ELSEVIER Tectonophysics 292 (1998) 321–326

Discussion
The Early Cretaceous Arperos oceanic basin (western Mexico).
Geochemical evidence for an aseismic ridge formed near
a spreading center — Comment
Mariano Elı́as-Herrera Ł , Fernando Ortega-Gutiérrez
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geologı́a, Ciudad Universitaria, Delegación Coyoacán,
04510 México, D.F., México
Received 13 February 1997; accepted 15 January 1998

1. Introduction Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic or

The Guerrero terrane of western Mexico is con-
sidered to be the largest tectonostratigraphic unit of
the Cordilleran collage of North America (Centeno-
Garcı́a et al., 1993), but its origin and paleogeo-
graphic evolution remains a matter of much debate.
Its paleotectonic setting has remained elusive for
several reasons, the most important probably being
its large size, composite nature, and lack of sys-
tematic biostratigraphic, paleogeographic, and pale-
omagnetic analysis over most of its outcrop area.
Until recently the Guerrero terrane was considered
a suite of marine Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous
sedimentary and volcanic rocks intruded by coeval
plutons, and grouped in several subterranes for which
no continental basement was ever found. Nonethe-
less, a continuously growing body of field geologic,
and geochronologic work has definitely established
the presence of basement rocks in the Guerrero
terrane that are as old as Late Triassic–Early Juras-
sic and, moreover, there is now firm evidence for
the existence of pre-Mesozoic sialic crust underly-
ing a substantial area of the terrane. Therefore, the
tectonostratigraphic and paleotectonic setting of the
Guerrero terrane must be analysed separately for the
Upper Triassic–Lower Jurassic basement and for its
Ł Corresponding author. E-mail: elias@servidor.unam.mx
tectonic overlap.
Freydier et al. (1996) present an intriguing geody-
namic model essentially based on geochemical data
that envisages the Guerrero terrane as two oceanic
domains, the Arperos basin and the Guerrero arc,
the latter floored in part by continental crust, and
both of which collided with nuclear Mexico by late
Early Cretaceous time. We contend, however, that
the model is not supported by the current geochem-
ical data and that important geologic relations that
contradict their puzzling geodynamic interpretation
were in fact overlooked.
Since the model refers to the Cretaceous stage of
the Guerrero terrane tectonic evolution, we essen-
tially focus our comments to encompass this time,
and they are related to three fundamental aspects:
geologic relationships, geochemical data, and tec-
tonic interpretation. We conclude that a volcanic
arc–backarc basin system better explains the known
facts for the evolution of the still enigmatic Guerrero
terrane.
2. Geologic relationships
We concur with Freydier et al. (1996) that in
Valle de Bravo two different Cretaceous sequences
of the Guerrero terrane are exposed. The lower unit

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(Arperos basin of Freydier et al.) consists of micritic
and shaly limestone interbedded with carbonate tur-
bidite, turbiditic sandstone, pillowed basaltic lavas
and volcanic breccias which are tens of meters thick.
The upper sequence (Guerrero arc sequence of Frey-
dier et al.) is composed of lava flows, pyroclastics,
volcaniclastic and pelagic sediments. Although we
also agree with these authors that the lower sequence
is tectonically overlapped by the upper one, there are
important geologic relationships that are inconsistent
with Freydier et al.’s interpretation for the tectonic
setting of the lower sequence.
In view that the lower sequence is predominantly
a calcareous sedimentary unit with turbiditic sand-
stones and with only a minor proportion of sub-
marine volcanics, it may rather correspond to a
backarc basin than to the upper part of an oceanic
basin with an aseismic ridge inside. Moreover,
the sandstones are mainly composed of polycrys-
talline quartz, metaquartzite and other metamorphic,
granitic and volcanic clasts most probably derived
from the underlying pre-Upper Jurassic metamor-
phic basement, discussed below. Basement uplifts
or remnants of arcs supplying sediments to adjacent
basins suggest a continental margin backarc basin
setting (e.g. Marsaglia et al., 1995). Thus, the mature
quartzose and metamorphic fragments in the sand-
stones of the lower sequence are not compatible with
an open oceanic environment, as implied in Freydier
et al.’s model.
Because the pre-Upper Jurassic metamorphic
basement justly exposed 20 km south-southwest
from Valle de Bravo (de Cserna and Fries, 1981;
de Cserna, 1982; Elı́as-Herrera and Sánchez-Zavala,
1990; Elı́as-Herrera, 1993; Sánchez-Zavala, 1993;
Elı́as-Herrera et al., 1998) was ignored by Freydier
et al., we assume that such basement rocks were
considered part of the Lower Cretaceous oceanic
crust of the ‘Arperos basin’, as implied by their figs.
1, 12 and 13. Nonetheless, the metamorphic suite
consists of more than 2000 m of strongly deformed
metapelites and calc-alkaline andesitic to rhyolitic
metavolcanics with initial "Nd D 2:5 (Centeno-
Garcı́a et al., 1993), and a peraluminous metagranite
yielding an U–Pb zircon date of 189 š 1:9 Ma with
a clearly inherited component of Grenvillian age
(Elı́as-Herrera et al., 1998). The metamorphic suite
is unconformably covered by the Lower Cretaceous
sequence assigned to the Valle de Bravo–Arperos
oceanic basin by Freydier et al. and therefore, it con-
stitutes neither a continental, nor oceanic basement
for the latter unit.
More recently, high-grade gneiss xenoliths with
Sm–Nd model ages typical of Grenvillian age rocks
in Mexico have been reported as extruded samples of
the crust underlying the southern Guerrero terrane.
At Valle de Santiago, Guanajuato, granulitic xeno-
liths with TDM D 1:5 Ga in Neogene volcanics sup-
port the presence of Precambrian crust there (Uribe-
Cifuentes and Urrutia-Fucugauchi, 1995). At La Go-
leta Oligocene volcanic field, 45 km south from
Valle de Bravo, high-grade gneiss xenoliths with
"Nd.0/ D 6:7, 7:3 and TDM D 1:361 Ga, 1.582 Ga,
also indicate the occurrence of pre-Mesozoic, proba-
bly Precambrian crust under this part of the Guerrero
terrane (Elı́as-Herrera et al., 1996, 1998), otherwise
included in the oceanic Arperos basin by Freydier et
al.
Even though the tectonic relationship between the
Lower and Upper Cretaceous sequences at Valle de
Bravo is true, no major differences in deformation
of the two units are discernible. Local, more in-
tense deformation of the lower unit is clearly an
artifact of less competent lithologies, as indicated by
the low strain state of nearby interbedded pillowed
basalts. Diagnostic units such as melanges, ophi-
olitic material or high P=T metamorphics, common
in suture zones, are completely absent. Moreover,
the pillow basalts of the lower (‘Arperos basin’)
and upper (‘Guerrero arc terrane’) sequences near
Valle de Bravo yielded 40 Ar=39 Ar plateau ages of
103:1 š 1:3 Ma and 93:6 š 0:6 Ma, respectively
(Sánchez-Zavala, 1993; Elı́as-Herrera et al., 1998),
that is, much younger than assumed by Freydier et
al., and the trace-element geochemistry discussed
below is similar in the two units. Altogether, these
data strongly suggest that both the lower and upper
sequences were continuous and genetically related.
We conclude that the boundary shown by Freydier et
al. in their fig. 2 does not constitute a fundamental
tectonic contact, but rather is part of an imbricate
compressional structure within the same Cretaceous
volcanosedimentary assemblage, in which meso- and
macroscopic tectonic overlaps are very common.

3. Geochemical data
In the Guanajuato region, the geochemistry of the
volcanics within the volcano-plutonic assemblage
(‘Guerrero arc terrane’) and that of the Arperos
volcanosedimentary sequence (‘Arperos basin’) are
apparently different (Lapierre et al., 1992a,b; Tardy
et al., 1994; Freydier et al., 1996). At Valle de Bravo,
however, the Cretaceous submarine volcanics of the
lower and the upper sequences are geochemically
undistinguishable, and they cannot be interpreted to
correspond to different lithotectonic units as dis-
cussed below. On the other hand, Freydier et al.
deduce an OIB affinity for the volcanics of the
lower unit (‘Arperos basin’) based on the geochem-
ical study of only six basaltic samples, but did not
include data from the upper volcanics which, accord-
ing to their arc–ocean model, would have to show
geochemical features of an island arc tholeiite.
At the Valle de Bravo–Tejupilco area, the Cre-
taceous submarine volcanics of the lower and up-
per sequences have been analysed in detail by the
first author, and were assigned to the lower and
upper parts of the Arcelia–Palmar Chico group, re-
spectively (Elı́as-Herrera et al., 1998). In light of
the TiO2 –P2 O5 ð10–MnO ð10 ternary diagram
(Fig. 1A), we conclude that the Arcelia–Palmar
Chico group volcanics (lower and upper sequences)
show an essentially OIA affinity with some varia-
tions to IAT, contrary to Freydier et al.’s interpre-
tation, which in the same area genetically separates
the lower (‘Arperos basin’) from the upper (‘Guer-
rero arc terrane’) units of the Arcelia–Palmar Chico
group. An identical situation is shown by the Zr=Y–
Zr diagram (Fig. 1B) where most of the volcanics
plot in the WPB field. In fact, all the rocks, includ-
ing Freydier et al.’s data for Valle de Bravo, exhibit
Nb=Sm ratios (1.25–3.68) between N-MORB (0.89)
and OIB (4.80) (Sun and McDonough, 1989); and
their La=Yb (1.48–4.32) and Nb=Yb (1.43–6.80)
ratios are closer to E-MORB (2.66 and 3.50, re-
spectively) than IOB (17.13 and 22.22, respectively)
(Sun and McDonough, 1989). We therefore con-
tend on these bases that the ‘Arperos igneous rocks’
of Valle de Bravo are undistinguishable from the
Arcelia–Palmar Chico group volcanics.
This geochemical identity is further supported by
HSFE and REE geochemical data. Both the ‘Arperos
323
igneous rocks’ and the Arcelia–Palmar Chico group
show essentially the same distribution in HFSE with
respect to N-MORB (Fig. 1C), although the vol-
canics from the upper part of the Arcelia–Palmar
Chico group display a broad range in Nb and Ti
contents. As to the REE contents, and regardless
of the N-MORB affinity for some samples, the
lower and upper Arcelia–Palmar Chico volcanics
have (La=Yb)N fractionation values of 1.2–2.7 and
1.33–2.56, respectively, different from OIB (11.6)
but similar to E-MORB (1.8), even though their
REE-enrichment (15–60ð chondrite) is higher than
E-MORB (12–25ð chondrite), as demonstrated in
Fig. 1D. The LREE fractionation in ‘Arperos basin
volcanics’ at Valle de Bravo [(La=Sm)N D 0.8–1.6]
is also similar to the Arcelia–Palmar Chico group
volcanics (0.6–1.8).
Freydier et al. (1996) interpreted the Zr=Nb ratios
of 9.2–31.5 for the ‘Arperos igneous rocks’, as the
mixing of OIB and N-type MORB mantle sources;
however, they have more affinity with backarc basin
basalts (Saunders and Tarney, 1979; Saunders et al.,
1980; Basaltic Volcanism Study Project, 1981). The
Zr=Nb ratio is indeed a very useful lithotectonic
discriminant (Wilson, 1989), and it may effectively
indicate mixing of heterogeneous mantle sources, but
in a backarc basin setting rather than in an oceanic
basin with an aseismic ridge near a spreading center,
as proposed by Freydier et al.
If correlation of Porohui, Arperos, Corrales and
Valle de Bravo sequences is correct, the geochemi-
cal variations between N-MORB and mildly alkaline
within plate volcanism described for the ‘Arperos
igneous rocks’ can also occur in backarc basin vol-
canism. Magmatism with N-MORB to OIB affinities
has been documented in backarc basin environments
(Volpe et al., 1988; Wilson, 1989; Nakamura et al.,
1989; Pouclet et al., 1995; Hawkins, 1995). Although
the geochemistry of backarc basin basalts is clearly
complex and their petrogenesis may involve hetero-
geneous mantle sources and subduction zone compo-
nents (Wilson, 1989), small degrees of partial melt-
ing of a homogeneous source in backarc basins may
generate volcanism with WPB or OIB affinities (e.g.
Wilson, 1989). Alkaline magmatism in backarc basin
settings has also been interpreted as a mixture of
magmas formed by a relatively large degree of par-
tial melting of an enriched mantle plume from deeper
324

Fig. 1. (A) TiO2 –MnO–P2 O5 tectonomagmatic discrimination diagram (Mullen, 1983) for Cretaceous submarine volcanics of Arcelia–
Palmar Chico group in Valle de Bravo–Tejupilco area (Elı́as-Herrera, unpubl. data) in comparison to the ‘Arperos igneous rocks’ for
Valle de Bravo (Freydier et al., 1996). (B) Zr=Y vs. Zr tectonomagmatic discrimination diagram (Pearce and Norry, 1979) for the same
volcanics; symbols as in (A). (C) N-MORB-normalized (Sun and McDonough, 1989) multi-elements plots for the same volcanics. (D)
Chondrite-normalized (Evenson et al., 1978) REE patterns for the same samples; screen patterns like those in (C). For comparison
are also included REE-patterns for oceanic island basalt (OIB), enriched mid-oceanic ridge basalt (E-MORB) and depleted or normal
mid-oceanic ridge basalt (N-MORB) according to Sun and McDonough (1989).

mantle and a small degree of partial melting of a de-
pleted MORB-type source (Nakamura et al., 1989),
or as product of different degree of mixing between
depleted asthenosphere and enriched mantle compo-
nents that may have been incorporated into the sub-
continental lithospheric mantle (Pouclet et al., 1995).
4. Tectonic interpretation
The Cretaceous position of the Guerrero arc west
of a major Pacific spreading ridge and separated by
the wide Arperos basin from the North American
continental plate, as depicted in Freydier et al.’s figs.
12 and 13, constitutes a major departure from current
models (e.g. Dickinson, 1981) that attach the Guer-
rero terrane to the western vicinity of North Amer-
ica. Likewise, Sm–Nd isotopic and sedimentological
studies in representative units of the northern and
southern Guerrero terrane show Grenville-like signa-
tures (Centeno-Garcı́a et al., 1993; Centeno-Garcı́a,
1994) that link the Guerrero terrane to the vicinity of
the North America Plate in the Cretaceous.
The Cretaceous west-dipping subduction zone ad-

vocated by Freydier et al. to explain the origin of the
‘Guerrero terrane magmatic arc’ does not account
for the common presence of coeval sedimentary and
volcanic arc rocks rooted in the Mixteco terrane of
nuclear southern Mexico (Ponce-Castellanos, 1980;
Morán-Zenteno, 1987; Sabanero-Sosa et al., 1996).
Furthermore, the kinematic plate evolution from
Valanginian to Campanian time for stacking the far-
traveled Guerrero arc terrane and the wide Arperos
oceanic basin to the continental margin of western
Mexico, requires difficult and profound tectonic and
magmatic events, such as subduction or obduction
of a ridge and an oceanic plateau prior to their fi-
nal collision, events which are not documented in
the Cretaceous history of the Guerrero terrane. An
east-dipping subduction zone with backarc spreading
adjacent to the western margin of North America
accommodates much better all the known data as
discussed above, and this is more consistent with
regional models for the plate tectonic evolution of
the eastern Pacific margin and the Caribbean re-
gion (Engebretson et al., 1985; Debiche et al., 1987;
Ross and Scotese, 1987; Wilson et al., 1989) in
Cretaceous time. None of these models envisage
eastwards transfer of west Pacific terranes with op-
posite (i.e. western) polarity across major mid-ocean
ridges, as implied by Freydier et al.’s provocative but
poorly supported model.
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