10.6084/m9.figshare.3452996.v1
C. Witt
C.
Witt
C. Rangin
C.
Rangin
L. Andreani
L.
Andreani
N. Olaez
N.
Olaez
J. Martinez
J.
Martinez
The transpressive left-lateral Sierra Madre de Chiapas and its buried front in the Tabasco plain (southern Mexico)
Geological Society of London
2016
Chiapas Sierra
North American plates
Sierra Madre
Geology
2016-06-21 11:03:47
Journal contribution
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/The_transpressive_left-lateral_Sierra_Madre_de_Chiapas_and_its_buried_front_in_the_Tabasco_plain_southern_Mexico_/3452996
<p>The Sierra Madre de Chiapas evolved in the vicinity of the triple junction between the Cocos, North America and Caribbean
plates. The Sierra Madre de Chiapas tectonics reflects positive topographic growth along its main core and a northwards-directed
collapse through a free border related to the Gulf of Mexico. Major exhumation and topographic growth occurred during the
middle–late Miocene (16–10 Ma). Evidence for this deformational event is provided by fault activity, major stratigraphic unconformities
along the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and the Tabasco coastal plain (i.e. southern Gulf of Mexico), major salt-related motion,
northward progradation of the sedimentation and northward migration of the buried deformational front. During the Neogene,
strike-slip deformation and its related exhumation migrated landwards from the western edge of the Chiapas massif complex
to the Chiapas Sierra. Horizontal displacement along the main strike-slip faults in the Chiapas Sierra has been indirectly
estimated to be between 30 and 43 km during the last 6–5 Ma, implying 0.5–0.8 cm a<sup>−1</sup> of lateral accommodation. These values suggest that a significant amount of the motion transferred by the Caribbean and North
American plates is currently being accommodated along the Chiapas area.
</p>