The North American-Caribbean Plate boundary in Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras
Lothar Ratschbacher
Leander Franz
Myo Min
Raik Bachmann
Uwe Martens
Klaus Stanek
Konstanze Stübner
Bruce K. Nelson
Uwe Herrmann
Bodo Weber
Margarita López-Martínez
Raymond Jonckheere
Blanka Sperner
Marion Tichomirowa
Michael O. Mcwilliams
Mark Gordon
Martin Meschede
Peter Bock
10.6084/m9.figshare.3454682.v1
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/The_North_American-Caribbean_Plate_boundary_in_Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras/3454682
<p>New structural, geochronological, and petrological data highlight which crustal sections of the North American–Caribbean Plate
boundary in Guatemala and Honduras accommodated the large-scale sinistral offset. We develop the chronological and kinematic
framework for these interactions and test for Palaeozoic to Recent geological correlations among the Maya Block, the Chortís
Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico and the northern Caribbean. Our principal findings relate to how the North American–Caribbean
Plate boundary partitioned deformation; whereas the southern Maya Block and the southern Chortís Block record the Late Cretaceous–Early
Cenozoic collision and eastward sinistral translation of the Greater Antilles arc, the northern Chortís Block preserves evidence
for northward stepping of the plate boundary with the translation of this block to its present position since the Late Eocene.
Collision and translation are recorded in the ophiolite and subduction–accretion complex (North El Tambor complex), the continental
margin (Rabinal and Chuacús complexes), and the Laramide foreland fold–thrust belt of the Maya Block as well as the overriding
Greater Antilles arc complex. The Las Ovejas complex of the northern Chortís Block contains a significant part of the history
of the eastward migration of the Chortís Block; it constitutes the southern part of the arc that facilitated the breakaway
of the Chortís Block from the Xolapa complex of southern Mexico. While the Late Cretaceous collision is spectacularly sinistral
transpressional, the Eocene–Recent translation of the Chortís Block is by sinistral wrenching with transtensional and transpressional
episodes. Our reconstruction of the Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic evolution of the North American–Caribbean Plate boundary identified
Proterozoic to Mesozoic connections among the southern Maya Block, the Chortís Block, and the terranes of southern Mexico:
(i) in the Early–Middle Palaeozoic, the Acatlán complex of the southern Mexican Mixteca terrane, the Rabinal complex of the
southern Maya Block, the Chuacús complex, and the Chortís Block were part of the Taconic–Acadian orogen along the northern
margin of South America; (ii) after final amalgamation of Pangaea, an arc developed along its western margin, causing magmatism
and regional amphibolite–facies metamorphism in southern Mexico, the Maya Block (including Rabinal complex), the Chuacús complex
and the Chortís Block. The separation of North and South America also rifted the Chortís Block from southern Mexico. Rifting
ultimately resulted in the formation of the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous oceanic crust of the South El Tambor complex; rifting
and spreading terminated before the Hauterivian (<em>c</em>. 135 Ma). Remnants of the southwestern Mexican Guerrero complex, which also rifted from southern Mexico, remain in the Chortís
Block (Sanarate complex); these complexes share Jurassic metamorphism. The South El Tambor subduction–accretion complex was
emplaced onto the Chortís Block probably in the late Early Cretaceous and the Chortís Block collided with southern Mexico.
Related arc magmatism and high-<em>T</em>/low-<em>P</em> metamorphism (Taxco–Viejo–Xolapa arc) of the Mixteca terrane spans all of southern Mexico. The Chortís Block shows continuous
Early Cretaceous–Recent arc magmatism.
</p>
2016-06-21 12:17:19
Chort ís Block
Related arc magmatism
South El Tambor
North El Tambor
Chuac ús
Chort ís Block record
Greater Antilles arc
Mexican Mixteca terrane
complexes share Jurassic metamorphism
Geology