Tertiary metamorphic core complexes in Sonora, northwestern Mexico

Abstract

Several ranges encompassing more than 35,000 km2 of Sonora, Mexico, contain distinctly lineated and foliated granitic and metamorphic rocks that constitute the lower plates of metamorphic core complexes. Penetrative deformation is characterized by gently dipping mylonitic foliation across which northeast trending stretching lineation is everywhere developed. Prominent northwest trending fractures, dikes, and normal faults are orthogonal to the lineation. Most kinematic indicators in lower plate mylonitic rocks record top‐to‐the‐southwest sense of shear. Upper plate stratigraphic sequences include Mesozoic supracrustal rocks, Tertiary volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and allochthonous Precambrian basement. Tilted blocks of upper plate strata generally overlie the mylonites along gently dipping detachment faults. Previously published U‐Pb and K‐Ar ages from lower plate granitic orthogneisses, upper plate volcanic sequences, and crosscutting dikes constrain the time of mylonitic deformation and detachment faulting in several of these areas to late Oligocene‐early Miocene. Partitioning of extensional strain in Sonora was influenced by pre‐Tertiary crustal structure. The belt of core complexes developed across two contrasting blocks of continental crust separated by the N60°W striking Mojave‐Sonora megashear. Portions of the southern Papago block (northeast of the megashear) consisting of Jurassic magmatic arc rocks and Upper Jurassic‐Cretaceous siliciclastic and carbonate strata resting upon a concealed, tectonically fragmented Precambrian basement were especially susceptible to crustal attenuation. Some core complexes of the southern Papago block occur within zones trending northwest that may coincide with Late Jurassic lineaments. In the Caborca block (southwest of the megashear), core complex‐related rocks and structures have not been identified where surface exposures of Middle Proterozoic basement and overlying Upper Proterozoic‐Paleozoic platform strata are common. However, extensional mylonitic fabrics are locally developed along the margins of a Tertiary two‐mica granite batholith. Core complexes on both sides of the megashear appear to be preferentially developed where Tertiary granites have intruded regions of crust with basement disrupted by pre‐Tertiary structures. Sonoran core complexes preserve an extensional tectonic history comparable with that described from core complexes farther north in the United States and Canadian Cordillera. The timing of mid crustal extension in Sonora (25–18 Ma) is contemporaneous with the timing of core complex development in Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Extension occurred later in these areas than in the Pacific Northwest‐British Columbia region but earlier than in the Mojave Desert‐Death Valley region. Middle Tertiary mylonitic fabrics of similar style and orientation have not been recognized farther south in Mexico. The southern terminus of the mid‐Tertiary Cordilleran core complex belt appears to be in Sonora.