundary of the terrane is an
assumed deep-seated fault along the northwestern
frontal zone of the accreted late Paleozoic Ouachita-
Marathon orogen. The southwestern boundary is a major
tectonic discontinuity separating disparate Precambrian-
age belts and Paleozoic - early Mesozoic stratigraphy.
The discontinuity has been termed the Mojave-Sonora
megashear (Silver and Anderson 1974; Anderson and
Silver 1979). We simply term it the Mojave-Sonora
discontinuity. The terrane is covered by latest Jurassic
and younger Mesozoic rocks, which are part of the great
transgression out of the Gulf of Mexico.

tectono-stratigraphic subdivisions: (1) a northwestern

zone, which is a direct continuation southward into Caborca terrane
Mexico of autochthonous North American cratonic The stratigraphic column for the Caborca terrane is
Precambrian basement and its Paleozoic-Mesozoic based on isolated outcrops west of the city of Caborca,
cover; (2) an eastern zone, surrounding the Gulf of Sonora, which yield a Precambrian basement (Darnon et
Mexico, of mainly late Paleozoic age, which though a1. 1962; Anderson and Silver 1979) overlain by a very
heterogeneous has a common origin as material accreted thick miogeoclinal sequence of late Precambrian
to North America during the latest Paleozoic through Paleozoic age (Cooper and Arellano 1946;
Appalachian-Ouachita-Marathon orogeny; and (3) a Malpica and de la Torre 1980), considered to be very
western zone, making up Mexico's wider Pacific similar to the Cordilleran miogeoclinal sequence of
margin, which is characterized by a heterogeneous southwestern Nevada and southern California (Weber et
assemblage of mainly submarine volcanic and al. 1979; Anderson et al. 1979). Overlying the
sedimentary rocks of late Mesozoic age, with presently Paleozoic rocks are Upper Triassic marine and
unknown basement. Also found here are scattered continental deposits of the Barranca Formation and
smaller terranes, which include in part older rocks and Liassic to Upper Jurassic clastic and volcanociastic
whose paleogeographic affinities with North America rocks (Anderson and Silver 1979). The Caborca terrane
are presently unknown or at best very speculative. is certainly composite since southeast of Hermosillo,
Sonora there are outcrops of lower Paleozoic sequences
Zone I: northwestern Mexico of deep-marine affinity (Peiffer 1979) and there are
Zone I (Fig. 2) is made up of two terranes: the exposures of Lower Mesozoic rocks of uncertain affinity
autochthonous North American cratonic terrane of in northeast Baja California (Gastil and Miller 1981).
Chihuahua and what may be a para-autochthonous The close similarity of the pre-Late Jurassic
displaced fragment of North America, the Caborca sequences to those of southwesternNevada and southern
terrane in the State of Sonora. California and the marked contrast to sequences of the
same age in nearby Chihuahua terrane have led to the
Chihuahua terrane suggestion that the Caborca terrane is a displaced
The Chihuahua terrane is underlain by unmoved fragment of North American Precambrian basement and
cratonic North American Precambrian basement. This its Paleozoic miogeoclinal cover plus various Paleozoic
basement outcrops in only scattered localities in allochthons and younger overlap assemblages, all
northeastern Sonora, but it has been penetrated in wells brought southeastward up to 800 km along the Middle
in the State of Chihuahua (unpublished well reports, Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear (Silver and Ander-
Petroleos Mexicanos, Gerencia de Exploracion; see also son 1974; Anderson and Silver 1979).
 CAMPA AND CONEY

Caborca Chihuahua

Jurassic Ceno. &

U. Triassic
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Dev.-Miss.
Ord.

Apt.

Camb.

Neoc..

Titon.

U. Precamb.
Perm.
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Penn.-Miss

De v.
S iI.
Ord.
Camb

Precamb

Precamb

y OT -0 l 0c o
- n g ~ o m e r a t e

hl-l limestone I
;.:
.] volcanic

[-Isandstone
..
. .
.
_ . I . ..
dolomite ~ l m e t a m o r p h i c

FIG. 2. Tectono-stratigraphic columns for northwestern Mexico. Also shows lithologic symbols for Figs. 3 and 4.
Abbreviations: Precam. = Precambrian basement; U. Precamb. = Upper Precambrian sedimentary rocks; Camb. = Cambrian;
Ord. = Ordovician; Sil. = Silurian; Dev. = Devonian; Miss. = Mississippian; Penn. = Pennsylvanian; Perm. = Permian; U.
I Trias. = Upper Triassic; L., M., U. Jura. = Lower, Middle, and Upper Jurassic; L. Cret. = Lower Cretaceous; U.
Cret. = Upper Cretaceous; Titon. = Tithonian; Neoc. = Neocornian; Apt. = Aptian; Alb. = Albian; Ceno. = Cenomanian;
Turon. = Turonian; Sant. = Santonian; Camp. = Campanian;Tert. = Tertiary; Paleo. = Paleocene;Plio. = Pliocene. Sources:
, citations in text, unpublished data from Pemez and Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo files, and fieldwork by the authors.

I Zone 11: eastern Mexico of the newly opened Gulf of Mexico. However, in
Much of eastern Mexico is overlain by upper scattered exposures and from well data there is evidence

I Mesozoic and Cenozoic superjacent terranes, which are

part of the great post-Middle Jurassic transgression out
beneath the'cover of the basement terranes of concern
here (Fig. 3). The largest are the Coahuila and Maya
 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 20, 1983

Coahuila Maya

Camp
Paleo.-PLio.
Sant.

~ e n ~ o ~ . ~ ' " . U. Cret.

Alb.
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Apt.
L. Cret.
Neoc.
Titon. U. Jura.
i
M. ~ u r a .
Jura.
L. Jura.
Perm.
Permian
Penn.
Miss.
t Dev.

Sierra Madre
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U. Cret.

Turon.

L. Cret.

U. Jura.
M. Jura.

U.Trias.-
L. Jura.

Perm.
Vertical arrow beside column
Penn.
Miss. shows range of basement terrane
Dev.
Sil. Rocks above are superjacent (overlap) terrane
Camb.-Ord

Precamb.

FIG.3. Tectono-stratigraphic columns for eastern Mexico. See caption to Fig. 2 for details.
terranes, which are both certainly composite but appear
to be late Paleozoic accretions to North America related
to closure of the proto-Atlantic Ocean as Africa and
South America impinged on North America, which
produced the later stages of the Appalachian-Ouachita
-Marathon orogeny in latest Paleozoic time (Graham
et al. 1975; Flawn et al. 1961). A third basement terrane
is the Sierra Madre. This poorly exposed and poorly
understood basement terrane is probably composite and
is here portrayed as including part, at least, of the
Altiplano region of central Mexico in the States of
Durango, Zacatacas, and San Luis Potosi. Part of the
Sierra Madre basement terrane may be a displaced
fragment of North American basement similar to the
Chihuahua terrane.
The terranes of eastern Mexico are overlapped first by
a Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic early rift assemblage
of continental redbeds and evaporites, then by a
post-Middle Jurassic through Late Cretaceous marine
transgression assemblage. Both of these sequences are
part of the history of the opening of the Gulf of Mexico.
The Sierra Madre and Maya terranes are also both
locally overlain by an Early to Middle Jurassic (?)
continental redbed and volcanic sequence, which we
 AND CONEY 1045

interpret to be part of a Jurassic continental magmatic
arc. Accretion of the Coahuila and Maya terranes onto
the North American continent occurfed during the latest
Paleozoic to Middle Triassic. The Maya and Sierra
Madre terranes, however, were still mobile with respect
to North America until Late Jurassic time, since Upper
Jurassic limestones are the first units to overlap all three
terranes. The mobility of the Maya and Sierra Madre
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highly deformed and metamorphosed Paleozoic flysch
sequences (Hernandez 1973). In southernmost Chiapas
and neighboring Guatemala there are Devonian to
Permian sediments and possible older early Paleozoic
and Precambrian rocks whose affinities with North
America are unknown (Clemons et al. 1974). Jurassic
redbeds and volcanic rocks and Middle-Upper Jurassic
to Cretaceous transgressive marine sequences cover the

terranes is related to movement along the Torreon- basement terrane.

Monterrey discontinuity. The discontinuity is appar- The boundary between the Maya and Coahuila
ently the southeastern extension of the Mojave-Sonora terranes is not known, but it is possibly the southeastern
discontinuity. Movement along the feature thus extension of the Torreon-Monterrey discontinuity
occurred after the Middle Triassic and before the Late where it enters the Gulf of Mexico somewhere between
Jurassic. Matamoros and Vera Cruz.
Coahuila terrane
The known lithology of the Coahuila terrane consists Sierra Madre
of two parts. One is a much deformed and generally The Sierra Madre Oriental is mainly a sequence of
mildly metamorphosed upper Paleozoic (mostly folded and imbricately thrust-faulted upper Mesozoic
Permian) flysch with andesitic volcanics cut by scattered limestones, shales, and sandstones of the superjacent
granodioritic plutons, which usually yield latest Gulf of Mexico transgressive sequence deformed during
Paleozoic radiometric ages (Bose 1921;Flawn and Diaz the Late Cretaceous - early Tertiary Laramide orogeny
1959; Flawn et al. 1961; Denison et al. 1971). A second (de Cserna et al. 1977; Tardy 1980; de Cserna 1956). In
part is the so-called "frontal zone" of the Ouachita- several anticlinoria, however, an older basement terrane
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Marathon orogen, which includes rocks of Cambrian is revealed (Carrillo 1961, 1965; Ramirez 1978; de
through late Paleozoic age. These sequences are thrust Cserna et al. 1977). Near Ciudad Victoria the crystalline
northwestward over cratonic North America in the basement is a metamorphic complex of "Grenville" age
Ouachita and Marathon Mountains and we assume they (Fries et al. 1962b). Structurally above it is a
are likewise thrust northwestward over the Chihuahua sedimentary sequence that ranges from Cambro-
terrane in Mexico. Unconformably above these Ordovician (?) to Pennsylvanian in age and culminates
basement terranes lie continental redbeds and evaporites in a Permian flysch (Carrillo 1961; Malpica and de la
of Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic age (Irnlay 1943; Torre 1980). This sequence is perhaps not unlike what
Humphrey 1956). one might expect as a southeasternmost occurrence of
The upper Paleozoic rocks are here interpreted to be the North American craton in Chihuahua terrane or
the "hinterland" or interior zone of the Appalachian- perhaps the frontal zone of the Coahuila terrane here
Ouachita-Marathon orogenic belt and probably displaced far to the southeast. Farther south near the
represent magmatic arc and fore-arc assemblages trans-Mexico volcanic axis a Lower Jurassic marine
accreted against North America during late Paleozoic sedimentary sequence with a fauna of "Pacific" aspect is
closure of the proto-Atlantic Ocean. The frontal zone exposed structurally above Paleozoic rocks of Mississip-
may have been distal, deep ocean-floor deposits that lay pian and Permian age, which in turn lie above
south of North America. The Mesozoic redbed and Precambrian rocks. How far and to what degree the
evaporitic sequences are considered equivalent to Paleozoic and Precambrian rocks extend beneath the
similar facies found along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal remainder of the Sierra Madre terrane are presently
regions to the north in the United States and are here unknown. It seems likely the Sierra Madre terrane as
assumed to be related to early rifting that later led to the portrayed in Fig. 1 is composite.
opening of the Gulf of Mexico. The southern boundary At scattered localities between Torreon and Ciudad
of the Coahuila terrane is the Torreon-Monterrey Victoria along the northern margin of the terrane south
discontinuity. of the Torreon-Monterrey discontinuity there are
exposures of red conglomerates, siltstones, sandstones,
Maya terrane and silty shales below Upper Jurassic limestones
Where exposed the Maya terrane is apparently more (Zuluaga Formation) (C6rdoba 1963). The red
heterogeneous than, but somewhat similar to, and sediments frequently have a considerable volcanic
probably a displaced part of, the Coahuila terrane. A content, and there are occasional volcanic rocks as well.
large meta-plutonic complex, at least in part of Usually evaporitic shales and siltstones intervene
Permo-Triassic age, is exposed in Chiapas (Damon et between the redbeds and the Zuluaga limestones. The
al. 1981; Webber and Ojeda Rivera 1957), and there are rocks are often slightly metamorphosed, retaining a faint
 1046 CAN. 1. EARTH SCI. VOL. 20, 1983

cleavage. Some of these rocks have been considered
Paleozoic basement. Recent fieldwork suggests most are
eauivalent to the Lower to Middle Jurassic Nazas
arma at ion (Pantoja-Alor 1963) exposed west of
Torreon, which we interpret to be part of the Lower to
Middle Jurassic magmatic arc (Damon et al. 1981)
known from southern Arizona and Senora, where it lies
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Mexico volcanic axis, unconformably cover the
basement terranes as an overlap assemblage in many
areas.
Alisitos terrane
This terrane is mainly a very thick Lower to Middle
Cretaceous (Aptian-Albianl submarine to partly
continental andesitic volcanic and associated volcano-

upon what we the Chihuahua clastic sequence that forms much of the western part of
terrane. If the correlation is correct, these rocks are
northern Baja California (Allison 1955; Gastil et al.
displaced far to the southeast from their equivalents to 1978) The telrane possibly includes older rocks that
the north. Since the basement of these rocks is not
may extend into latest Triassic or Jurassic time. The
are shown in a separate beside the
terrane is inmded by Cretaceous plutons and is in part
Sierra Madre Oriental terrane column in Fig. 3.
metamorphosed. The terrane no doubt has correlatives
Zone 111: western Mexico across the Gulf of California in southern Sonora south of
Guaymas and in Sinoloa (shown in Fig. 1 as the
This vast region makes up almost one half of the Guerrero terrane). It may also reappear in southernmost
Republic of Mexico and is formed by a composite group Baja California south of La Paz.
of suspect terranes here considered to have accreted to
North America in later Mesozoic to early Tertiary time. Guerrero terrane
The principal basement terranes (Fig. 4) are a series of This vast terrane is best known in the Sierra Madre del
submarine volcanic and sedimentary rocks of magmatic Sur south of the trans-Mexico volcanic axis. It is
arc aspect, and are at least of Late Jurassic to late middle certainly composite, and at the time of this writing can
Cretaceous age and possibly reach back to the Late be subdivided into at least three separate sequences. The
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Triassic and (or) Jurassic. Scattered through these relationships one to another of these three subdivisions
terranes are smaller terranes with older ages and distinct is still not clear. All three subterranes are at least Late
facies. All of the above terranes are difficult to organize Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous in age and are composed of
into any paleogeographic reconstruction with the re- submarine volcanic and sedimentary squences, but there
mainder of Mexico until late Mesozoic or even early are Upper Triassic rocks known near Zacatecas
Cenozoic time. Any portrayal of this complex region is (McGehee 1976). The stratigraphy in each is different,
complicated by the fact that much of it is covered by as are grade of metamorphism and deformational style.
middle Tertiary and younger superjacent terranes such The three subterranes are: (1) Teloloapan-Ixtapan, (2)
as the Sierra Madre Occidental and the trans-Mexico Zihuatanejo, and (3) Huetamo (see Fig. 4).
volcanic axis. The Telolapan-Ixtapan terrane (Campa et al. 1974) is
The main late Mesozoic arc terranes are the Alisitos a sequence of andesitic volcanic and volcanoclastic
terrane of Baja California, the composite Guerrero sediments interstratified with limestone, shale, and
terrane of southwestern Mexico, and the Juarez terrane sandstone. The sediments have yielded fossils of Late
in the State of Oaxaca. The smaller terranes are Mixteca Jurassic and Early Cretaceous ages. No older basement
and Oaxaca; both include Paleozoic rocks and the is presently known. The assemblage has been affected
Oaxaca also includes Precambrian rocks. The Xolapa by low-grade regional metamorphism and is quite
and Sonabari terranes are meta-plutonic complexes of severely deformed. Along the eastern margin of the
largely unknown age and origin. Important deep-seated terrane in the State of Guerrero the volcanic and
faults are known to bound these smaller terranes in sedimentary assemblage is thrust eastward over shelf
several places, and we know of no evidence that permits carbonates of Cretaceous age that are part of the Mixteca
the conclusion that any of them necessarily forms a terrane platform (Campa et al. 1976).
basement to the larger submarine magmatic arc terranes. The Zihuatanejo terrane is best known along the south
The terranes of western Mexico were apparently coast of Michoacan and in Colima. It is made up of
accreted onto and consolidated with the North American mainly andesitic volcanic rocks, interbedded limestones
continent during what might be termed the "greater" with Albian fauna, and some shale, sandstone, and
Laramide orogeny, which took place from Late conglomerate. There are also locally continental
Cretaceous to early Tertiary time. Folding, faulting, and redbeds with dinosaur footprints. The assemblage is
some metamorphism at this time are widespread deformed, but shows no significant metamorphism
throughout this complex and varied region. In any (Campa et al., in press). A recent Pemex well in the
event, poorly dated continental sediments considered to State of Colima has penetrated over 3000 m of andesitic
be of Late Eocene to Oligocene age and better dated volcanic rocks and limestones.
middle Tertiary volcanic sequences, mostly in the Sierra The Huetamo terrane is best known in Michoacan
Madre Occidental and beneath the younger trans- where a sequence of Upper Jurassic marine volcanoclas-
 CAMPA AND CONEY

Alisitos Guerrero

I I Zihuatanejo Huetamo Teloloapan

Tert. Cret.- v" ...Ib' ' Tert.
-&*.
.'
>I

? Apt. -
- -- -- Apt.
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Alb Alb.
. I, V."

Titon.
Titon.
U"
,v>:
.=
7

Juarez Mixteca Oaxaca

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Alb.

4 Neoc.
I
I
I
I
Perm.
U. Jura.
Penn.
Miss.
Camb.-Ord

Precamb.

I FIG.4. Tectono-stratigraphiccolumns for western Mexico. See caption to Fig. 2 for details.

tic sediments is overlain by a Neocomian flysch-like de Juarez has carried it over the Maya terrane and the
sequence of sands and shales. The flysch passes upward Gulf coastal plain. The Juarez terrane is also distinctive
into Albian limestones interbedded with tuff and red- in that it lies "inboard," that is, east, of the Oaxaca
beds. Upwards the abundance of redbeds increases and Precambrian terrane. Deformation is very severe, but a
the entire upper part of the assemblage is continental provisional column is made up of Upper Jurassic
redbeds and ignimbritic volcanics that are probably calcareous shale and sandstones, Neocomian thin-
Late Cretaceous in age. The terrane is deformed in bedded cherty limestones, and pillowed andesitic
moderately tight upright folds but is not metamor- volcanic rocks (Charleston 1980; Carfantan 1981).
phosed. There is no known basement older than the There are also ultramafic occurrences. Along the
marine sediments of Late Jurassic age. western margin of the terrane the base of the assemblage
appears to be made up of a very thick east-dipping
I Juarez terrane mylonitic gneiss of unknown age.
1 The Juarez terrane is the most easterly of the Upper
Mesozoic submarine volcanic and sedimentary assem- Mixteca terrane
blages. It is, in fact, found within 200 krn of the Gulf of The Mixteca terrane consists of a tectonically
Mexico where eastward verging thrust faulting in Sierra juxtaposed two-part metamorphic basement with an
 1048 CAN. 1. EARTH SCI. VOL. 20, 1983

intervening ultramafic body. Radiometric age determina- Jose de las Rusias terrane (Malpica and de la Torre 1980)
tions from metamorphic rocks of the lower package is a Carboniferous sedimentary sequence. The origins
yield early Paleozoic apparent ages (Ortega 1978). The and relationships of these terranes are unknown'to the
metamorphic rocks are overlain in places by deformed authors at this time and are not further discussed until
Pennsylvanian terrigenous sediments (Calderbn Garcia work in progress is completed.
1956; Silva 1970), and in other places Lower to Middle
Jurassic marine rocks overlie the metamorphic rocks.
These rocks are in turn overlain by Neocomian shales Mineral resource distribution in Mexico and
Can. J. Earth Sci. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by CAPE BRETON UNIV on 05/16/13

and limestones, Aptian-Albian-Cenomainian lime- the tectono-stratigraphicterranes

stones, and finally a flysch-like Upper Cretaceous The distribution of Mexico's mineral resources has
sequence (Calderbn Garcia 1956). been described largely as a function of present-day
Oaxaca terrane major physiographic-geologic provinces (Salas 1975)
The Oaxaca terrane consists of a granulite and and more recently as a function of paleo-Benioff zone
anorthositic crystalline metamorphic basement above morphology (Damon et al. 1.981).The former study was
which sits depositionally an uppermost Cambrian to largely descriptive and was accompanied by a useful
Ordovician terrigenous deposit that is overlain by map (Salas 1975). The latter study carried a genetic
Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian sediments implication based largely on age distribution of mineral
(Pantoja-Alor and Robinson 1967). The basement has deposit zonations identified by groupings of deposit
been isotopically dated as "Grenville" in age (Fries et al. types (Damon et al. 1981). We present a preliminary
1962a; Ortega et al. 1977). The early Paleozoic fossils alternative portrayal, which is also descriptive (Fig. 5).
found above the basement complex are apparently most We show that at least two major commodity
similar to South American forms rather than North distributions seem to be a function of the distribution of
American (Robinson and Pantoja-Alor 1968). Above the basement terranes presented in this report. We offer
For personal use only.

the Paleozoic rocks are redbeds and Aptian-Albian no genetic explanation, but we feel the relationships are
limestones. interesting and worth further study. They are consistent
with the conclusions of studies elsewhere (Albers 1981;
Xolapa terrane Berg 1981).
The Xolapa terrane occurs as a long narrow belt along Our data base for mineral resource distribution is the
the southern coast of the States of Oaxaca 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
aspect and much development of migmatite. Where its Mexico since colonial times, a period of over 400 years.
northern 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. Isotopic ages simply superimposed the terrane map of our Fig. 1 on the
from the terrane range from Jurassic to Tertiary (de metallogenetic map of Mexico. Then we counted
Cserna 1965; Guerrero et al. 1978; Campa et al., in occurrences, regardless of size, of two major
press). commodity groups: (1) the precious metals, gold and
Vizcaino terrane silver, with or without lead, zinc, and cobalt, and (2)
The Vizcaino terrane, which is certainly composite, is deposits of lead and zinc, with or without associated
used here to encompass a very complex juxtaposition of gold, silver, and cobalt.
oceanic rocks found on the western coast of Baja When we performed this exercise we found the
California on the Vizcaino peninsula and on ~ e d r o s following:
Island. The terrane may underlie much of southern (1) Over 70% of Mexico's important gold and silver
Baja California. Lithologies include ophiolitic rocks, mines are located within the Mesozoic accreted terranes
mklanges, and submarine volcanic sequences of arc of Alisitos, Guerrero, and Juarez. If one adds in the
aspect. Ages range from Triassic through Jurassic and deposits of the Altiplano region of central Mexico,
into Early Cretaceous (Rangin 1976, 1978; Minch et al. which lie just east of the Guerrero terrane in a region of
1976; Mina 1965). The assemblage is Franciscan-like in presently unknown basement, the percentage goes to
aspect, and thus is similar to coastal California. The over 84%.
assemblage is overlain by a Great Valley-like basin (2) Only 8% of Mexico's gold and silver comes from
sequence. terranes floored by North American Precambrian
basement such as the Chihuahua terrane, and only 7%
Other terranes comes from the Maya-Coahuila terranes.
Two other small terranes are found within the (3) Over 61% of Mexico's productive mines for lead
Guerrero terrane along the western margin of the Sierra and zinc are in terranes floored by North American
Madre Occidental in southern Sonora and Sinoloa. The Precambrian basement such as the Chihuahua terrane.
Sonabari terrane is a meta-plutonic complex and the San (4) Only 17% of the lead and zinc occurrences are in
 CAMPA AND CONEY 1049

L_J Atlsltam. O u e r r e r o , nnd ~ u a r

a ChChihuahua terrano
Can. J. Earth Sci. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by CAPE BRETON UNIV on 05/16/13
For personal use only.

FIG.5. Selected mineral resource distributions in Mexico. Distribution of gold-silver and lead-zinc in Mexico with respect to
atmeted terranes of Alisitos, Guerrem, and J m z and cratonic Ncnth America terrane of Chihuahua. Mineral localities after S d a .
(1975). Terranes after Fig. 1 of this report.

the Mesozoic accreted terranes and only 14% are found Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, the University of
within the Maya-Coahuila terranes. Guerrero, and the National Science Foundation for
(5) Of the known massive sulfide volcanogenetic support, particularly field work leading to this report.
deposits, all are in the Mesozoic submarine volcanic This work is also part of a larger international effort
accretionary terranes . supported by the United States Geological Survey
The distribution patterns reported above are in- (USGS),the Canadian Geological Survey (GSC), and
teresting when one considers that with the exception of Petroleos Mexicanos, which involves Norm Silberling
the massive sulfides the vast majority of the deposits and David L. Jones (USGS),James Monger (GSC),Maria
concerned are Late Cretaceous or Cenozoic in age (Salas Fernanda Campa (Pemex), and Peter J. Coney
1975; Darnon et al. 198l), and are thus younger than the (University of Arizona). The objective of this in progress
basement terranes upon which they are found. They are project is to compile a tectono-stratigraphic terrane map
also younger than the accretion of the various suspect of the North American Cordillera. Continuing
terranes of North America. We would certainly not wish cooperation in Mexico with Paul Damon and
to convey the impression that the distribution patterns discussions with Spencer Titley (University of Arizona)
we discern necessarily nullify the genetic models based have been very useful, particularly in our understanding
on Benioff zone morphology. We would simply point of Mexican mineral deposits. Discussions with Henry
out that the distribution pattern we observe strongly Berg and John Albers (USGS)and with W. R. Dickinson
suggests a significant element of basement control on (University of Arizona) have been encouraging and very
resource distributions in Mexico. This we feel is helpful.
provocative and warrants further analysis both for future
resource discovery strategies and for deeper insight into J. P. 1981. A lithologic-tectonic framework for the
ALBERS,
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Acknowledgments Punta China, Baja California, Mexico. Journal of
The authors are grateful to Petroleos Mexicanos, the Paleontology, 29(3), pp. 400-432.
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