TY - JOUR
T1 - A Late Triassic tectonothermal event in the eastern Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico, synchronous with a magmatic arc hiatus
T2 - the result of flat-slab subduction?
AU - Kirsch, Moritz
AU - Helbig, Maria
AU - Duncan Keppie, J.
AU - Brendan Murphy, J.
AU - Lee, James K. W.
AU - Solari, Luigi A.
PY - 2014/4
Y1 - 2014/4
N2 - Basement rocks exposed in the Acatlán Complex of the Mixteca terrane in southern Mexico record two tectonothermal events: (1) a Devonian-Mississippian (ca. 365-318 Ma) event, recording extrusion and exhumation of high-pressure rocks; and (2) an Early to Middle Permian (ca. 289-263 Ma) event, involving N-S dextral shearing, transtensional deformation, and local S-vergent thrusting in a magmatic arc environment. We document an additional, regionally significant, tectonothermal event during the Middle to Late Triassic recorded by 40Ar/39Ar step-heating laser-probe ages ranging from ca. 239 and 219 Ma (≡ cooling from ca. 525 °C to 300 °C) for amphibole, muscovite, and biotite from: (1) the Carboniferous Amarillo unit, consisting of medium-grade, metasedimentary rocks intruded by mafic dikes; and (2) the Pennsylvanian-Middle Permian, low-grade, clastic-calcareous, arc-related Tecomate Formation. U-Pb laser ablation-inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) data yield an age of 339 ± 6 Ma for the youngest population of detrital zircon grains in the Amarillo unit. Lithogeochemical and Sm-Nd isotopic data for the Amarillo unit dikes are very similar to those of other Carboniferous meta-igneous rocks in the eastern and southwestern part of the Acatlán Complex, displaying affinities transitional between mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB) and continental tholeiites, and initial εNd (t = 339 Ma) values from -6.6 to +6.4, indicating both depleted and enriched mantle sources, as well as variable contamination by continental crust or by subduction-derived fluids. The 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages coincide with an apparent hiatus in magmatic activity in southern Mexico, which is inferred to record a change from steep to flat subduction.
AB - Basement rocks exposed in the Acatlán Complex of the Mixteca terrane in southern Mexico record two tectonothermal events: (1) a Devonian-Mississippian (ca. 365-318 Ma) event, recording extrusion and exhumation of high-pressure rocks; and (2) an Early to Middle Permian (ca. 289-263 Ma) event, involving N-S dextral shearing, transtensional deformation, and local S-vergent thrusting in a magmatic arc environment. We document an additional, regionally significant, tectonothermal event during the Middle to Late Triassic recorded by 40Ar/39Ar step-heating laser-probe ages ranging from ca. 239 and 219 Ma (≡ cooling from ca. 525 °C to 300 °C) for amphibole, muscovite, and biotite from: (1) the Carboniferous Amarillo unit, consisting of medium-grade, metasedimentary rocks intruded by mafic dikes; and (2) the Pennsylvanian-Middle Permian, low-grade, clastic-calcareous, arc-related Tecomate Formation. U-Pb laser ablation-inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) data yield an age of 339 ± 6 Ma for the youngest population of detrital zircon grains in the Amarillo unit. Lithogeochemical and Sm-Nd isotopic data for the Amarillo unit dikes are very similar to those of other Carboniferous meta-igneous rocks in the eastern and southwestern part of the Acatlán Complex, displaying affinities transitional between mid-ocean-ridge basalt (MORB) and continental tholeiites, and initial εNd (t = 339 Ma) values from -6.6 to +6.4, indicating both depleted and enriched mantle sources, as well as variable contamination by continental crust or by subduction-derived fluids. The 40Ar/39Ar cooling ages coincide with an apparent hiatus in magmatic activity in southern Mexico, which is inferred to record a change from steep to flat subduction.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84897069247&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1130/L349.1
DO - 10.1130/L349.1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84897069247
SN - 1941-8264
VL - 6
SP - 63
EP - 79
JO - Lithosphere
JF - Lithosphere
IS - 2
ER -