Petrogenesis of Ordovician magmatic rocks in the southern Chiapas Massif Complex: relations with the early Palaeozoic magmatic belts of northwestern Gondwana

Abstract

The recent discovery of Early Ordovician S-type granites in the southwest of the Chiapas Massif Complex adds a new perspective to the Palaeozoic history of the Maya block, inasmuch as no rocks of such age had previously been reported in this region. New geologic mapping west of Motozintla, Chiapas, revealed pelitic to psammitic metasedimentary successions (Jocote Unit) intruded by granitoids and metabasites. The Jocote Unit is unconformably underlain by the newly defined Candelaria Unit, which comprises deformed calc-silicate rocks and interlayered folded amphibolites. The Candelaria Unit is the oldest rock succession so far recognized in the southern Maya block. We used laser-ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U–Pb dating to determine the ages of the rock, yielding Early Ordovician (ca. 470 Ma) and Late Ordovician (ca. 450 Ma) ages. Major and trace element geochemistry, as well as Nd and Sr isotope data, suggest that folded amphibolites of the Candelaria Unit are mantle-derived and are probably related to rifting. The Early Ordovician bimodal magmatism of the Jocote Unit is more strongly differentiated; it reflects crustal contamination and volcanic-arc chemical signatures. A granitic stock (Motozintla pluton) intruded the area in the Late Ordovician. Its geochemical composition indicates less crustal contamination and a mixed signature between volcanic-arc and within-plate settings. Magmatic rocks analogous in age and chemical character crop out in the Rabinal and the Altos Cuchumatanes areas of Guatemala, suggesting the existence of a semi-continuous Ordovician magmatic belt from Chiapas to central Guatemala. Similar but somewhat younger granites also occur in the Maya Mountains of Belize, suggesting that magmatism migrated in the Silurian from the Chiapas–Guatemala belt towards the Maya Mountains.