Continental boundaries of the Jalisco block and their influence

in the Pliocene-Quaternary kinematics of western Mexico

José Rosas-Elguera Centro de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Guadalajara, Calzada Olı́mpica y Blvd. Marcelino Garcı́a
Barragán, 44840 Guadalajara, Jal., Mexico
Luca Ferrari Estación Regional del Centro, Instituto de Geologı́a, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Apdo Postal 376,
Guanajuato, Gto., 3600 Mexico
Victor Hugo Garduño-Monroy Departamento de Geologia, Instituto de Investigaciones Metalurgicas, Universidad
Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo, Cd. Universitaria, Morelia, Mich., Mexico
Jaime Urrutia-Fucugauchi Instituto de Geofı́sica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Del. Coyoacán, D.F. 04510 Mexico

ABSTRACT of a hotspot (Moore et al., 1994), beneath

Extensional faulting observed in southwestern Mexico has been related to the incipient the continent; and (2) a passive rifting pro-
rifting of the Jalisco block from the Mexican mainland since the Pliocene. On the basis of duced by the differential motion and oblique
new structural and geophysical data, we propose that (1) the continental boundaries of the subduction of the Rivera and Cocos plates
Jalisco block are ancient structures reactivated since the Pliocene at a low (<1 mm/yr) rate (DeMets and Stein, 1990; Bandy, 1992; Fer-
of deformation, and (2) Pliocene-Quaternary extensional faulting at the edges of Jalisco rari et al., 1994a; Bandy et al., 1995). Most
block is a basement-controlled intraplate deformation related to plate boundary forces of the Pliocene-Quaternary deformation
rather than to active continental rifting. and volcanism in western Mexico occurred
The Jalisco block boundaries first developed in response to the uplift of the Puerto along the Tepic-Zacoalco and Colima rifts
Vallarta batholith in pre-Neogene time and underwent a complex contractile deformation (Fig. 1A), which have been proposed as
before the Pliocene. During Pliocene-Quaternary times north-northeast extension reacti- the continental boundaries of the Jalisco
vated the northern boundary, forming the Tepic-Zacoalco rift, whereas east-southeast ex- block. Several workers visualized the Tepic-
tension formed the northern Colima rift. South of the Colima volcano, active extension is Zacoalco rift as a series of pull-apart basins
found only west of the so-called southern Colima rift and partly reactivates old northeast- linked by right-lateral faults, and the Colima
trending basement faults. The parallelism between the subducted Rivera-Cocos plate rift as a roughly north-south graben, both
boundary zone and the eastern neotectonic boundary of the Jalisco block supports east- developed in Pliocene-Quaternary times
southeastward motion of the southern Mexican blocks induced by the differential motion due to a west-northwestward motion of the
and oblique subduction of the Cocos and Rivera plates. On the other hand, we envisage Jalisco block (Luhr et al., 1985; Allan et al.,
Pliocene-Quaternary extension along the northern boundary as an upper-plate response to 1991; Bourgois and Michaud, 1991). Al-
the low convergence rate and the steep subduction angle of the Rivera plate. though field structural studies began to
question these assumptions (Michaud et al.,
INTRODUCTION American plates (Fig. 1A). In the past de- 1991; Serpa et al., 1992; Rosas-Elguera et
A precise definition of the continental de- cade, the complex tectonics of western Mex- al., 1993; Ferrari et al., 1994a; Ferrari and
formation in western Mexico is crucial to ico has been related to (1) an active rifting Rosas-Elguera, 1995), a unifying view of the
distinguish between models describing the induced by a relocation of the East Pacific structure and the tectonic evolution of the
interaction among Cocos, Rivera, and North Rise (Luhr et al., 1985), or by the presence Jalisco block boundaries is still lacking.

Figure 1. Geodynamic setting of western Mexico. Note coincidence between Jalisco block deduced by surface geology (gray area in A) and
distribution of maxima in aeromagnetic map of western Mexico (B).

Geology; October 1996; v. 24; no. 10; p. 921–924; 3 figures. 921

 batholith in the inner trench off Manza-
nillo (Michaud et al., 1995) indicate that
most of the uplift occurred in Paleogene.
Indeed, on the basis of apatite fission track
ages, Calmus et al. (1995) established that
the batholith was at ,1 km of depth by
Eocene times. Geothermal wells drilled
along the Tepic-Zacoalco rift found plu-
tonic rocks correlative with the Puerto Val-
larta batholith only at a depth of 1.1–1.8
km below sea level (Ferrari et al., 1994b),
whereas oil wells drilled up to a depth of
4 km south of Colima City (Fig. 2) did not
encounter any plutonic rocks (Grajales-
Nishimura and López-Infanzón, 1983).
This suggests that the boundaries of the
Jalisco block developed first as a conse-
quence of the uplift of the Puerto Vallarta
batholith in pre-Neogene times.

Northern Boundary
During the middle to late Miocene this
structure was reactivated by a shear tecton-
ics related to the initial opening of the Gulf
of California (Ferrari, 1995), which was re-
placed, since the end of the Miocene, by the
extension responsible for the formation of
the Tepic-Zacoalco rift. This is composed of
several independent fault systems, which
can be grouped into two branches: a north-
ern branch made up of two grabens devel-
oped at the boundary between the Jalisco
block and the Sierra Madre Occidental, and
a southern branch made up of half graben
located inside the Jalisco block.
Figure 2. Tectonic and stress map of Jalisco block and its boundaries. Latest Miocene to Northern Branch. This branch is formed
Quaternary faults in black. Double arrows are minimum horizontal stress orientations averaged by two en echelon basins, striking 1258 on
for number of sites reported (after Rosas-Elguera, 1995). Main extensional structures men- average (Fig. 2). The Ceboruco graben is a
tioned in text: CB—Ceboruco, PS—Plan de Barrancas–Santa Rosa, AT—Amatlan de Cañas, 2700-m-deep, composite asymmetrical de-
AM—Ameca, SZ—San Marcos–Zacoalco, AC—Amacueca, CT—Citala. CVC is Colima volcanic
complex. pression developed in two stages in late Mio-
cene and early Pliocene times. The Plan de
Barrancas–Santa Rosa graben is a 70-km-
Linking our structural field studies with pre- (Fig. 2). The Puerto Vallarta batholith is long and 20-km-wide depression with about
vious works and subsurface data, we rede- geochemically and isotopically distinct from 550 m of vertical displacement, mainly at-
fine here the structure of the Jalisco block the late Cretaceous to Tertiary plutons ex- tained during the Pliocene. The faults
boundaries and advance two main conclu- posed in the Michoacan block, and Nd bounding these depressions show a domi-
sions: (1) the Tepic-Zacoalco rift and the model ages suggest that it could be under- nant dip-slip motion. The paleo-stress field
Colima rift are ancient tectonic structures lain by an older (Precambrian?) basement computed by fault-slip data inversion with
partly reactivated in Pliocene-Quaternary (Schaaf et al., 1995). The uniqueness of the the method of Angelier (1990) at seven sites
times with purely extensional deformation, Jalisco block is clearly observable also in the depicts an average 208 6 138 trending min-
and (2) the eastern neotectonic boundary of aeromagnetic map of western Mexico imum principal stress (Fig. 2). Small normal
the Jalisco block does not coincide entirely (Fig. 1B), which shows a remarkably differ- faults affect Quaternary rocks only in the
with the Colima rift. ent anomaly pattern with steep gradients at southeastern part of the Plan de Barrancas–
its boundaries. Santa Rosa graben.
JALISCO BLOCK AND ITS The midcrustal rock assemblage of the Southern Branch. This branch consists of
BOUNDARIES Puerto Vallarta batholith are presently ex- three half grabens, with an average 1258
Most of the Jalisco block is composed by posed at 1000 to 2500 m of elevation in- trend, located inside the Jalisco block and
the Puerto Vallarta batholith, emplaced in dicating a substantial uplift since its em- parallel to the northern branch of the Tepic-
late Cretaceous time (100 –75 Ma, Schaaf et placement. The absence of the Sierra Zacoalco rift (Fig. 2). The footwalls of the
al., 1995). North of the Jalisco block is the Madre Occidental ash flow tuffs within the Amatlan de Cañas and Ameca half grabens
Eocene to early Miocene volcanic succes- stratigraphic succession of the Jalisco are made of Cretaceous granitic rocks
sion of the Sierra Madre Occidental, block (Ferrari et al., 1994b) and the find- (Schaaf et al., 1995, and reference therein)
whereas to the east is the Triassic to early ing of a pre–late Miocene subaerial con- cut by south- to southwest-dipping normal
Tertiary succession of the Michoacan block glomerate resting over the Puerto Vallarta faults. Inside the Amatlan de Cañas half

922 GEOLOGY, October 1996

graben Pliocene-Quaternary alkaline and Cantaro, Nevado de Colima, and Colima nary faulting in this area: (1) a northeast-
calc-alkaline volcanoes (Righter and Car- volcanoes for a total length of 53 km (Fig. 2). trending, 100-m-deep normal fault affects
michael, 1992) overlie a granitic conglom- To the east, the Sayula graben is bounded the northeastern flank of Nevado de Colima
erate over 100 m thick, indicating that by by 358-striking, northwest-dipping normal volcano, and on its southwestward prolon-
the early Pliocene most of the basin had faults showing a left-stepping en echelon ar- gation are aligned the present crater of
been developed. The easternmost depres- rangement (Fig. 2). These faults cut lampro- Colima volcano as well as the large 1869 par-
sion, the Zacoalco half graben, is formed phyres dated at 4.2 Ma (Allan, 1986) over- asitic cone (Rodriguez-Elizarrarás, 1995);
by a south- to southwest-dipping detach- lain by brown ash-flow tuffs. Taking this (2) a caldera opened toward the northeast is
ment fault with a minimum of 1400 m of contact as a marker, a minimum of 300 m of cut in the Nevado de Colima volcano; (3)
vertical displacement. Most of this exten- vertical offset and a rate of deformation of small northeast-trending normal faults af-
sion occurred during the Pliocene, but 0.07 mm/yr can be estimated. Paleo-stress fect poorly consolidated slope debris south-
normal fault scarps, 50 to 100 m high, tensors computed from fault slip data mea- west of Colima volcano (Garduño et al.,
found in Quaternary rocks, suggest active sured at seven sites in the northern Colima 1996); (4) outcrop-scale normal faults have
tectonic activity. This is confirmed by the rift indicate an average 1408 6 198 direction been observed in Quaternary rocks ;10 km
historical seismicity and the moderate for the minimum principal stress (Rosas- southwest of Colima city (Sloan, 1989); (5)
level of microseismic activity recorded in Elguera, 1995), but east-west extension is re- the dominant trend of the surface faulting
the region (Suarez et al., 1994). The min- ported as well for one site in the Sayula gra- produced in the Manzanillo bay after the 9
imum principal stress direction computed ben (Barrier et al., 1990) and is supported by October 1995 earthquake is 308–508 (Gar-
from fault slip data inversion is 358 6 298 the north-south alignment of the parasitic duño et al., 1996).
for the Amatlan de Cañas half graben (2 cones of the Colima volcanic complex. We propose that Pliocene-Quaternary ex-
sites) and 128 6 308 for the Ameca and Extension in the northern Colima rift tension south of the Sayula graben is accom-
Zacoalco half grabens (11 sites) (Fig. 2). started at the beginning of Pliocene time modated in a broad triangular area between
This agrees with the 318 6 108 minimum concurrently with the emplacement of alka- the Colima volcanic complex and the cities
horizontal principal stress direction in- line volcanic rocks (Allan, 1986). The Can- of Manzanillo and Armeria (Fig. 2). The
ferred from the alignment of 11 Quater- taro volcanic complex was emplaced over northwestern boundary of this area coin-
nary volcanic vents (Ferrari and Rosas- the western bounding fault of the Sayula cides with an older belt of northeast-trend-
Elguera, 1994). Therefore, these results graben at about 1.6 Ma. Thus 2500 m of ing strike-slip faults affecting Cretaceous
indicate a consistent north-northeast di- vertical offset must have occurred in ;3.5 rocks, which could be considered the neo-
rection of extension for the whole Plio- m.y., giving a subsidence rate of 0.7 mm/yr. tectonic boundary of the southeastern cor-
cene and Quaternary in the Tepic- Southern Colima Rift. The southern ner of the Jalisco block (Tamazula-Manza-
Zacoalco rift, although the rate of Colima rift is a wide topographic depres- nillo fault zone, Garduño et al., 1996;
extension along the main faults decreased sion, located south of Colima volcano. Allan Fig. 2).
from ;0.45 mm/yr in the Pliocene to ;0.1 et. al. (1991) considered this depression the
mm/yr in the Quaternary (Ferrari and Ro- result of Pliocene to Quaternary normal IMPLICATIONS FOR LARGE-SCALE
sas-Elguera, 1994). faulting, but geologic and geophysical works KINEMATICS OF WESTERN MEXICO
by Serpa et al. (1992) questioned this inter- We showed that neotectonic deforma-
Eastern Boundary pretation. Inside the depression, marine tions along both boundaries of the Jalisco
The Colima rift has been considered the sedimentary sequences and intermediate to block are characterized by low-rate exten-
eastern boundary of the Jalisco block, de- felsic intrusive and volcanic rocks of Creta- sion orthogonal to the average trend of the
veloped since the Pliocene into three sectors ceous age are partly covered by Pliocene- fault systems (Fig. 2). This deformation can-
(Allan et al., 1991). According to its struc- Pleistocene gravel, volcanic debris, and al- not be produced by a west-northwestward
ture, we found it more appropriate to divide luvium (Sloan, 1989). The Cretaceous rocks motion of the Jalisco block. To explain the
the Colima rift into two main sectors sepa- are involved in north-northwest–trending apparent contrast posed by concurrent per-
rated by the Colima volcanic complex: the decakilometric folds, which were later pendicular extension at the Jalisco block
northern and southern Colima rift. transected by a right-lateral transpressional boundaries, we propose that the eastern
Northern Colima Rift. This sector is com- fault zone in pre-Pliocene times (Serpa et boundary is the product of a slow southeast
posed of the northeast-trending Amacueca al., 1992; Fig. 2). However, we did not find motion of the Michoacan block relative to
half graben and the north-south–trending any evidences of large normal faulting in the North America along the Chapala-Tula
Sayula graben (Fig. 2). The Amacueca half Pliocene and Quaternary rocks exposed fault system, an active extensional deforma-
graben is formed by a 258-trending, 25-km- south of Colima city and, in the past five tion zone with a minor left-lateral compo-
long detachment fault on the west and by years, the Colima state seismic network re- nent of motion (Suter et al., 1992; Suter,
small northwest-dipping normal faults, pro- corded almost no seismicity in the so-called 1995; Fig. 3). In our view, the neotectonics
gressively joining with the Citala graben, to southern Colima rift. By contrast, thousands of the eastern boundary of the Jalisco block
the east (Fig. 2). Gravimetric modeling in- of crustal seismic events (mostly at 19 to 7 is controlled by partial reactivation of base-
dicates a vertical offset of about 2500 m (Al- km of depth) with magnitude up to Ms 5 5.2 ment structures with partitioning of a re-
lan et al., 1991). Composite focal mecha- were recorded in a broad area west of it gional east-southeast extension in locally
nism solutions computed from microseisms (G. Reyes-Davila, 1996, written commun.; east-west- and north-west–trending exten-
recorded immediately north of Amacueca Fig. 2). Some of these events clustered sion. According to Bandy et al. (1995), the
graben indicate active east-west extension in in northeast- to north-northeast–trending subducted Rivera-Cocos plate boundary is a
the area (Suarez et al., 1994). South of Am- swarms propagating from the Armeria area relatively wide zone, with a northeast trend,
acueca, the rift continues into the north- to the southern part of the Colima volcano passing roughly under the Colima volcano
south–trending Sayula graben. The western- (G. Reyes-Davila, 1996, written commun.). (Fig. 3). The parallelism between the sub-
bounding fault is 18 km long but can be A number of geologic observations indicate ducted Rivera-Cocos plates and the neotec-
traced southward along the alignment of the the existence of similarly oriented Quater- tonic eastern boundary of the Jalisco block

GEOLOGY, October 1996 923

 Angelier, J., 1990, Inversion of field data in fault tec- (Ouest Mexique): localisation et évolution de 13
tonics to obtain the regional stress—III. A new Ma à l’actuel: Compte Rendue Académie des
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Bandy W., 1992, Southwest propagating rifting along Sosson, M., Villeneuve, M., Bourgois, J., and
the Rivera-Cocos plate boundary and related Calmus, T., 1995, Neogene subsidence event
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(Transaction, American Geophysical Union), (Mexico 18 –198N): Eos (Transactions, Ameri-
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Bandy, W. L., Mortera-Gutierrez, C. A., Urrutia-Fu- Moore, G., Marone, C., Carmichael, I. S. E., and
cugauchi, J., and Hilde, T. W. C., 1995, The sub- Renne, P., 1994, Basaltic volcanism and exten-
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tions of the Jalisco and Michoacan blocks rel- Bourgois, J., and Michaud, F., 1991, Active fragmen- Righter, K., and Carmichael, I. S. E., 1992, Hawaiites
ative to North America and their relation with tation of the North America plate at the Mex- and related lavas in the Atenguillo graben, west-
coeval extensional deformation zones (dotted ican triple junction area off Manzanillo: Geo- ern Mexican Volcanic Belt: Geological Society
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Small arrows at the trench are Rivera–North Michaud, F., and Bourgois, J., 1995, Apatite fis- tructura del volcán de Colima, Mexico: Revista
sion-track ages of plutonic rocks sampled along Mexicana de Ciencias Geologicas, v. 12,
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cene-Quaternary structures developed at dre Occidental and Jalisco block: GEOS (Bole- Active crustal deformation in the Jalisco block,
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Tamazula, limite suroriental del bloque Jalisco: Active faults and state of stress in the central
We thank Laura Serpa and an anonymous reader Proceedings of the 5th International Meeting part of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, Mex-
for their useful reviews, and Gabriel Reyes for thor- “Volcán Colima”, p. 46. ico—1. The Venta de Bravo fault: Journal of
ough discussions on the crustal seismicity of the Grajales-Nishimura, M., and López-Infanzón, M., Geophysical Research, v. 97, p. 11983–11993.
southern Colima rift. 1983, Estudio Petrogenético de las rocas ı́gneas
y metamórfı́cas del Prospecto Tomatlán-Guer- Manuscript received March 14, 1996
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924 Printed in U.S.A. GEOLOGY, October 1996