Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cretaceous to Cenozoic sequential kinematics in the forearc–arc transition: effects of changing oblique plate convergence and the San Andreas system with implications for the La Paz fault (southern Baja California, Mexico)

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
International Journal of Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We studied metasediments and mylonitic arc granitoids from the forearc–arc transition of southern Baja California, Mexico. Thin section analyses and field evidence show that metamorphism of the forearc–arc transition is of the high T/P active margin type. The heat was provided by Cretaceous arc intrusions. Field observations and thin section analyses, including the time/temperature deformation path, demonstrate that the study area was first affected by dextral, ductile shearing followed by ductile, sinistral, possibly transpressive strike-slip parallel to the magmatic arc during the Cretaceous. Both intervals are related to changing oblique plate convergence and, thus, identified as trench-linked strike-slip effects. The geometric relationship between arc-dipping foliation, stretching lineation and shear sense indicates that the arc may have been pressed onto the rocks of the study area during sinistral shearing. The sinistral interval lasted up until regional cooling (Early Cenozoic?). Because the La Paz fault is closely associated with the forearc–arc transition, it must have the same Cretaceous to Early Cenozoic kinematic history. The northern segment of the La Paz fault is a modern, brittle, strike-slip fault interpreted as a dextral synthetic fault of the San Andreas system which opened the Gulf of California (Mar de Cortés/Golfo de California). We found no evidence for Miocene Basin and Range extension.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Angelier J, Colletta B, Chorowicz J, Ortlieb L, Rangin C (1981) Fault tectonics of the Baja California peninsula and the opening of the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. J Struct Geol 3:347–357. doi:10.1016/0191-8141(81)90035-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aranda-Gómez JJ, Pérez-Venzor JA (1989) Estratigrafía del complejo cristalino de la región de Todos Santos, Estado de Baja California Sur. Univ. Nal. Autón. México, Inst. Geología, Revista 8:149–170

  • Beal CH (1948) Reconnaissance geology and oil possibilities of Baja California, Mexico. Waverly, Baltimore, pp 1–138

  • Calmus T, Pouoeau G, Bourgois J, Michaud F, Mercier de Lépinau B, Labrin E, Azdimousa A (1999) Late Mesozoic and Cenozoic thermotectonic history of the Mexican Pacific margin (18 to 25°N): new insight from apatite and zircon fission-track analysis of coastal and offshore plutonic rocks. Tectonophysics 306:163–182. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00049-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engebretson DC, Cox A, Gordon RG (1985) Relative motions between oceanic and continental plates in the Pacific Basin. Special Paper 206. Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp 1–59

  • Fletcher JM, Munguia L (2000) Active rifting in southern Baja California, Mexico: implications for plate motion partitioning and the transition to seafloor spreading in the Gulf of California. Tectonics 19:1107–1123. doi:10.1029/1999TC001131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher JM, Kohn BP, Foster DA, Gleadow AJW (2000) Heterogeneous Neogene cooling and exhumation of the Los Cabos block, southern California: evidence from fission-track thermochronology. Geology 28:107–110. doi :10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<107:HNCAEO>2.0.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher JM, Pérez-Venzor JA, Gonzáles-Barba G, Aranda-Gómez JJ (2003) Ridge-trench interactions and the ongoing capture of the Baja California microplate—new insights from the southern Gulf extensional province. Geologic transects across Cordilleran México. In: Guidebook for field trips of the 99th Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section Annual Meeting, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, México, March 29–31, 2003. Publicación Especial, Field Trip 2, Instituto de Geologia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, pp 13–31

  • Hamilton W (1971) Recognition on space photographs of structural elements of Baja California. Geological Survey Professional Paper 718. US Geological Survey, Washington, DC, pp 1–26

  • Hanmer S, Passchier C (1991) Shear-sense indicators: a review. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 90-17. Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources Canada, Ottawa, pp 1–72

  • Haq BU, van Eysinga FWB (1998) Geological time table, 5th edn edn. Elsvier, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  • Harding TP (1974) Petroleum traps associated with wrench faults. Am Assoc Pet Geol Bull 58:1290–1304

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausback BP (1984) Cenozoic volcanic and tectonic evolution of Baja California Sur, Mexico. In: Frizzell VA (ed) Geology of the Baja California peninsula. Pacific Section Society Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Los Angeles, pp 219–236

    Google Scholar 

  • Henry CD, Aranda-Gómez JJ (1992) The real southern Basin and Range: mid- to late Cenozoic extension in Mexico. Geology 20:701–704. doi :10.1130/0091-7613(1992)020<0701:TRSBAR>2.3.CO;2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry CD, Aranda-Gómez JJ (2000) Plate interactions control middle-late Miocene, proto-Gulf and Basin and Range extension in the southern Basin and Range. Tectonophysics 318:1–26. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00304-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irwin WP (1990) Geology and plate-tectonic development. In: Wallace RE (ed) The San Andreas fault system, California. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 151. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, pp 77–90

  • Mawer C (1992) Kinematic indicators in shear zones. In: Bartholomew MJ, Hyndman, DW, Mogh DW, Masson R (eds) Characterization and comparison of ancient and Mesozoic continental margins. Basement Tectonics 8, Proceedings of the 8th international conference of basement tectonics. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 67–81

  • Meschede M (1998) The impossible Galapagos connection: geometric constraints for the near-American origin of the Caribbean plate. Geol Rundsch 87:200–205. doi:10.1007/s005310050202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meschede M, Frisch W (1998) A plate-tectonic model for the Mesozoic and Early Cenozoic history of the Caribbean plate. Tectonophysics 296:269–291. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(98)00157-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meschede M, Frisch W, Chinchilla Chaves AL, López Saborio A, Calvo C (2000) The plate tectonic evolution of the Caribbean plate in the Mesozoic and Early Mesozoic. Z Angew Geol 1:275–281

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitre-Salazar LM, Roldan-Quintana J (1989) La Paz to Saltillo, northwestern and northern Mexico, North American Continent–Ocean Transects Programm, GSA Transect #13. Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp 1–8, 2 maps

  • Passchier CW, Trouw RAJ (1996) Microtectonics. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–304

    Google Scholar 

  • Pindell JL, Cande SC, Pitmann WCIII, Rowley DB, Dewey JF, Labreque J, Haxby W (1988) A plate-kinematic framework for models of Caribbean evolution. Tectonophysics 155:121–138. doi:10.1016/0040-1951(88)90262-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramsay (1980) Shear zone geometry: a review. J Struct Geol 2:83–99

  • Rusnak GA, Fisher RJ, Shepard FP (1964) Bathymetry and faults of the Gulf of California. In: Van Andel TH, Shor GG (eds) Marine geology of the Gulf of California. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 3. American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, pp 59–75

  • Schaaf P (1990) Isotopengeochemische Untersuchungen an granitoiden Gesteinen eines aktiven Kontinentalrandes: Alter und Herkunft der Tiefengesteinskomplexe an der Pazifikküste Mexikos zwischen Puerto Vallarta und Acapulco. Ph.D. thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich

  • Schaaf P, Böhnel H, Pérez-Venzor JA (2000) Pre-Miocene palaeogeography of the Los Cabos Block, Baja California Sur: geochronological and palaeomagnetic constraints. Tectonophysics 318:53–69. doi:10.1016/S0040-1951(99)00306-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schürzinger A (2004) Metamorphe und strukturelle Entwicklung des La Paz Kristallinkomplexes, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Ph.D. thesis, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich

  • Sedlock RL (2003) Geology and tectonics of the Baja California peninsula and adjacent areas. In: Johnson SE, Paterson SR, Fletcher JM, Girty GH, Kimbrough DL, Martin-Barajas A (eds) Tectonic evolution of northwestern México and the southwestern USA. Special Paper 374. Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp 1–42

  • Sedlock RL, Ortega-Gutierrérrez F, Speed R (1993) Tectonostratigraphic terranes and tectonic evolution of Mexico. Special Paper 278. Geological Society of America, Boulder, pp 1–153

  • White SH, Bretan PG, Rutter EH (1986) Fault-zone reactivation: kinematics and mechanisms. Philos Trans R Soc Lond A 317:81–97. doi:10.1098/rsta.1986.0026

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodcock NH (1986) The role of strike-slip fault systems at plate boundaries. Philos Trans R Soc Lond A 317:13–29. doi:10.1098/rsta.1986.0021

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zanchi A (1994) The opening of the Gulf of California near Loreto, Baja California, Mexico: from basin and range extension to transtensional tectonics. J Struct Geol 16:1619–1639. doi:10.1016/0191-8141(94)90131-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to W. Frisch and P. Schaaf for their constructive reviews.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstraße 74-100, 12249, Berlin, Germany

    Frank Mattern

  2. Departamento de Geología Marina, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, Apdo. Postal 19-B, 23080, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico

    José Antonio Pérez Venzor, Jesus Efraín Pérez Espinoza & Joel Hirales Rochin

Authors
  1. Frank Mattern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. José Antonio Pérez Venzor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jesus Efraín Pérez Espinoza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Joel Hirales Rochin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank Mattern.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 2

Table 2 Location information
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Mattern, F., Pérez Venzor, J.A., Pérez Espinoza, J.E. et al. Cretaceous to Cenozoic sequential kinematics in the forearc–arc transition: effects of changing oblique plate convergence and the San Andreas system with implications for the La Paz fault (southern Baja California, Mexico). Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 99, 83–99 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0384-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0384-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation