Sedimentation and tectonism in the Laramide tornillo basin of West Texas

Lehman, Thomas M.

doi:10.1016/0037-0738(91)90047-h

Cited by 63 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…By this time (early Campanian), the Chihuahua trough had ceased to exist and the seas were retreating, toward the southeast, in a foreland basin (Tornillo basin; ca. 40-80 Ma) subparallel to and along the present course of the Rio Grande between the Van Horn Mountains (Figure 1) and northwestern Coahuila (Lehman, 1991;Stevens, 1985, 1990). …”

Section: The Laramide Orogenymentioning

confidence: 97%

“…In southeastern Arizona, Davis (1979) advocated two pulses of Laramide tectonism: 1) early late Cretaceous consisting of tight folding and high-angle faulting along narrow west-northwest-trending deformation belts, and 2) latest Cretaceous/early Tertiary folding and reverse faulting associated with a large westnorthwest-trending basement-cored uplift. There is no evidence in the Chihuahua tectonic belt to confirm or deny progressive west to east deformation but there is a suggestion, in the sedimentary history of the Tornillo basin (a Laramide foreland basin along the eastern edge of the Chihuahua trough), that two pulses of Laramide tectonism were involved in the formation of the Chihuahua tectonic belt (Lehman, 1991). Lehman interpreted two major phases of tectonism in source areas of sediments of the Tornillo Basin: 1) middle to late Maestrichtian (ca.…”

Section: The Laramide Orogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of the eroded material was deposited in the Tornillo basin along the eastern border of the Chihuahua trough during the interval between 80 and 40 Ma (Lehman, 1991). Post-40 Ma erosion products were eventually deposited in deltas of the Rio Grande.…”

Section: Ignimbrites and Oligocene Topographymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tectonic history of the Chihuahua trough, Mexico and adjacent USA, Part II: Mesozoic and Cenozoic

Haenggi¹

2002

BSGM

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The Chihuahua trough is a right-lateral pull-apart basin that began to form ~159 to ~156 Ma (Oxfordian) during a period of relative counterclockwise rotation of the North American plate. Jurassic seas were well established by latest Oxfordian time and there was little change in basin configuration throughout the remainder of Late Jurassic, Neocomian and Aptian time. Elements of a broad zone of intersecting pre-existing northwest-trending and north-trending lineaments, along the southwest border of the North American craton, provide the fabric for development of the pullapart basin between the Diablo and Aldama platforms. During Tithonian and Neocomian time sedimentation eventually outpaced tectonic subsidence and, as an ensuing "regressive" event commenced, the eastern area of the Chihuahua trough was the locus of extensive evaporite (including halite) deposition. Near the end of Aptian time, during deposition of the Cuchillo and equivalent formations, faulting along the margins of the Chihuahua trough ceased and the seas began to transgress onto adjacent platform areas. By middle Albian time seas had advanced onto previously emergent areas and the Chihuahua trough became a site of shallow-water carbonate deposition that prevailed, with minor interruptions, until early Cenomanian time. The Ojinaga Formation (early Cenomanian -Santonian?) records a marine clastic influx into the Chihuahua trough, coeval with Upper Cretaceous clastic wedges in the Western Interior Cretaceous Seaway of the United States. Retreat of the Cretaceous sea is reflected in the transition from marine to non-marine beds in the Santonian San Carlos Formation and overlying non-marine El Picacho Formation.During the Laramide orogeny (84 to 43 Ma) the Chihuahua trough was inverted to form the Chihuahua tectonic belt. Laramide deformation is the result of left-lateral transpressional tectonics involving renewed movement along the pre-existing fabric that controlled the location of the Jurassic-Aptian basin. In the evaporite basin portion of the trough (eastern area) reactivation of basin-boundary-faults as Laramide reverse faults, with possible left-lateral components of motion, accompanied by development of gentle "ancestral" folds, was followed by amplification of folds in postevaporite rocks caused by flow of evaporites toward the crests of anticlines. As deformation progressed, structural development involved thrust faulting (principally toward the Diablo Platform) and diapiric injection of evaporites along the margins of the evaporite basin. In the northwestern area of the trough, structure reflects northeast-southwestoriented compression and includes relatively minor southwest-directed thrusting toward and onto the Jurassic Aldama platform. Paleozoic formations are involved in the thrusts and all thrusting can be interpreted as a consequence of faulted basement rather than regional-scale décollement.Post-Laramide tectonic activity includes a continuation of evaporite tectonism, scattered igneous intrusion, minor volcanism, gravity ...

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Section: The Laramide Orogenymentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: The Laramide Orogenymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Tectonic history of the Chihuahua trough, Mexico and adjacent USA, Part II: Mesozoic and Cenozoic

Haenggi¹

2002

BSGM

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“…Maxwell and others (1967) noted that the Canoe Formation thins northwestward across Tornillo Flat. Most of the formation consists of tuffaceous mudstone, claystone, sandstone, siltstone, tuff beds, and basalt flows, indicating initiation of widespread volcanism in BBNP (Runkel, 1990;Lehman, 1991). Wilson and Runkel (1989) correlated the Canoe Formation with part of the Chisos Formation based on mammalian fauna.…”

Section: Santa Elena Limestone In Boquillas Canyon Area (Photograph mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The major Laramide structures in BBNP include the Mesa de Anguila monocline, an uplifted monocline on the southwest margin of the park; the Sierra del Carmen-Santiago Mountains monocline, an uplifted and thrust-faulted monocline bounding the eastern part of the park; and the Tornillo basin (Lehman, 1991), which developed between the uplifted monoclines ( fig. 12).…”

Section: Late Cretaceous-early Tertiary Laramide Orogenymentioning

confidence: 99%