ELSEVIER Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242

Latest Paleozoic–early Mesozoic structures in the

central Oaxaca Terrane of southern Mexico:
deformation near a triple junction
E. Centeno-Garcia Ł , J. Duncan Keppie
Instituto de Geologia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Coyoacan, D.F., Mexico
Received 25 March 1997; accepted 12 August 1998

Abstract

Paleozoic rocks in the Oaxaca Terrane of southern Mexico occur as two outliers (Rio Salinas and Santiago Ixtaltepec)
unconformably overlying the 1-Ga Oaxaca Complex. They consist of the Upper Cambrian–Lower Ordovician Tiñu
Formation, Mississippian Santiago Formation, lower–middle Pennsylvanian Ixtaltepec Formation and the unfossiliferous
Yododeñe Formation of presumed Permian or younger age. These Paleozoic rocks have been deformed by several sets
of structures. Three moderately westerly-dipping, bedding-parallel shear zones displaying dextral kinematic indicators
(C–S fabrics, curvilinear isoclinal folds, en-echelon boudinage, en-echelon veins, and strained amygdales) occur along the
boundaries between the Tiñu and Santiago formations, between the Santiago and Ixtaltepec formations, and within the
Ixtaltepec Formation in the Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier. The bedding and these bedding-parallel shear zones are deformed
by N–S, upright-asymmetric, subhorizontal folds accompanied by a slaty or spaced cleavage, that are in turn deformed
by several sets of kink bands: subhorizontal and steeply dipping E–W, NW–SE and NE–SW. In the northern part of the
Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier, the stratigraphy, bedding-parallel shear zones and slaty cleavage are displaced by NW–SE
normal faults, all of which are truncated by the angular unconformity at the base of the Cretaceous, which brackets their
age as post-Early Permian and pre-Cretaceous. Geometric correlation of the major N–S folds with E-vergent thrusting
of the Oaxacan Complex over the Juarez Terrane suggests that they are older than Middle Jurassic. No age constraints
are available for the kink and chevron folds; however, most may be related to Laramide structures in the overlying
Cretaceous rocks. Unfolding the major structures in the Paleozoic rocks reorients the bedding-parallel shear zones to
subhorizontal detachment shear zones or faults with a top-to-the-north sense of displacement. They may be related to
either gravity sliding following amalgamation of Pangea, extensional rifting of the Yucatán Peninsula from southern
Laurentia or intra-arc rifting associated with a Permo–Triassic arc within southern Mexico. The major N–S fold structures
and E-vergent thrusting of the Oaxacan Complex over the Juárez Terrane may represent a response to (1) convergent
subduction of the Kula and=or Farallon plates beneath western Mexico, (2) migration of a Gulf of Mexico–Yucatan–South
America triple junction.  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Paleozoic; stratigraphy; Oaxaca; Mexico; tectonics; structural geology

Ł Corresponding author. E-mail: centeno@servidor.unam.mx

0040-1951/99/$ – see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 4 0 - 1 9 5 1 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 2 1 3 - 3
232 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
1. Introduction
Paleozoic rocks in the Oaxaca terrane of southern
Mexico occur as small outliers unconformably over-
lying the 1 Ga Oaxacan Complex (Fig. 1). The
Paleozoic rocks consist of uppermost Cambrian–
lowermost Ordovician, Carboniferous and originally
interpreted as Permian rocks that were believed to
have been gently tilted prior to being unconformably
overlain by Cretaceous rocks (Robison and Pantoja-
Alor, 1968). Given the intense Devonian deforma-
tion recorded along the boundary between the Oax-
aca and Mixteco terranes some 50 km to the west,
and the Laramide folding and thrusting exhibited by
the overlying Cretaceous rocks (Ortega-Gutı́errez,
1978), the absence of deformation in the Paleozoic
rocks would appear to be anomalous. This absence
might be explained if the Oaxacan Complex formed
a buttress that shielded the Paleozoic rocks from de-
formation. This paradox prompted us to reexamine
the Paleozoic rocks of the Oaxaca Terrane to see if
they recorded some evidence of the Devonian and=or
Laramide deformational events in their sedimentol-
Fig. 1. Map of the locations of Paleozoic rocks in the Oaxaca Terrane of southern Mexico (inset shows the main tectonic subdivisions of
Mexico).
ogy or structure. This paper presents the results of
this reexamination and documents at least four de-
formational phases in the Paleozoic rocks, one of
which developed before deposition of the Permian
or younger rocks and two before deposition of Cre-
taceous rocks. The other phase is of uncertain age
but appears to post-date deposition of the Creta-
ceous rocks. The recognition of two bedding-parallel
shear zones within what was formerly regarded as
an intact stratigraphic section is important in view
of the global importance of this Paleozoic section to
pre-Pangean Laurentia–Gondwana tectonic interac-
tions, since it represents the only relatively complete
and significant Paleozoic section in southern Mexico
(e.g., Pantoja-Alor and Robison, 1967; Rowley and
Pindell, 1989; Ortega-Gutı́errez et al., 1995; Keppie
and Ortega-Gutı́errez, 1995).
2. Geological setting
Mexico may be divided into several tectonic
regimes (Fig. 1, inset). In northern Mexico, cratonic
 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
North America is bordered on its southern side by
the Ouachita Orogen (Moreno et al., 1993; Stewart
et al., 1993). Numerous terranes occur to the south
of the Ouachita Orogen (Fig. 1; Campa-Uranga and
Coney, 1983; Sedlock et al., 1993; Ortega-Gutı́errez
et al., 1995; Keppie and Ortega-Gutı́errez, 1995).
The composite Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic Maya Ter-
rane occurs around the Gulf of Mexico (Sedlock et
al., 1993), and the 1 Ga Oaxaquia (the inferred sub-
surface extension of the Oaxacan Complex) forms
the central backbone of Mexico (Ortega-Gutı́errez
et al., 1995). Oaxaquia is bounded by (1) the early
Mesozoic Juarez Terrane on its eastern side, (2) the
upper Paleozoic Juchatengo Terrane on its southern
side, and (3) the lower Paleozoic Mixteco Terrane on
its western side. The western part of Mexico consists
of a collage of Mesozoic terranes derived from the
Pacific. The Mixteco and Juchatengo terranes were
accreted to Oaxaquia during the Devonian and late
Paleozoic, which, together with the Maya Terrane,
were accreted to Laurentia in the late Paleozoic dur-
ing the terminal stages of collision between North
and South America (Yanez et al., 1991; Stewart
et al., 1993; Ortega-Gutı́errez et al., 1995). The
Juarez Terrane is a mylonitic complex interpreted as
a thrust zone reactivated by dextral shearing during
the opening of the Gulf of Mexico followed by nor-
mal brittle–ductile fault reactivation during Cenozoic
uplift of the mylonite belt (Delgado-Argote, 1988;
Centeno-Garcı́a et al., 1990; Alaniz-Alvarez et al.,
1996).
In southern Mexico, the 1-Ga rocks of the Oax-
acan Complex are overlain by outliers of Paleozoic
rocks at the Santiago Ixtaltepec and Rio Salinas areas
in central Oaxaca State (Fig. 1). The oldest sedimen-
tary unit preserved in the outliers is the Tiñu For-
mation, which rests unconformably upon granulitic
gneisses of the 1-Ga Oaxacan Complex. It consists
of interbedded, marine limestone and shale grading
upwards into predominantly shale and siltstone (Ro-
bison and Pantoja-Alor, 1968; Pantoja-Alor, 1970)
(Figs. 2 and 3). Trilobites, brachiopods and con-
odonts in the Tiñu Formation are of Tremadocian
age and have closest faunal affinities with Gond-
wana: specifically South America and the Rhenish–
Bohemian fauna of western, southern and central Eu-
rope (Robison and Pantoja-Alor, 1968; Sour-Tovar,
1990). The total thickness of the Tiñu Formation
233
ranges from 60–23 m in the Santiago Ixtaltepec out-
lier to 100 m in the type section at Rio Salinas
(Fig. 2a and Fig. 3a; Pantoja-Alor, 1970; Sour-Tovar
and Quiroz-Barroso, 1989). The upper clastic (silt-
stone and shale) member is thicker in the type section
in Rio Salinas than in the Santiago Ixtaltepec area.
In the Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier (Fig. 2a), the
Tiñu Formation is overlain by the 80-m-thick San-
tiago Formation comprised of a basal quartz-rich
calcareous sandstone and some conglomerate, over-
lain by marine limestone, calcareous siltstone and
shale containing brachiopods and crinoids of Missis-
sippian age (Pantoja-Alor, 1970; Navarro-Santillan
and Sour-Tovar, 1995). This unit is, in turn, over-
lain by the 500-m-thick Ixtaltepec Formation made
up of shale, siltstone, sandstone, and minor lime-
stone containing brachiopods, gastropods, molluscs,
bryozoans, corals, trilobites, crinoids and trace fos-
sils of early–middle Pennsylvanian age (Pantoja-
Alor, 1970; Morales-Soto, 1984; Sour-Tovar and
Quiroz-Barroso, 1989; Quiroz-Barroso and Sour-
Tovar, 1995). The contacts between the Tiñu, San-
tiago, and Ixtaltepec formations were inferred to
be unconformities by Pantoja-Alor (1970); however,
this study indicates that they are both tectonic con-
tacts (see below). The Ixtaltepec Formation is uncon-
formably overlain by the >500-m-thick Yododeñe
Formation consisting of conglomerate, sandstone,
siltstone, and minor shale which is unfossiliferous.
Pantoja-Alor (1993) inferred that it ranges in age
from late Pennsylvanian to middle Permian based
on correlation with the Matzitzi, Los Arcos and
Patlanoaya formations which extend into the Early
Permian (Leonardian) (Corona-Esquivel, 1983; Vil-
laseñor-Martinez, 1987; Weber and Cevallos-Ferriz,
1994). However, clasts of limestone in the con-
glomerate contain fusullinids of Lower Permian age,
suggesting that the formation might be Mesozoic
(A. Flores de Dios, pers. commun.). Lower Creta-
ceous marine limestone and Tertiary red beds uncon-
formably overlie the Paleozoic rocks in the Santiago
Ixtaltepec area (Fig. 2a). Sills and dykes intrude the
four formations but not the Cretaceous marine rocks,
and only the pre-Yododeñe sills have been affected
by deformation.
In the Rio Salinas outlier (Fig. 3a), the Tiñu For-
mation is also overlain by Cretaceous and Tertiary
rocks along the western edge of the outlier.
234 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242

Fig. 2. Map, cross-sections and structural data (plotted on lower hemisphere stereographic projections) of the Santiago Ixtaltepec
Paleozoic outlier: (a) geological map (modified from Pantoja-Alor, 1970) and cross-sections of the outlier; (b) bedding plane poles (dots),
and π-circles derived from NE and central and south sections; (c) minor structures associated with bedding-parallel shear zones: great
circles represent average orientations of shear zones, dots are isoclinal fold axes, open circles with arrows are slip directions derived
by plotting the lines in the shear planes that are perpendicular to the intersection between the C and S planes: arrows indicate relative
motion viewed from above (see Fig. 4a), cross D mean long axis of amygdules in deformed sill in foliation relative to sill margins and
bedding; (d) poles to slaty and spaced cleavage (ð) and slaty cleavage-bedding intersection lineations (dots); (e) mean kink band axial
planes (great circles with asymmetry indicated by Z and S) and kink band fold axes (dots); (f) bedding plane poles in unconformably
overlying Cretaceous rocks.

3. Structure Several sets of later kink bands and chevron folds of

Reexamination of the Paleozoic units in the two
outliers reveals that they have been deformed by
several sets of structures prior to the deposition
of the Cretaceous rocks: (1) bedding-parallel shear
zones; (2) N–S upright folding associated with a
slaty or spaced cleavage; and (3) NW–SE faulting.
uncertain relative age also occur.
3.1. Shear zones
In the Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier, two bedding-
parallel shear zones are preferentially developed in
the shaly horizons along the boundaries between the
 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242 235

Fig. 3. Map, cross-section and structural data (plotted on lower-hemisphere stereographic projections) of the Rio Salinas Paleozoic outlier.
(a) Geological map (modified from Pantoja-Alor, 1970). (b) W–E cross-section. (c) Bedding plane poles (dots) and π-circles derived
from minor folds and from cross-section. (d) Poles to slaty and spaced cleavage (ð), bedding-cleavage intersections and associated minor
folds (dots), cleavage fans (dashed lines), and mean fold axial planes (solid lines). (e) Mean kink band axial planes (great circle lines)
and kink fold axes (dots). (f) Poles to faults (dots) and dikes (ð).

Tiñu and Santiago formations, and between the San-
tiago and Ixtaltepec formations (Fig. 2a). The lower
shear zone is located in shale in the uppermost part
of the Tiñu Formation and is bounded at the top
by quartz-rich arenaceous limestone of the Santiago
Formation. The middle shear zone deforms shale
containing thin limestone and sandstone horizons in-
truded by a sill in the upper part of the Santiago For-
mation and is capped by shale and sandstone of the
Ixtaltepec Formation. At the southern end of the out-
lier, the middle shear zone cuts downwards across the
Santiago Formation and places the Ixtaltepec Forma-
tion directly upon the Tiñu Formation. A minor shear
zone occurs within the upper part of the Ixtaltepec
Formation. All shear zones place younger rocks over
older, and may partly explain missing stratigraphy
between the various formations, that was previously
attributed to hiatuses (Pantoja-Alor, 1970). Shear
zones were not found in the Yododeñe Formation.
In the Rio Salinas outlier (Fig. 3a), the formation is
absent, but no shear zone fabrics were observed.
These shear zones are characterized by a variety
of minor structures. Anastomosing shear zones and
C–S fabrics are well developed in the shaly litholo-
gies and indicate subhorizontal dextral movement in
moderately westward-dipping shear zones (Fig. 2c,
Fig. 4a and Fig. 5a). In the middle shear zone, mi-
nor isoclinal folds are developed in the shale, thin
236 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242

Fig. 4. Minor structures observed in the Paleozoic outliers. (a) Diagram of bedding-parallel shear zones containing isoclinal folds, sill
with deformed amygdales, and C–S fabrics showing C–S intersections and method of deriving and stereographic plotting slip direction
on the shear plane. (b) Upright, subhorizontal folds associated with a refracted slaty and spaced cleavage.

Fig. 5. Photograph of minor structures within a bedding-parallel shear zone in the Paleozoic rocks.
 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
limestone and sandstone layers (Fig. 4a). Their axial
planes lie parallel to the shear zone, and although
their folds axes vary in orientation within the shear
zone plane most are subhorizontal suggesting that
they have been rotated towards the slip direction
(Fig. 2c). A rhyolitic sill within the middle shear
zone is cleaved indicating that it was intruded before
the shear zone deformation. This cleavage is oriented
anticlockwise of the sill margins and the bedding-
parallel shear zones indicating dextral shearing also
(Fig. 4a). The sill contains deformed amygdales that
are flattened in the plane of the cleavage (Fig. 4a).
On the cleavage, the orientation of the amygdale
long axes plunges gently to the north roughly par-
allel to the slip direction in the host shear zone
(Fig. 2c). In a plane perpendicular to the cleavage
but containing the mean amygdale long axis, they
have a mean aspect ratio of 4 : 1. Locally, en-echelon
veins and en-echelon boudinage of relatively compe-
tent limestone and sandstone horizons were observed
(Fig. 4a), both of which confirm the dextral sense of
displacement.
3.2. Major folds and associated structures
The shear zones and the bedding in the Paleozoic
rocks are folded by generally N–S, subhorizontal,
steeply inclined folds associated with an axial planar
slaty or spaced cleavage (Fig. 2b, d, and Fig. 3b–
d). This folding produced the major structure in the
Paleozoic rocks. Slaty cleavage is also present in
the Yododeñe Formation. In the Santiago Ixtaltepec
outlier, they represent the western limb of a major
anticline (Fig. 2a); the eastern limb is not exposed.
In the Rio Salinas outlier, the Paleozoic rocks are
folded into a major syncline (Fig. 3a, b). The slaty
cleavage is moderately to steeply inclined to the west
(Santiago Ixtaltepec: Fig. 2d) or to both the east and
west (Rio Salinas: Fig. 3d). Cleavage refraction is
present where sandstone and limestone horizons are
interbedded with the shales, and produces cleavage
fans about generally subhorizontal axes (Fig. 2d,
Fig. 3d, Fig. 4b and Fig. 5d). Bedding=cleavage
intersections are parallel to associated minor fold
axes and are oriented generally subhorizontal to
gently plunging to the NW–SE to NNE–SSW in
the Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier (Fig. 2d), or NNW to
NE in the Rio Salinas outlier (Fig. 3d).
237
3.3. Kink bands
The Tiñu, Santiago, and Ixtaltepec formations
are also deformed by several sets of kink bands.
In the Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier, steeply inclined,
Z-shaped NE-trending and S-shaped NW-trending
kink bands (Fig. 2e) appear to be conjugate be-
cause they form chevron folds where they intersect
(Fig. 5e). Their combined orientation indicates that
they were produced during N–S shortening. On the
other hand, steeply inclined kink bands in the Rio
Salinas outlier are NW- and W-trending: their rela-
tive age relationships were not observed (Fig. 3e).
Also present in both outliers are a set of subhorizon-
tal kink bands that were not observed intersecting
the steeply dipping kink bands (Fig. 2e and Fig. 3e).
Kink bands were not observed in the Yododeñe For-
mation.
3.4. Faults
At the northern end of the Santiago Ixtaltepec
outlier, the stratigraphy, the two shear zones and the
slaty cleavage are cut by three NW-trending normal
faults (Fig. 2a). A NE-trending normal fault also
occurs between the southern two NW-trending faults
(see cross-section A–B in Fig. 2a). The NW-trending
faults, along with the shear zones, the western limb
of the major anticline, and the slaty cleavage are
overlain by an angular unconformity at the base of
the Cretaceous rocks.
In the Rio Salinas outlier, several N–S faults dis-
place the Paleozoic rocks and obliquely cut across
the major syncline (Fig. 3a and b). Mafic dikes have
been intruded along these faults and they display
both intrusive and faulted contacts. No minor struc-
tures were recorded in these faults.
3.5. Folds in unconformably overlying Cretaceous
rocks
Cretaceous calcareous shale and massive lime-
stone overlie the Paleozoic rocks with angular un-
conformity (Fig. 2a and Fig. 3a). Bedding mea-
surements in these rocks adjacent to the Santiago
Ixtaltepec Paleozoic outlier indicate that they have
been gently folded about upright N- and E-trending
folds (Fig. 2g). The parallelism of the NW folds in
238 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
the Paleozoic and Cretaceous rocks suggests that the
anticline in the Paleozoic rocks may be made up of
two components: pre- and post-Cretaceous.
3.6. Unfolding
In order to understand the kinematics of the three
shear zones, it is necessary to unfold the major N–S
fold in the Paleozoic rocks of the Santiago Ixtal-
tepec outlier because it post-dates the shear zone
development. This was accomplished in a two-stage
process: unfolding N–S folds in the Cretaceous rocks
which decreased the westward dip of the Paleozoic
rocks, followed by flexural unfolding about the ma-
jor N–S folds to reduce the bedding to horizontal. As
the three shear zones are essentially parallel to the
bedding, this results in horizontal shear zones with
top-to-the-north kinematics. In this light, it appears
that the three shear zones become detachment shear
zones or faults. The younger-over-older structural se-
quence is consistent with a north-dipping extensional
faulting transporting rocks northwards.
3.7. Correlation and age of structures
A younger limit on the age of the three shear
zones, the major N–S folds and associated cleavage,
and the NW-trending normal faults is provided by
the fact that they are all truncated by the angular
unconformity at the base of the Cretaceous rocks.
The absence of shear zones in the Yododeñe For-
mation suggest at least a Late Permian age for the
detachment faults. An older limit for the cleavage is
provided by the age of the youngest deformed unit,
the Yododeñe Formation which may be Permian to
Jurassic–Cretaceous.
Further constraints on the age of the structures
may be provided by their regional context. Al-
though the structures to the west along the boundary
between the Oaxaca and Mixteco terranes are in-
ferred to be Devonian (Sedlock et al., 1993), similar
Permian–Cretaceous structures have been reported
to the east along the Oaxaca and Juarez terrane
boundary (Alaniz-Alvarez et al., 1996). These au-
thors reported that this latter terrane boundary rep-
resents a reactivated shear zone that was initially
an E-vergent thrust, which was reactivated by duc-
tile dextral shear and then by brittle normal fault-
ing. A stratigraphic younger limit on the ductile
mylonitiziation is provided by the presence of my-
lonite clasts in Valanginian (Lower Cretaceous) ma-
rine sediments (Alaniz-Alvarez et al., 1996). They
dated the San Felipe granite and associated granitic
strips, which were inferred to have been intruded
during the dextral shear deformation, at 165 š 20
Ma (U–Pb lower intercept on zircon) and 172 š 2
Ma (40 Ar=39 Ar plateau age of muscovite defining
the mylonitic foliation). These data place the time
of ductile dextral deformation above 400ºC as close
to the Lower–Middle Jurassic boundary, which also
provides a younger limit on the time of eastward
thrusting. However, more accurate dating in the area
is needed to better constrain the age of the different
deformational events. Comparison of the structures
in the Paleozoic outliers with those recorded along
the boundary between the Oaxacan Complex and
the Juarez Terrane provides just one obvious corre-
lation: the major N–S folds and associated cleav-
age development may have been synchronous with
the E-vergent thrusting because both indicate E–W
shortening. Such a correlation would further con-
strain the time of N–S folding between the Early
Permian and Middle Jurassic. If this correlation is
correct, then the NW- and NE-trending normal fault-
ing in the Santiago Ixtaltepec outlier may be related
to the Early–Middle Jurassic dextral movements in
the Juarez Terrane. These constraints also apply to
the age of the detachment faults.
Definitive age brackets for the various kink bands
are not available. The NW-trending kink bands in
the Paleozoic rocks are geometrically parallel to NW
folds in the overlying Cretaceous rocks (cf. Fig. 2f
and Fig. 3e). Also the N–S shortening inferred to
have produced the conjugate E–W-trending kink
bands in the Paleozoic rocks may also have produced
the E–W folds in the Cretaceous rocks. The subhor-
izontal kink bands in the Paleozoic rocks were not
observed in surrounding areas; however, they may
represent a response to Laramide thrusting that is
developed elsewhere in the region (Ortega-Gutı́errez
et al., 1992).
It may be significant that structural evidence asso-
ciated with the inferred Devonian collision between
the Mixteco and Oaxaca terranes was not found.
However, the present study cannot rule out the pos-
sibility of an hiatus in the Paleozoic outliers. Future
 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
work may clarify the boundary relationships between
these two terranes.
4. Tectonic context
4.1. Palinspastic reconstruction
To understand the significance of the Upper
Permian–Lower Jurassic structures in the Paleozoic
outliers on the Oaxacan Complex, it is necessary
to locate them on palinspastic reconstructions in
the extant tectonic context (Fig. 6). The location of
southern Mexico in a Late Permian–Triassic Pangea
reconstruction is uncertain due to the overlap of
South America with southern Mexico and Central
America (e.g. Bullard et al., 1965). This has gen-
erally been accommodated by either: (1) sliding
southern Mexico and the Chortis block westwards
along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Lineament and
the Motagua–Polochic fault zone, respectively (e.g.
Pindell, 1985; Golonka et al., 1995), and rotating
the Yucatan Peninsula and the Chiapas Massif into
the Gulf of Mexico (Fig. 6) (Molina-Garza et al.,
1992; Schouten and Klitgord, 1994); or (2) assuming
that southern Mexico and the Chortis block were not
accreted until the Mesozoic (e.g. Ortega-Gutı́errez et
al., 1994). Paleomagnetic data appear to support the
first hypothesis (McCabe et al., 1988). Thus, paleo-
magnetic data from the Paleozoic rocks of the Oax-
aca Terrane indicate Late Permian to Early Creta-
ceous remagnetization, but at paleolatitudes compat-
ible with its present location relative to North Amer-
ica, although between zero and 28º of subsequent
anticlockwise rotation may have occurred (McCabe
et al., 1988). This is consistent with Jurassic paleo-
magnetic data from the neighbouring Mixteco Ter-
rane which indicate a similar paleolatitude but with a
subsequent <30º clockwise rotation relative to North
America (Fang et al., 1989; Ortega-Guerrero, 1989).
The recent extension of the 1-Ga basement (named
Oaxaquia) across the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
into northern Mexico possibly as far as the western
extension of the Ouachita Orogen (Ortega-Gutı́er-
rez et al., 1995; Keppie and Ortega-Gutı́errez, 1995)
is consistent with Late Paleozoic accretion of Oax-
aquia and Laurentia and with Carboniferous faunal
provinciality data (Stewart et al., 1993). The 1-Ga
239
basement age in the Chortis block of Honduras sup-
ports extension of Oaxaquia southwards across the
Motagua–Polochic fault zone (Manton, 1996).
Most authors reconstruct the Yucatán block by
rotating it through 60º and into the space be-
tween North and South America along the Tamauli-
pas Fault–Juárez mylonitic complex–Chiapas Fault
(Fig. 6) (Pindell, 1985; Padilla-Sanchez, 1986; Ross
and Scotese, 1988; Rowley and Pindell, 1989;
Molina-Garza et al., 1992; Schouten and Klitgord,
1994; Alaniz-Alvarez et al., 1996). Opening of the
Gulf of Mexico is inferred to have begun with rift-
ing in the Late Triassic followed by rotation of the
Yucatán block and active basin formation in the Gulf
of Mexico during the Middle and Late Jurassic (Sal-
vador, 1991). Such a rotation is consistent with Late
Permian–Jurassic paleomagnetic data from the Chi-
apas area, which suggests that the rotation to the
present position was essentially complete by Late
Jurassic times (Molina-Garza et al., 1992).
4.2. Tectonic setting of Paleozoic outliers in the
Oaxaca Terrane
On these late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic re-
constructions, Mexico occupies a position near the
triple junction between the Kula and=or Farallon
plate, the North American plate and the South
American plate that is characterized by three ma-
jor tectonic settings: amalgamation and breakup of
Pangea, and supra-subduction zone (Fig. 6). Final
amalgamation of Pangea appears to have occurred
in Late Carboniferous–Early Permian times and is
recorded by development of the Ouachita Orogen.
However, deposition of Late Carboniferous–Early
Permian red beds and shallow marine carbonates
in the Maya Mountains and the Yucatan Penin-
sula, southern Mexico and the Central Cordillera and
Maracaibo block of Colombia (Rowley and Pindell,
1989) suggest that these areas were low lying.
Breakup of Pangea began with rifting in the Late
Triassic and opening of the Gulf of Mexico be-
ginning in the Middle Jurassic and ending in lat-
est Jurassic time (Pindell, 1985; Moran-Zenteno et
al., 1988; Ross and Scotese, 1988; Molina-Garza
et al., 1992; Schouten and Klitgord, 1994). The
opening of the Gulf of Mexico might have re-
quired the development of a triple junction, in or-
240 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
 E. Centeno-Garcia, J.D. Keppie / Tectonophysics 301 (1999) 231–242
der to accommodate the Yucatan block, North and
South American plates. Approximately orthogonal
rifting along the E–W-trending southern margin of
Laurentia becomes mainly dextral strike-slip along
the NNW-trending western margin of the Gulf of
Mexico. Thus, the change from an extensional to a
compressional=strike-slip scenario in southern Oax-
aquia might be the result of the migration of this
hypothetical triple junction toward the south as the
Gulf continued to open.
At least two periods of east-dipping subduction
of the Kula and=or Farallon plates beneath Mexico
are recorded from Late Permian to Jurassic time.
The first was expressed in the Late Permian–Triassic
through the backbone of Mexico as isolated granitic
plutons (that pass close to the Paleozoic outliers in
southern Mexico), and into the Central Cordillera
and Santa Marta block of Colombia (Fig. 6) (Rowley
and Pindell, 1989; Torres-Vargas et al., 1993). The
second was recorded as Late Jurassic continental-arc
volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, but is only well de-
fined in central-northern Mexico (Jones et al., 1995).
In such a complex tectonic setting, the detach-
ment faults may possibly be related to either gravity
sliding following the formation of Pangea, rifting as-
sociated with the early stages of opening of the Gulf
of Mexico, or during Permian–Triassic intra-arc rift-
ing. On the other hand, the major N–S folds and
associated cleavage in the Paleozoic outliers may be
correlated with eastward overthrusting of the Oax-
acan Complex over the Juarez Terrane and may be
related to (1) contractional deformation between the
Kula and=or Farallon plates and Pangea, or (2) mi-
gration of a triple junction associated to the opening
of the Gulf of Mexico (Fig. 6).
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for funding supplied by the
DGAPA-Universidad Autónoma de México (Project
#IN101095), CONACYT Project 0255P-T9506 (El
Complejo Oaxaqueño y el Bloque Chortis en las
Fig. 6. Paleogeographic reconstructions for (a) the Late Permian–
Triassic and (b) the mid-Jurassic southern Laurentia, Mexico,
Central and northwestern South America.
241
reconstrucciones Paleogeograficas de Laurencia y
Gondwana anteriores a Pangea) and the Institute of
Geology, UNAM. Special thanks are due to Jose Luis
Sanchez, Francisco Sour-Tovar, and Antonio Flores
de Dios whose discussion, assistance in the field
and with the paleontology greatly helped the paper.
We also acknowledge Gabriel Valdéz Moreno for
drafting one of the figures. This paper represents a
contribution to International Geological Correlation
Project #376 ‘Laurentia–Gondwana Connections be-
fore Pangea’ and the Institute of Geology, UNAM.
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