Magmatic-tectonic interaction during early Rio Grande rift extension at Questa, New Mexico

Meyer, Jeff; Foland, K. A.

doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1991)103<0993:mtider>2.3.co;2

Cited by 36 publications

(47 citation statements)

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“…These data indicate a geothermal gradient of 28 ± 5˚C/km at the onset of extension , significantly higher than the early Tertiary geothermal gradient of 10 ± 5˚C/km in the nearby Sierra Nevada (Dumitru, 1990), but lower than the modern geothermal gradient of 30-35˚C/km (e.g., Lachenbruch and Sass, 1980). Although eruption of the Lincoln Flat andesite immediately preceded faulting, no volumetrically significant volcanic rocks are known to have erupted in the study area during rapid extension (15 and 12 Ma), a phenomenon observed elsewhere in the Basin and Range province (Meyer and Foland, 1991;Sawyer et al, 1993;Dilles and Gans, 1995;Spencer et al, 1995;Gans and Bohrson, 1998). Gans and Bohrson (1998) hypothesize that major normal faulting enhances crystallization of potential lavas at depth by a range of possible mechanisms, including exsolution of volatiles and crystallization due to decrease confining pressure, crystallization due to meteoric water-magma interaction promoted by faulting, or segregation of large magma bodies by motion along shear zones, thus promoting more rapid cooling and crystallization.…”

Section: -12 Ma Time Intervalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the central Wassuk Range, western Nevada, USA

Surpless

2011

International Geology Review

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Section: -12 Ma Time Intervalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the central Wassuk Range, western Nevada, USA

Surpless

2011

International Geology Review

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“…Early extension (about 29 to 10 Ma) in the rift in New Mexico and Colorado (Chapin and Seager, 1975;Baldridge et al, 1980;Chamberlin, 1983;Golombek et al, 1983;Morgan and Golombek, 1984;Seager et al, 1984;Morgan et al, 1986;de Voogd et al, 1988;Meyer and Foland, 1991) is characterized by the development of broad basins associated with areas of large-magnitude extension, large stratal rotations, and local detachment faulting, whereas late extension (about 10 to 5 Ma) is characterized by block faulting that produced narrow grabens associated with high-angle faults of large displacements (Baldridge et al, 1980;Morgan and Golombek, 1984;Seager et al, 1984;Morgan et al, 1986). In west Texas and adjacent parts of Chihuahua, Mexico, the rift is characterized by a concentration of high-angle normal faults that have produced horsts and grabens, but little stratal rotation, in a region of low-magnitude extension (Stevens and Stevens, 1985;Henry and Price, 1986;Henry et al, 1991).…”

Section: Rio Grande Rift and Its Continuation Into West Texas And Adjmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional characteristics, tilt domains, and extensional history of the later Cenozoic Basin and Range Province, western North America

Stewart¹

1998

Accommodation Zones and Transfer Zones; The Regional Segmentation of the Basin and Range Province

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The Basin and Range province covers a large region of western North America and contains diverse late Cenozoic extensional structures, including metamorphic core complexes, detachment faults, strike-slip faults, and basin and range fault blocks. The central region of the Basin and Range province, extending from the northern Rocky Mountains in the western United States to Sonora, Mexico, contains local or regional areas characterized by moderate-to large-magnitude extension overprinted by basin and range faults that have produced major elongate mountain horsts or tilted blocks and intervening valleys underlain by grabens, half grabens, or downtilted blocks. In southeast Oregon and most the Mexican part of the Basin and Range province east of the Sierra Madre Occidental, the province is only slightly or moderately extended, and structures consist mainly of basin and range blocks produced by widely spaced high-angle normal faults. Strike-slip faults are most common in the western part of the Basin and Range province in the Walker Lane belt of Nevada and California, the Eastern Mojave shear zone of the Mojave Desert region, and parts of the Gulf of California region.Tilt domains in which the dip of stratified rocks and the tilt of mountains blocks are consistently, or fairly consistently, in one direction are characteristic of the Basin and Range province. These domains are commonly 50-200 km or more across in a direction perpendicular to the strike of stratified rocks and the trend of elongate mountain ranges and as much as 1,000 km across parallel to this direction. Tiltdomain boundaries (accommodation zones) consist of either (1) anticlinal boundaries where the strike of stratified rock and the trend of structural fault blocks is parallel to, and the dips or tilts are away from, the boundary; (2) synclinal boundaries where the strike of stratified rock and the trend of structural fault blocks is parallel to, and the dips or tilts are toward, the boundary; or (3) transverse boundaries at a high angle to the strike of stratified rocks and structural fault blocks. These transverse boundaries (transverse accommodation zones) mark areas across which the strike direction of Tertiary rocks and of mountain ranges remains essentially the same, but the dip or tilt direction reverses. Tilt-domain boundaries (accommodation zones) may correspond to areas of abrupt change in dip directions at individual faults or folds, or may be broad areas of structural change that are several kilometers to 20 km across.

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“…The chronologically best constrained examples of this structural style, however, are in the Lemitar Mountains (Chamberlin, 1983), near Questa in northern New Mexico (Meyer and Foland, 1991), and in the San Mateo Mountains about 60 km southwest of Socorro (Ferguson, 1991). Rapid extensional deformation in these three areas was not synchronous; early faulting in the Lemitars mostly occurred from 28.6 to 27.4 Ma, whereas similar deformation occurred at 25.7 to 24.6 Ma near Questa (Meyer and Foland, 1991) and 27.4 to 24.3 Ma in the San Mateos (Ferguson, 1991). The diachronous nature of early extension between these areas (particularly the lack of overlap in timing between the Lemitars and the other areas) argues against a causative, regional "pulse" of tectonism.…”

Section: Regional Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stratigraphic consequences of episodic extension in the Lemitar Mountains, central Rio Grande rift

Cather

Chamberlin

Chapin

et al. 1994

Basins of the Rio Grande Rift: Structure, Stratigraphy, and Tectonic Setting

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Detailed stratal tilt information for radioisotopically dated Tertiary rocks in theLemitar Mountains of the central Rio Grande rift allows discrimination of two episodes of extension in the late Oligocene (largely 28.6 to 27.4 Ma) and middle to late Miocene (16 to 10 Ma). Rapid deformation in the late Oligocene (at least 25% extension) produced narrow, wedge-shaped accumulations of ash-flow tuffs and mafic lavas within half grabens defined by closely spaced (2 to 5 km) planar-rotational normal faults. Volcanic accumulation rates during this episode were sufficient to bury the developing fault-block topography, resulting in preservation of only minor amounts of intercalated sedimentary rocks.Following a period of weak extension in the early Miocene, rates of extensional strain again began to increase in the early middle Miocene (about 16 Ma) and continued to increase until about 10 Ma, when a more moderate rate ensued. During the time interval of 16 to 10 Ma, the Lemitar Mountains area was extended about 30% along widely spaced (5 to 15 km) planar-normal faults. Increased stratal-tilt rates in the middle Miocene caused the development of accommodation space to locally exceed sediment supply on the down-thrown side of a major intrabasinal fault (Silver Creek fault), resulting in topographic closure and the development of playa deposits within the lower Santa Fe Group (Popotosa Formation). As stratal-tilt rates further increased in the late Miocene, fluvial-lacustrine sedimentation offlapped toward narrow zones of maximum subsidence along active faults, causing the carving of widespread unconformities on older sediments on hanging-wall dip slopes. As tectonism waned in the latest Miocene-early Pliocene, sediment supply exceeded the development of accommodation space, resulting in onlap and aggradation of the upper Santa Fe Group (Sierra Ladrones Formation) that enabled the eventual integration of an axial-fluvial system (ancestral Rio Grande) between the longitudinally arrayed half grabens to the north and south of the Socorro Basin.The late Oligocene episode of rapid extension appears to be related to strain focusing by local thermal weakening due to voluminous concurrent magmatism in the area. In contrast, the late Miocene extensional event may be of regional scale, as shown by evidence for contemporaneous tectonism in other areas and the develop

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Magmatic-tectonic interaction during early Rio Grande rift extension at Questa, New Mexico

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the central Wassuk Range, western Nevada, USA

Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the central Wassuk Range, western Nevada, USA

Regional characteristics, tilt domains, and extensional history of the later Cenozoic Basin and Range Province, western North America

Stratigraphic consequences of episodic extension in the Lemitar Mountains, central Rio Grande rift

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