1040

Tectono-stratigraphic terranes and min~rat resource distributions in Mexicol

MARIA FER:'-IANDA C.<\MPA
Petroleos Mexicanos. Mexico. D.F
AND
PETERJ. CONEY
Department ofGeoscienc:es. Uni\'ersil)' of ArizonCl.Tucson. AZ 85721. U.S.A.
Received March 11. 1982
Accepted May lO, 1982

About 800/(of the southempan of the Nonh American Cordillcrawithin !he Republic of ~texico is made up of suspect terral'les.
These lerranes are scspect becausc their paleogeographic setting wilh res~ct lo cratonic North America at various times tlirous"
much of Phanerozoic time is uncenain. Much of n"nhcastem and soulheaslem Mexico is underlain by basement accreted durirog
hle Paleozoic lime, an extension of!he Appalachian-Ouachita ocogeny. This orogen has been considerably modified by Jurassic
stdke-sHp tr:mslations related to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico. Western and southweslern Mexico is large!y roade up of
severa! distinct bnt coevallatest Jurasslc to Late Cretaceous submarine.magmatic are terranes with unknown b!lsem~nt lhat
~ppear to have accreted against the disrupted North American margin by early Tertiary time. Only northeastem Sonora and the
Shle of Chihuahua appear to be l100red by unmoved North American cratonic basement. The combined effect of Mesozoic
2ccrelions and Iranslations essentially eliminales the overlap of South America upon Mexico Ihat is drived from late Paleozoic -
early Mesozoic reco!1structionsofthe closed Atlantic Oceao. This new vision of accretionary and translalional tectonics in
Me1(jcohas profollnd implicalions ror the study of teclogenesis in Ihe southern Cordillera as well as for the interpretation of
Mcxico's vast nalural resources. Preliminary analysis indicates thal Mexico's gold-silver and lead-zinc deposits are direc!!)' or
m<=irectlyrelalcd to !he tcrrane dislribulions discussed.

Environ 80% de la parti~ sud de la Cordil1~rede l' Amérique dlJNord a I'intérieur de la République du Mexique e~1formée c:!~
t:mains mal définis. Ces terraios sont mal définis parce ~ue leur contexte paléogéographique en rapport avec le craton de
l' Aml:rique du Nord pour les différents temps géologiques surtoul pour le PhanérozoIque esl indéterntiné. De grandes régions du
Hord-cst et du sud-esl du Mexique reposent sur un socle résultant d'une accrétion au cours du PaléozoIque supérieur, une
extension de l'orQgénese Appalache-Ouachila. Cetle orogénese fut considérablemenl affeclée par des translations le long de
décrochements au Jurassique accompagnanl I'ouverture du golfe du Mexique. L'ouest et sud-ouesl du Mexique est
principalemenl constilué de terrains de nalure différenle mais contemporains de la fin duJurassique supérieur jusqu'au Crétac~
su~rieur, formant des arcs d'origine magmalique sous-marine, donlle socle esl inconnu mais semble résulter d'une ac~rétion
contre la marge ruplurée de l' Amérique du Nord durant le Tertiaire inférieur. Seulcmcnl le nord-est de Sonora el rEtat du
Chihuahua semb!enl présenler un socle correspondanl au craton non-déplacé de l' Amérique du Nord. L' effet combiné des
?.ccrétionsel des Iranslations du Mésozoique écartent I'hypoth~!:ed'un chevauchemcnt de l' Amérique dll Sud sur I~ Mexiq:Jc
i!1vcquéedans les ¡-econstilutionsde la fermelure de I'océan Atlantique durant la période du Paléozoique supérieur jusqu'au
M~Jozo'iqueinft:ip.l!r. Ce1tcnouvelle approche de tectonique d',!ccrétions el de translalions pour le Mcxique peul cootrihucr au
déve!oppement de la teetogénese du sud de la Cord¡lIcrc et ég2!emenla I'interprélation conceenant les vastes ressourcc~ natur~lI1:s
cllJM~xiqlle. D~s études préliminaircs indiquenl que les gites d'or-argent ~t de plomb-zinc du Mexique sonl direclement el
i..,direclementreHés a la distribulion de terrains d¡scutés dans le présenl art:cle.
e.'!. J. Earth Sci. 2.', 1040-1')$1 (1983)
[Traduil par le journal]
&Q'
Introduction -:;:.~"Ben~~raham el al. 1981). The approach h~s also
Tcctcno-stratign'1phic tcrrane anaJysis (Jones and y¡eld~ preliminary insights 'into the distribution amI
Silh::rling 1979) has<.prov~ (ruitful 'in sludies {)f the geñcsis of Cordilleran mineral resources (Alhers 1981;
Nm'th American Cordillera. It has resulted in a(scri~of Berg 1981). .
l1F.Wmaps (Ccr¡cy el al. 1980; Berg el al. 1978;Jones el Tectono-stratigraphic terrane analysis is in its ¡nfancy
al. 1?81) tl1at h:¡,vc(sh~much4i$hh on Cordit!eran in Mexico. \Ve rcport here the results 01'prclimin1\ry
t~cTnic evolutian al'\! I1:lS@.cusedJauention on major work no\\' in progress (Campa and Cdney 1981). \Ve are
IsslJc!}in thc iote'Fetation of ffie tectonic evolution of certain future work will require revision 01' wt>at wt
cO!1t1m:nlalm!.'.rginmO!Jntain systems (Coney 1981; portrayhe.re.but we are confidenl that the broad O'ltline
. we propuse is in general valid. Thesc rreliminat;¡ results
!T:::~ paper wa~ presenled at a sY/TIposium enlitled providea differ~nt visiol!; of t~e t~cton~cs of Mexico ¡\~d
"M~t;>!iogeny a!l¿ Tertonics of Ihe NOl1h American at the same tIme ,provlde tnslght tnto the teclO!1lC
Cordi!kra" hdd nt t~e GAC/MA.C/CGUJoinl A!101.1al
Meeting evclutioli of the south-ern part of the North Am~rica",
!!\ ::?:gary, ABx:1a, ?AI'.y\3. 1981. Ccrdillera. Finally, we suggest that some minen'!

11(\~' o r 1 ~
 CAMPA AND CaNEY 1041
LEGEND
CHI Chlhuahue
CA Ceboree
COA Coehulle
M Meye
SM Sierre Medre
A AIII¡tOl
G Guerrero
J Juerez
O Oex Ice
MI Mlxtlee
XO Xolapl
S Sonebarl
R Rusl..
V Ylzeelno
SMO Sierre Medre Occidental
TMV Trenl-Mexleo Yolelnle Axll

o ~oo lu"

Se a'e

FIG. l. Tectono-stratigraphic terranes of Mexico. Bascment terrane boundarics are shaded black lines. Supcrjacent (overlap)
terranes shown by V pauem.

resource distributions in Mexico appear to be markedly did not exist duril!g Permo-Triassic time, or (2) rhey
"
controlled by the. terranc distributions. This is a wcre somewher<\ clse., When Ihese geometric facts are
relationship that has not previously been per!=eived. ' taken into considerafion along wirh thc nature 01'much
The tecronics of Mexico has an inherent complexity of the geology of this region, tttc implicd mobility of
not~ar'" by most of the Cordillera to the ñorth: here, tectonic elements places ! severe doubts) on classic
Palcozoic Appalachian and ~lesozoic :}tlaWls.~c;an interpretations of Mcxican t~ctonic~hístory.Whcn thesc
and Gulf of Mexico\features l11ing1e,Jnil tho~'o'f the geometric relationships are combineu with our terranc
North American Cordillera. The paleogeographic analysis they indicate. fór cxamplc, that only about 20%
implications o this complex union have always been a ,of Mexico can bc uncquivocally undcrlain by unmoved
mystery, amI.inc1ud.;the earHest configuralion of the autochthonous North American Prccambrian .basement.
North American latc Prec¡unbri:m - earl)' Paleozoic Th:: remainder 01'the Republic is thus "suspcct" (Coney
continental ~a~gin in ~hisregip'nl1a~.~ycl1larcr.Pakozoic el al. 1980; Coney 1981) in its pakogeographic
and MesozOIcJOteractlons. AüUeacomplexltles are the affinities during long periods of Phancrozoic time.
relationships bctween the southem Mexico - Caribbean
Description of tcrranes
- Central A~efiF~ .regiop ami northwestem South
America. Mo~t'of'these problems derive at the outset A prcliminary tectono-stratigraphic terrane map of
fram geometric reconstructions of lhe c10sed Atlantic Mexico is shown as Fig. l. Thc map shows thc
Ocean in Perml.-Triassic time (Coney i978). Thc wel! distribution of major basemcnt terranes, which in most
known overlap of South Ameri~a upon all of the cases are areas assumed lo he undcrlain by a basemcnt
Caribbean Sea and Central America and including up to litho-tectonic asscmblage dcfined as intereall}' hOO1ogC-
50% of the Mexican Republickads to one of two neo:Js within the boundaries of the tcrrane. Some
conc1usions:(1) rocks exposed in the overlappcd region tcrranes are dcsignalcd as "composite," and inelude
,
t <lO'"u, ' '. '0' t't',<1«\ , .7. , \l.' "
1'0\(,""'4\' ,"1"
I ,
t . e " ~J
.~.-.1
r
1042 CAN. J. EARTH SCI. VOL. 20. 1983

intemal complexities the details of whieh are still to be
workcd out. The proposed intemalhomogeneity of
terranes is represented by a stratígraphíc record (in other
words, a geologic history) that ties the terrane together
as a tectono-stratigraphic entít)' in space and time.
Boundaries between terranes are major discontinuities
in stratigraphy that we believe mark abl1tpt or cryptic
changes in age and (or) lithology that cannot be easily
explained as due to a facies change or an unconformity.
Many of the boundaries are known taults and all are
suspected to be.
Most of Mexieo is in fact covered aJ the surface by
what are termed "superjacent" terranes or overlap
assmblages. Only some of these are shown in Fig. l.
These younger overlap assemblages cro¡¡s terrane
boundaries, indieating paleogeographic. unity over a
region larger than that represeoted by the basement
terranes. Examples would be the mid-Tertiary volcanic
plateau of the Sierra Madre Occidental and the late
Tertiary trans-Mexieo volcanie axis, both of which are
shown in Fig. l.
The basement terranes of Mexieo may be grouped
into zonations that divide the Repub~~ . into three major
tectono-straligraphic subdivisions:@Ja northwestern
.
Lopez 1979, Figs. 4-~). The Precambrian basement is
overlain depositionally by a cratonic assemblage of up to
3000 m of Paleozoié sar.dstones, shales. and limeslones
(Malpiea and de fa Torre 19'80)' with a fauna and
lithologies very similar 10 those of \Vell known
sequences in Ari1:ona and New Mexieo of the
southwestem United States (Peirce 1976). To\Vard the
soulheastem edge of the terrane, uppcr Paleozoic
detritial sequences seem to reflect proximity 10 the
southwestward eXlremily of ihe Appalachian-Ouachila
-Marathon orogenic ~lt (Bridges 1964).
The southeastern boundarY' of the terrane is an
assumed deep-seated fault along the northwestcm
frontal zone Qf the accreted late Paleozoic Ouachita-
Marathon orogen. The southwestem boundary is a major
tectonie discontinuity separating disparate Precambrian-
-
age belts and Paleozoie eady Mesozoic straligraphy.
The discontinuity n,asbeen termed the Mojave-Sonora
megashear (Silver and Anderson 1974: Anderson and
Silver 1979). We simply term it the Mojave-Sonora
discontinuity. The terrane is co\'ered by latest Jurassic
and younger Mesozoic rocks, which are part of the great
transgression out of the Gulf of Mexico.

zone, which is a direct continuation southward into Caborfa terrane

Mexieo of autochthonous North American cratonic The stratigraphie column for the Caborca tcrrane is
Precam~ basement and its Paleozoic-MesQzoic based 00 isolated outcrops west of the city of Caborca.
cover; ~n castem zone, surrounding the Gulf of Sonora. which yield a Precambrian basement (Damon et
Mexieo, of mainly late Paleozoic age, whieh though al. 1962; Andersoft al1dSiI\'er 1979) overlain by a very
heterogeneous has a common origin as material accreted thick miogeoclinal sequence of late Precambrian

western zone, making up Mexico's wider ~

lo North America during the latest pa e oie thrQugh Paleozoic age (Cooper and ArelIano 1946;
Appalachian-Ouachita-Marathon orogeny: an (3 a Malpica and de la Torre t 980), considercd to be ver)'
,tic similar to the Cordilleran miogeoclinal sequence of
margino which is characterized by a heterogeneous southwestem Ne\'ada and southcrn California (Weber r(
assemblage of mainly submarine volcanie and al. 1979; Anderson el al. 1979). O\'crlying the
sedimentary rocks of late Mesozoie age. with presently Paleozoie rocks are Upper Triassie marine and
unknown basement. AIso found here are scattered continental deposits of the Barranca Fornlation and
smaller terranes, which inelude in part older rocks and Liassic to Upper Jurassie clastic and volcanoclastic
whose paleogeographic affinities wilh North America rocks (Anderson and Silver 1979). The Caborca tcrr¡m::
are presently unknown or at best vel)' speculative. is certainly composite since !ioutheast of Hermosillo.
Sonora therc are outcrops of lower Paleozoic sequences
Zone 1: northwestern Mexico of deep-marine aflinity (Peiffer 1979) and there are
Zone 1 (Fig. 2) is made up of two tcrranes: the exposures of Lower Mesozoic rocks of uncertain affinity
autochthonous North American cratonic terrane of in northeast Baja California (Gastil and MilIer 1981).
Chihuahua and what may be a para-autochthonous The close similarity 01' the pre-Late Jurassic
displaced fragment .of f'orth America, the Caborca sequences to those of southwestern Nevada and southern
terrane in the State of Sonora. California and the m"rked contrast to sequcnces of the
l!l' same age in Ilearby Chihuahua terrane have Icd to the
Ch¡hllallllaterrane ~R-. suggestion that thc Caborca terrane is a displaced
The Chihuahua tcrrane@ underlain by unmoved fragment of North American Precamhriall basemcllt and
cratollic North American Precanmriafl basement. Tnis its Paleozoic miogeoclinal cover plus various Paleozoic
base-olent outcropsin only' scafiéredlocalities J.~ allochthons and youngcr overlap assemblagcs, all
northeastern Sonora, but it has been penctrated in welfso ~brought southeastward up to 800 km along the Middle
in the State of Chihuahua (unpublished \Vell repórts, Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashcar (Silver and Ander-
Petroleos Mexicanos, Gerencia de Exploradon; see also son 1974; AndersoJl and Silver 1979).

.c. ,,

I \
e
 CAMPA AND CONEY 1043

Cabo re a Chihuahua

I A.
Juras.ie C.IIO.
..........,

U. Trias.le r
'

Alb.
::r:
Mls..-Per....

Oev.-Mi.s.
Ord.
- - --
A p 1.
,-o _-_-_;)
C a...b.
,. A A
Neoe. I,,=_
..,.....-':"'::"'
.: " pI
- -- -'i'-
r:=-A.--:
- -
TllolI.
==-.--. ..."
U. P r e e a m b. .: "..... ....
:::= =c. P.rm.
i"";'
~ -L- . ........" .
_.~/ Pelln.-Mls S. ¡:::¡::::::[ .....
---L .:.. ...L.-L...,.
Oe v. ::J.: -:!:
Sil. - , -:i:::=
O,d.
Camb ..:.....;:.l

Preeamb.
Vv/.1I.t'
V' \M' v
P,eca...b.

conglomerat. b IlIm.stone I~ ,,~ " I voleenle

l.: \. ;. :..\. e n d . ton.

DA
"
'
.v.porlt.
1" / / I

' , ,'''.'.. [:00

FIG. 2. Tectono-stratigraphiccolumns for nonhwestem Mexico. Also shows lithologic symbols for Figs. 3 and 4.
Abbreviations: Prccam. = Prccambrian basemer.t; U. Precamb. = Upper Precambrian sedimentary rocks; Camb. = Cambrian;
Ord. = Ordovician; Sil. = Siluriall; Dcv. = Dcvollian; Miss. = Mississippian; Penn. = Pcnnsylvaniall; Perm. = Permian; U.
Trias. = Uppcr Triassie; L., M., U. Jura. = Lower, Middle, and Upper Jurassic; l. Crct. = Lower Crctaccous; U.
Cret. = Uppcr Cretaccous; Titon. = Tithonian; Neoc. = Neocomian; Apt. = Aptian; Alb. = Albi¡m; Ceno. = Cenomanian;
Turon. = Turonian; San!. = Santonian; Campo =Campanian; Ten. = Teniary; Palco. = Palcoccnc; Plio. ""'Ptioccne. Sourccs:
citatians in text, unpublished data fram Pemcz and In,tituto Mc,¡icano dd Petrolco Iiles, and ficldwlJrk by the authurs.

Zone 11: ens'ern Mexico of ,be newly opened Gulf of Mcxico, Howcver, in
Much of eastem Mcxico is o\'erlain by upper scatrered exposure!land from wcll data there is cvidcm:c
Mesozoic and Cenozoic supcrjacent terranes, which are bem:ath the cover of the bascm~nt tcrrancs of cOllccrn
pan of the great post-Middle Jurassic transgression OU[ bere (Fig. 3). The largest are the Coabuila and Maya
 /

//

1044 CAN. J. Et\RTH SC'. VOL. 20. 198.1

Coahulla Mava

C ampo

Sanl.
- --. Peleo.-Pllo.

Turon.
-
C e no. U. Cra..
Alb.
A pl.
N e o c. l. Cra"
Ti Ion. U. Jura.
A
M. Jura.
Jura
l. Jura.
Par m.
Parmian
P e n n.
litlo..
1 Dav..

Sierra Madre

U. Crel.
- -
Turon.

lo C r e l.
U. J u r a.
M. Jur a.

U.T..ao.-
l Jura.

Pe rm.
Va,tlcal arrow ba.lda column
Penn
M i s s. .howa ranga 01 ba.amant tarrana
D e v.
Sil. Rock. abov. ara .upa'Jacant (ova,'apt tar,ana
Camb.-Ord.

Precamb.

.
FIG. 3. Teclono-stratigraphic columns foe castem Mexico. See caplion lo Fig. 2 roe dClails.
terranes. which are both certainly composite but appear
to be late Paleozoic accretjons to North America relatcd
to cIosure 01'the proto-Atlantic Ocean as Africa and
South America impinged on North America. which
produced the later stages of the ApJ!alachian-Ouachita
-Marathon orogeny in latest Paleozoic time (Oraham
el al. 1975: Flawn eral. 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 parto at least. of the
Altiplano region of central Mexico in the States of
Durango. Zacatacas. and San Luis Potosi. Part of the
Sierra Madre ba~ement tcrrane may be a displaced
fragment of North American basement similar to the
Chihuahua terrane.
The terranes of eastem Mexico are overlapped first by
a Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic early rift assemolage
of continental redbeds and evaporites. then by a
post-Middle Jurassic through Late Cretaccous marinc
transgression assemblage. Both of the~e se4ucnccs are
part of the history of the openjng 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 sequcnce. which we
 CAMPA ANO CONEY 104S

..interpret to be part of a Jurassic continental magmatic highly deformed and metamorphosed Paleozoie flysch
arc. Accretionof the Coahuilaand Mayaterranesonto sequences (Hemandez 1973). In sOllthemmost Chiapas
the North American continent occurred during the latest and neighboring Guatemala thcre are Oevonian to
Paleozoic to Middle Triassic. Th:: Maya and Sierra Pennian sediments and possible older early Paleozoie
Madre terranes, however, were still mobile with respect and Precambrian rocks whose affinities with North
to North America until Late Jurassic time, since Upper America are unknown (Clcmons et al. 1974). Jurassic
Jurassic limestones are the first units to overlap all three redbeds and volcanic racks and :vtiddlc-Upper Jurassic
terranes. The mobility of the Maya and Sierra Madre to Cretaceous transgressive marinc sequences cover the
terranes is related to movement along the Ton'eon- basement terrane.
Monterrey discontinuity. The discontinuity is appar- The boundary between the Maya and Coahuila
ently the southeastem extension of the Mojave-:-Sonora terranes is not known. but it is possibly the southeastem
discontinuity. Movemeot along the feature thus extension of the Torreon-Montcrrey discontinuity
occurred after the Middle Triassic and before the Late where it enters the Gulf of Mexico somewherc bctween
Jurassic. Matamoros and Vera Cruz.
Coahuila rarane
Sierra Madre
The known lithology of the Coahuila terrane consists
of two parts. One is a much defonned and generally The Sierra Madre Oriental is mainly a seqllence of
mildly metamorphosed upper Palcozoic (mostly folded and imbricately thnlst-faulted uppcr Mcsozoic
Permian) flysch with andesitic voleanics cut by scattered limestones, shales, and sandstoncs of the superjacclII
granodioritic plutons, which usually yield latest Gulf of Mexico transgressive scquencc del'onned during
Paleozoic radiometric ages (Bose 1921; Flawn and Díaz the Late Cretaceous - ear1y T ertíilry LaramiJc orogeny
1959;Fla n eral. 1961; Denison etal. 1971). A second (deCsema el al. 1977;Tardy1980;dc Csema 1956).10
pan is the so-called "frontal zone" of the Ouachita- several anticlinoria, howevcr. an oldcr basemcnt terr;lI\c
Marathoo orogen, which ineludes rocks of Cambrian is revealed (Carrillo 1961, 1965; Ramircl 1978: de
through late Paleozoic age. These sequences are thrust Csema et al. 1977). Near Ciudad Victoria the crystallinc
northwestward over cratonic North America in the basement is a metamorphic complex of "Grenvillc" ilge
Ouachita and Marathon Mountains and we assume they (Fries et al. 1962b). Structurally above it is a
are likewise thrust northwestward over the Chihuahua sedimentar}' sequcnce that rangcs frol1l Cambro-
terrane in Mexico. Unconfonnably aboye these Ordovician ('!) to Pennsyl\"anian in age and cuhninatcs
in a Permian flysch (Carrillo 1961; rvtalpica and de la
bascment terrancs lie continental rcdbeds and evaporitcs
of Late Triassic lO Middle Jurassic age (Imla)' 1943; Torre 1980). This sequcnce is pcrhilps not unlike wl¡¡¡t
Humphrey 1956). one might expect as a southcastcmmost occurrem:e of
the North American craton in Chihuahua tcrranc or
The upper Paleozoic rocks are here interpretcd to be
the "hinterland" or interior zone of the Appalachian- perhaps the frontal zonc 01'the Coahuila lcmll\e herc
Ouachita-Marathon orogenic belt and probably displaced far to the southeasl. Farther south ncar the
trans-Mexico voleanic axis a Lowcr Jurassic marine
reprcsent magmatic are and fore-are assemblages
accreted agains: North America during late Paleozoic sedimentarysequenccwith a faunaof"Pacilic" aspectis
closure of the proto-Atlantic Ocean. The frontal zone exposed stn1etura])yabove Palcozoic rocks of Mississip-
pian and Pennian age, which in tum lie above
may have been distal, deep ocean-floor deposit!lthat lay
south of Nonh America. The Mesozoic redbed and Precambrian rocks. How far and to what degree the
Paleozoic and Prccambrian rocks cxtend bcneath the
evaporitic sequences are considered equivalent to
remainder of the Sierra Madre terranc are prescntly
similar facies found along the Atlantic and Gulf coastal
regions to the north in the United States and are here unknown.11seems likely thc Sierra Madretcrraneas
portrayed in Fig. 1 is composite.
assumed to be related to early rifting that ¡ater Icd to the
At scattered localities betwccn Torreon and Ciudad
opening of the Gulf of Mexico. The southcm boundary
Victoria along the northem margin of the temme south
of the Coahuila terrane is the Torreon-Monterrey
discontinuity. of the Torrcon-Monterrey discontinuity there are
exposurcs of red eonglomeratcs, siltstones, sandstones,
.'v/ayorerrane and silty shales below Uppcr Jurassic limestoncs
Where cxposcd the Maya tcrranc is apparcntly more (Zuluaga Formution) (Córdoba 1963). The red
hetcrogcneou~ th¡m, but somewhat similar to, and sedimcnts frcquently have a considerable volcanic
probably a displaccd part of, the Coahuila terrane. A content, and thcrc are occasional \'olcanie rocks as wdl.
large meta-plutonic complex, at least in part of Usual1y evaporitic shales and siltstones intcrvcne
Penno-Triassic age, is exposed in Chiapas (Damon el between the redbeds and the Zuluaga limestones. The
al. 1981; Wcbber amI Oj~da Rivcr:l 1957), and thcre ar~ rocksareoftenslightly mctamorphosed, rctaining a fain!
/
. 1046 CAN. J. EARTH SC\. VOL. 20. 1983
cIeavage. Some of Ihese rocks have been considered
PaIeozoicbasement. Recenl fieldwork sugge~lsmos! are
equivalent lo the Lower lo Middle Jurassic Nazas
Formalion CPanloja-Alor 1963) exposed "'esl of
Torreon, which we interprello be part of the Lower to
Middle Jurassic magmalic are (Damon el al. 1981)
known from soulhern Arizona and Sonora, where illies
depositionally upon what \Ve teon Ihe Chihuahua
leriane. Ir Ihe correlation is correct. these rocks are
displaced far lo the southeast from their equivalenls to
the north. Since the basement of these rocks is nol.
kilOwnthey are shown in a separate colunm beside the
Sierra Madre Oriental lerrane column in Fig. 3.
Zone 111:westerlJJ\'lexico
u( 'l~\"
This vast region makes up\"'almo~1one half of the
Republic of Mexico and is fonnedDy a composite group
.of suspect terranes here considered lo have accreted to
North America in later Mesozoic to early Tertiary time.
The principal basement terranes CFig.4) are a series of
satmarine volcanic ~~i¡nenlarv rocks of magmalic
are aspecl, and are 'atJe~~t~f1.ale}~!~s~iS10;t~I~Jniddle
Cretaceous age and pos~,bly~readi back to the Lale
Triassic and (ur) Juras~ic. ISeatlered )Ithrough Ihese
t~rranes ar~smaller terrane.swilh older ages and distinct
facies. AII of the ahove terranes are difticult to organize
inlo any paleogeographic reconslruclion wilh the re-
mainder of Mexico ul)liJ ~ Mcsozoic or even early
Cenozoic lime. Anyportraya~ of Ihis complex region is
complicaleJ hy the fnrnlíal much 01"it is eovered by
middle TeniaJ)' and younger slIperjacenl tt:rranes ~uch
as the Sierra Madre Occidenlal and the Irans-Mexico
volcanicaxis. \'. r,
The. ~in íate Mesozoic are lerranes arc the Alisitos
lerrane of Baja California. Ihe eomposite Guerrero
terrane of soulhwestern Mexieo. and Ihe Juarez lerrane
in Ihe Slale of Oaxaca. The smaller lerranes are Mixteca
and Oaxaea: bolh include Paleozoic roeks and Ihe
Oaxaca also includes Prec:lInbrian rocks. The Xolapa
ami Sonabari terranes are mela-plutonit: complexes of
largely unknown age a'ld origino Important deep-seated
faults are known to(?ound. these( smaller lerranes in
CseVeralplace~. and we kltow of DOevidencc Ihal permits
the conelusion that any of them nec.:ssarily forms a
basemenl to Ihe larger submarine magmatic are terranes.
The terrane~ 01' weste!"n Mexico were apparently
accrcled onto and consolidaled \Viththe North American
continent during what. mighl be Jermed the "grealer'"
Laramidc orogeny. whieh took place fr(lm Lále
C'relaceousto early Terliary lime. '-=olding.faulting. and
some melamorphism al :his lime are widesprcad
Ihroughoul Ihis complex and \'aried region. In any
e\'enl. ,poorl)' dateJ conlinenlal sedimcnts considered lo
be of Late Eoccne to Oligocenc age IInd belt.erJdal~d
midJle TeniaT)' vokank scquences. mosltv in Ihe Sierra
Madre Occidental and bcneath Ihe Yl'unger Irans-
Mexico volcanic axis. unconfom1abl) cover Ihe
basement terranes as a~ overlap assemblage in many
areas.
Alisitos terraIJe
This terran: is mainly a very thiek Lower lOMiddlc
Cretaceous (Aptian-Albian) submarine lo panly
continental andesitic volcanic aftd associaled \'olcano-
cIastic sequence that fonns much of the weslern pan of
northern Baja Califomia CAllison 1955: Gastil et al,
1978). The terrane possibly ineludes older roeks Ihat
may extend into ¡alest Triassic or Jurassic lime. The
terrane is inlruded by Cretaceous plulons and is in pan
metamorphosed. The len'ane no doubt has correlalives
acfOSSthe Gulf ofCalifornia in southern Sonora soulh of
Guaymas and in Sinoloa (sho\\ n in Fig. 1 as the
Guerrero terrane). It may also reappear in southernmost
Baja California south of La Paz,
Guerrero terraIJe
This vast terrane ~sbest known in Ihe Sierra Madre del
Sur south of Ihe Irans-Mcxico \'olcanic aXls. It is
cenainly eomposile. and at Ihe lime (lf Ihis wriling can
be subdivided into at Icasllhree separatc sequl'IICCS.Thc
relation:ships one lo an0ther of Ihese Ihree subdiVJ~iOIlS
is still not elear. Alllhree sublcrranesare al leasl Late
Jurassic to mid-Cretaceolls in age and are composed ,If
submarine volcanic anJ sedimenlary squenccs. but Ihere
are Upper Tria<;sic rocks kllown lIear Zacalecas
(McGehee 1976). The slraligraphy in eaeh i~dillCH:nl.
as are grade 01"mClamorphism ami defonnalional <;tyk.
The three suhlelTanes are: (1) Tdoloapan. lxlapan. 12)
Zihuatanejo. and (3) HlIel:ulIo(see Fig. 4).
The Telolapan--lxt2pan terrane CCampael 111.1974lis
a sequence of andc\i!ic \'olcanic and voic:!Ilociasli\:
sedimenls inlerslralilied wilh limeslonc. shale, and
sandstone. The sediments have yieldcd fossils of Lale
Jurassic and Earl)' (relaeeous ages. No older hascmenl
is presently known. The a~semblage Ims becn affccled
by low-grade rcgiunal melamorphisl1\and is quite
severely deformed. Along the eastern margin of Ihe
ten'ane in the 513fc of Guerrero the volcanic and
sedimentary assemblage is thrust caslward o\w shelf
earbonates 01"Cretaeeous agc Ihat are parl o,.Ihe Mixleca
terrane platform CCampa ef al. 1976).
The ZihúataRejo terrane is best kno\\'1Ialong Ihe soul!".
coast of Miehoacan and in Colima. It is madc up 01"
mainl)' andesitic volcanic rocks. jnlerhcdded Iil1leslones
with Albian fauna, and some shule, sand~lolle, and
congloJllcrale. Thcre are also locally conlincnlal
redheds with dino~aur foo!prinls. The assembla¡!e is
deform.ed. but shows no significanl mClamorplmm
(Campa ef CI/.. in pres<;). A recenl Pemex. well In Ihe
Stateof Colimahas penclr,!ledover 3UüOm 01"andc\Jlic
volcanic rocks and íimeslones.
Tbe Huclamo lerranc is he!'t known in Michoaean
where a ~equence01"l'pper Jurassic marinc volcalllldas-
/

1048 CAN. J EARTH SCI VOL. 20. 1983

intervening ultramafic body. Radiometric age determina- Jose de las Rusias terrane (Malpica and de la TOlTe1980)
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 Ihese telTanes'are unknown to the
metamorphic rocks are overlain in places by defonned authors at this lime and are not further discussed unlil
Pennsylvanian telTigenous sediments (Calderón García 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 turo overlain by Neocomian shales Mineral resource distribution in Mexico and
and limestones. Aptian-Albian-Cenomainian lime- the tectono-stratigraphic terranes
stones. and finally a t1ysch-like Upper Cretaceous The distribution of Mexico's mineral resources has
sequence (Calderón Garcfa 1956). been described largely as a function of present-day
Oaxaca terralle major physiographic-geoIogic provinces (Salas 1975)
The Oaxaca terrane consists of a granulite and and more recentl)' ~s a function of paleo-Benioff zone
anorthositic crystalline metamorphic basement abo\'e morphology (Damon et al. 1981). The former study was
which sits depositionally an uppermost Cambrian to largely descriptive aijd was accompanied by a useful
Ordovician telTigenous deposit that is overlain by map (Salas 1975). The latter !itudy carried a genetic
Mississippian. Pennsylvanian. and Permian sediments implication based largely on age distribution of mineral
(Pantoja-Alor and Robinson 1967). The bascment has deposit zonations identified by groupings of deposil
been isotopicall) dated as "Grenvil\e" in age (Fries et al. types (Damon et al. 1981). We present a preliminar)'
I962a; Ortega et al. 1977), The early Paleozoic fossils altemative portrayal; which is also dcscriptive (Fig. 5).
found above the basement complex are apparently most \Ve sho\\' that at least two major commodity
similar to South American forms rather than' North distributions seem to be a function <,fthe distribution of
American (Robinson and Pantoja-Alor 1968). Above the basement telTanespresenled in this reporto We offer
the Paleozoic rocks are redbeds and Aptian-Albian no genetic explanation, but we feel the rclationship~ are
limestones. intere~tingand worth further study. They are consistent
with the conc1usionsof studies elsewhere (Albers 1981'
Xolapa terralle Berg 1981).
The Xolapa tClTaneoccurs as a IQngnarrow beIt along Our data base for mineral resource distribution 15the
the southern coast of the Stales of Oaxaca and Guerrero. metallogenetic map 01' Mexico compiled by Salas
11 is defined by its cornplex metamorphic-plutonic (1975). His map shows the principal producing mmcs of
aspect and much dcvelopment of migmalite. Where ils Mexico since colonial times, a period of over 400 ycars.
northern boundary is known it is in contact with telTanes About 400 localilies are shown on the map. \Ve have
north of it by majar deep-seated faults. Isolopic age's simply superimposed Ihe terrane maegf Q.urFi&. 1 QllJQ.e
from the tClTanerange from Jurassic to Tertiary (de melallogenetic map of Mcxico. Then we counted
lserna 1965; Guerrero et al. 1978; Campa et al.. in dCéurrences, regardless of size. of two maior M ,-" , F'
press). commodity groups: (1) the precious metals. gold and
Vi:caillo lerralle silver, with 01'wilhout lead, zinc. and cobal!. and (2)
The Vizcaino terrane, \','hichis cerlainly composite. is deposits of lead and zinc. wilh,,) 01' without
~A associaled
gold. silver, and cobalt.
used here lo cncompass a \'ery complex juxtaposition of ~

oceanic rocks found on the weslern coma of Baja When we Qerformed this exercise we found the
California on the Vizcaino peninsula and on Cedros following: 1>\ . (), el) el
(1) Over 70% (lf Mcxico's importanl gold and silver
lsland. The telTanc may underlie much of sduthern mines are locatcd within the Mesozoic accreted Icrranes
Baja California. Lithologies inelude ophiolitic rocks, of Alisitos, Guerrero. and Juarez. lf one adds in the
mélanges. and submarine volcanic sequences of arc
aspect. Ages range from Triassic Ihrollgh Jurassic and @pOsitS' of the Altiplano region of centrar:\1c:'<lco.
~
intoEarlyCretaceous(Rangin1976, 1978;Minchetal. which jusl east of the Guerrero tcrrane in a region of ~
1976; Mina 1965). The assemblagc is Frandscan-likt" in ~senlIy
over 84%.
unknown basement. the pcrcentage goe'i to
aspecto and Ihus is similar to coastal California. The
(2) Onl)' R%of Mcxico's gold ¡¡ndsilver comes fmm
asscmblage is overlain by a Great Valley-like basin
terranes l100red by Norlh Amcrican Prerambrian
sequcnce basement such as Ihe Chihuahua lerrane. and only 7%
Otlrer taml/es comes frum Ihe f\'laya-C'oahuila lerranes
Two olher small terranes are found wilhin the (3) Over 61th-of f\1exico's producll\'e mine~ for !cae!
GuelTerolerrane along the westcrn margin of the SielT3 and zinc are in tcnanes l100red by North American
Madre Occulenlal in soulhcrn Sonora and Sinoloa. The Precambrian basemenl such as the Chihuahua tcrrane
Sonabari terranc is a mCla-plutoniccomple'\ and the San (4) Only 17% of Ihc Icad and zinc occurrenccs arein

.
 CAMPA AND CONEY
o 300 km
---==-
FIG.5 Selected mineral resource di~tributions in Mexico. Distribution of gold-silver and lead-zinc in :\Iexico with re!opcctto
accreted Icrr.InC~01"Alisitos. Gucrrero. and Juarez and cr.ltonic North America terrane of Chihuahua. Miner.1llocalitie~alicr Sala.~
(19751 Terrancs afh:r Fig. 1 ufthis repon.
the Mesozoic accreted lelTanCSand onl) 14% ar~ found
within Ihe Maya-Coahuila tClTan~s.
(5) Df the known massive sulJidc \'olcanogenetic
deposils. all arc in the Mesoloic submarine volcanic
'accretionary lelTanes. \ó.' \ '" ~..' " .<
The distriburion pattcms reported abo\'e are in-
Icresling when one considers that wilh the exceplion of
Ihe massive sultitles Ihe vast majority of the deposits
l- concerned are L'á'l~Cretacel)USor Cenowic in agc {,Salas
? ( 1975;Damonel al. 19~I), ~mdarethusYQunger thanthe
. LbasemenllelTanesupl~nwhich Ihe)' are f6und. Thcy .¡rc
nlso younger Ihan Ihe accn:tion of the \'arious suspc..:t
tcrmnes uf North America. We would cert¡!inly not \\'i~
lo conyer Ihe impression that the distribulion pau~ms
\VeJrscerrl necessarily nuiliiy lhe ¡;cnclic modcls b¡;.,;:u
on B~nioff zone morphology. \Ve would simply point
OUIlhul Ihe distribution patlern we.zobserve strongly
"" suggesls a lsigni/icant clement of bilsement control km
resource díslributions in Mcxico. This we feel is
pro\'o~ative and '\'alTanls furtt:er anal} ,¡isboth for future
resourcc discovery slralegics anc.lfor dccper insighl inlo
mineral deposil genesis in Mcxico. I
Ackno\\'ledgmcnts
The aUlhor5are graleful to Pctroleos Mexicanos, the
1049
D AII.llo., Gu.rr.ro, .nel Ju.r.1 '.rnn..
1" ...:,.;1C"I"u.lln '.".n.
'If Golel .nel SlInr
. L..eI .nel Zinc
Instituto ~exicano del Pctrolco, Ihe Uni\'ersity of
GueITCro, and the Nation¡,1 Scicnce Foundation for
support, particularly ficld work leading to this reporto
This work is al50 part of a large. intemational effort
5upported by the United States Geological Survey
(USGS),the Canadiar. Geological Survey (Gse), and
Petroleos Mexicanos, which invol\'cs Norm Silberling
and David L. Jones (USGsJ,Jamcs Monger (Gse). Mari;1
Femanda Campa (Pemex), and Peler J. Coney
(Universityof Ariz~ma).The objccti\'eof Ihisin progress
project is to compile a tectono-stratignlphic telTanemap
~ of the North American Cordillera, Continuing
\ cooperation in Mexico with Paul Damon and
discussions with Spencer Title}' (Ur.i\..:rsily of Arizon" \
have been very useful, particularl}' in our undcrslanding
of Mexican mineral deposits. Discussions wilh Benry
Berg and John Albers (USGS)and with W. R. Dickinson
(University of Arizona) hu\'e bcen cncouraging and \'cry
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