Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366

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Journal of South American Earth Sciences

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Fluvial interpretations of stratigraphic surfaces across Upper Triassic to

Lower-Middle Jurassic continental red beds northeastern Mexico
Igor Ishi Rubio Cisneros a, *, John Holbrook b
a
Téotl Geociencias e Ingeniería Aplicada, Cumbres Madeira 531, Las Lomas Sector Bosques, 64610, García, Nuevo León, Consultant, Mexico
b
Department of Geological Sciences, Texas Christian University, TCU Box 298830, Fort Worth, Texas, 76129, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This work broadens the understanding of previous interpretations from Late Triassic-Early-Middle Jurassic reds
Continental red beds beds in northeastern Mexico from the Huizachal Group. Proposed bounding surfaces in El Alamar, La Boca, and
Fluvial sedimentology La Joya formations are informal. The surfaces are here assigned allostratigraphic hierarchies for genetic in­
Fluvial architecture
terpretations. The formations are continental and provide no sea-level markers to tie the surfaces to the marine
Allostratigraphy
Bounding surfaces
base level, but these fluvial-alluvial environments produce various scales of traceable scour surfaces.
Upper Triassic-Middle Jurassic sandstones were analyzed at ten localities. Sedimentary profiles provide details
for two facies associations and two main facies, which share 20 sedimentary lithofacies. The documentation of
fluvial architecture considers sedimentary structures and paleocurrents in the sand bodies to features of five
fluvial styles driving the depositional system, including mixed debris flow and braided river systems, gravelly or
sandy meandering river, ephemeral sand-bed meandering river, and ephemeral sheet-flood distal sand-bed river.
This model provides greater detail for more accurate stratigraphic correlation to sedimentary conditions under
which these rocks were deposited, as it allows identifying four major bounding surfaces that can be tied to fluvial
processes of amalgamation, aggradation, degradation, or flooding. The exercise estimates provisional regional
tracts in continental deposits with no apparent impact by the marine base level. Amalgamation surfaces are
underneath laterally extensive sheets of amalgamated channel-belt architectural elements, the contacts with
underlying surfaces are disconformable, but locally are angular unconformities. The amalgamated beds also
include sediment-gravity flows deposited such as channelized debris flows. Aggradation underlies and binds
volcaniclastic rocks and facies with common mass wasting deposits from creep or debris flows, as well as
overland flow and gullying over broad alluvial plains forming upward-coarsening sequences. It locally records
the rapid burial of landscapes by mass wasting, distinguishing it from typical valleys that are cut by normal
channel processes. Degradation binds incised valleys that confine channels and floodplains, and unconformably
overly fining-upward sequences. Flooding marks sediment accumulation formed by overbank flows in low-
energy environments.

1. Introduction
Recent mapping, petrography, and zircon geochronology
(Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2014; Rubio-Cisneros and Ocampo-Díaz, 2020)
of Late Triassic-Early Jurassic fluvial-alluvial red beds of the Huizachal
Group in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas have refined the paleogeography
and stratigraphy of these units. This study is based on this new frame­
work to develop an improved sedimentary and sequence-stratigraphic
model for these strata northeastern Mexico (Fig. 1). We investigate the
vertical and lateral trends in sedimentary facies and fluvial architecture
of these strata using widely separated stratigraphic sections. Prior cor­
relation among these sections was based on lithostratigraphy, which
broadly addressed their sedimentary character. The goals of this paper
are: (1) documenting the stratigraphy of the continental red beds at
higher resolution; and (2) improving the interpretations of the sedi­
mentary environments for these Upper Triassic to Middle Jurassic strata
using the concepts of facies, fluvial architecture, and hierarchical
bounding surfaces.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: igor_rubio@yahoo.com (I.I. Rubio Cisneros).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103366
Received 29 April 2020; Received in revised form 20 April 2021; Accepted 29 April 2021
Available online 26 May 2021
0895-9811/© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 1. Map of locations for the studied sections. Studied localities are indicated with black circles.
2. Geological setting
The Huizachal Group comprises continental red beds of the El Ala­
mar, La Boca, and La Joya formations deposited in an early Mesozoic
extensional setting initiated by the breakup of western equatorial Pan­
gea. Exposures of these are covered mainly by the sedimentary rocks of
the Sierra Madre Oriental, which is a fold-and-thrust belt developed
during the Cretaceous to Eocene as part of the Mexican Orogen (Fitz-­
Diaz et al., 2018).
Underneath the Huizachal Group are Precambrian and Paleozoic
basement rocks commonly found, which belong to the Sierra Madre
Terrane whose basement age is similar in age of the Oaxaca Terrane (ca.
1.0 Ga; Campa and Coney, 1983). Before the consolidation of Pangea,
the basement units are from oldest to youngest: Precambrian Novillo
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Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
Complex with gneisses, marbles, and basic dykes, Ordovician tonalite,
Silurian siliciclastics rocks, Carboniferous metapelites, metapsammites,
metavolcanics, serpentinite and rhyolite, and Permian siliciclastic rocks
(Ramírez-Fernández et al., 2021).
Late Triassic paleo-grabens hosting red beds north of the Yucatan
block were parallel to the Rio Grande Embayment, Georgia Rift, and
Apalachicola Embayment. These rifts are part of the system that marked
the initial opening of the Caribbean and breakup of North and South
America and a trend extending from the Yucatan to Florida and even­
tually forming the Gulf of México (White, 1980; James, 2009). Sub­
duction was active in the paleo Pacific coast at this same time
(Ocampo-Díaz et al., 2019). The Tamaulipas Arch and southern flanks of
the Sabine and Wiggins ‘arches’ farther east were asymmetrical rift
footwalls, unroofed by extension above a low-angle detachment. Crustal
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 2. Proposed generalized, schematic stratigraphic relations (not to scale) of
the lowermost part of the Mesozoic sequence of the Huizachal Group in the
Sierra Madre Oriental. Note the intraformational angular unconformities be­
tween the lower and upper members for El Alamar and La Boca formations.
Weighted mean ages are shown on the right side of the column
(Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2010; Rubio-Cisneros and Lawton, 2011). Key: c: Clay;
sl: Siltstone; sa: Sandstone; gr: Gravel. V– volcanic. MBS– Major Bounding
Surface. C– Carbonate. θ– dip and angle of unconformity. The legend for fill
patterns and sedimentary structures is shown in Fig. 3. The “bone” symbol
represents the vertebrate-bearing interval (Early Jurassic).
attenuation and related warping further inland in Laurasia led to the
deposition of extensive nonmarine red beds (e.g., Chinle Formation and
Dockum Group: Van der Voo et al., 1976; Lehman and Chatterjee, 2005;
Dickinson et al., 2010). Other red beds of the Huayacocotla Formation in
Hidalgo and Puebla, and Eagle Mills Formation in southern Arkansas
and Louisiana were also deposited in rifts of the asymmetric circum-Gulf
of Mexico (Schmidt-Effing, 1980; Michalzik, 1991). Tectonic extension
caused fracture and normal faulting of brittle Precambrian and
Late-Paleozoic rocks that was accompanied by magmatism. The Gulf of
Mexico’s central rift was located farther east of northeastern Mexico
(Ocampo-Díaz, 2011; Ocampo-Díaz et al., 2019).
The Sierra Madre Terrane shed sediments to northeastern Mexico.
Depocenters formed in a spectrum of normal, wrench, or transcurrent
fault-related basins along the dominant direction of the crustal extension
subparallel to the west margin of Mexico (Ocampo-Díaz, 2011, 2012;
Martini and Ortega, 2018). Graben shoulders, arcs, batholiths, and
metamorphic massifs were produced by transform faulting, which acted
3
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
as sources for sediment in El Alamar Formation and as barriers for axial
streams carring fluvial-alluvial sediments within extensional basins.
Deposits of nonmarine environments accumulated in valley sequences
developed in grabens and half-grabens of the Paleozoic Huastecan
Structural Belt. El Alamar Formation correlates to different Upper
Triassic units in central Mexico provinces, some of which extend in age
to the Uppermost Jurassic (e.g., La Ballena and Zacatecas formations, El
Chilar and Arteaga complexes; Ortega-Flores et al., 2013; Ortega-Flores
et al., 2021). The sandstones of the El Alamar can also be correlated with
La Mora Formation, a pre-Middle Jurassic succession of the Mixteca
Terrane from southern Mexico, though they display some differences
after its formation in medium latitudes (Silva-Romo et al., 2015).
The Early Jurassic La Boca Formation of northeastern Mexico
deposited in back-arc basins and correlates in age with continental red
beds from the Todos Santos Formation in the Mayan Terrane further
south Mexico (Godinez-Urban et al., 2011). The continental magmatic
arcs of Nazas, Chapolapa, and Todos Santos in Mexico introduced vol­
canic deposits into Jurassic nonmarine strata and marginal marine red
beds of eastern Mexico. These include complex pyroclastic deposits
(lahars, ignimbrites, and other types of tuffs), porphyry, sub-volcanic
intrusions, and volcanic debris flows.
La Joya Formation is a Middle Jurassic continental sedimentary
deposit with high content of metamorphic, volcanic, and sedimentary
lithic fragments, which was synchronous to the outer marginal collapse
and seafloor spreading the Florida-Yucatan conjugate margins. The
upper part of La Joya Formation marks a prolonged Late Jurassic marine
transgression starting with Oxfordian evaporites.
3. Stratigraphy of the Huizachal Group
3.1. Triassic red beds: El Alamar Formation
The type locality of El Alamar Formation is at El Alamar Canyon in
the Sierra de Pablillo, Nuevo León, where the proposed stratotype unit is
located (Fig. 1; Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2010). Exposures of the Triassic El
Alamar Formation are scattered in the Sierra Madre Oriental in isolated
localities, such as Galeana in Nuevo León and Huizachal-Peregrina
Anticlinorium in Tamaulipas (Fig. 1). The formation is exposed locally
at the cores of anticlines and basement uplifts in northeastern Mexico.
These Triassic red-brownish beds include thickly bedded and
medium-to-coarse-grained feldspathic sandstone, which contains basal
gravelly-to-pebbly-conglomeratic lag horizons. These sandstone beds
transition upward into finely laminated sandstone and siltstone,
commonly overlain by mudstone (Fig. 2). These red beds correlate with
similar beds at San Marcos-Lomas de San Paulo Tranquitas and Cerro La
Nieve in Galeana, Nuevo León (~130 m in thickness), el Alamar Canyon
(~340 m in thickness), and those exposed at the core or on the western
flank of the Huizachal-Peregrina Anticlinorium (e.g., La Boca Canyon
~350 m in thickness; Fig. 1). The base of the sequence is not exposed in
any locality (Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2014).
The most abundant sedimentary structures in El Alamar Formation
are trough cross-stratification and channel scours, though burrows are
typical of fine-grained facies. Cylindrical burrow casts are observed in
the siltstone and mudstone facies in the upper part of the sequence
exposed in Cerro La Nieve east from Lomas de San Paulo Tranquitas
(Fig. 1). In the San Marcos-Lomas de San Paulo Tranquitas area, these
strata have lungfish burrows within fining-upward cycles (Michalzik,
1991; Laubach and Ward, 2006). Abundant petrified wood is also
characteristic of this Triassic unit. Samples of these strata from El Ala­
mar Canyon and San Marcos Lomas de San Paulo Tranquitas in southern
Galeana, and on the western side of the Huizachal-Peregrina Anti­
clinorium, include Grenville, Pan− African− Brazilian, and
Permo-Triassic detrital zircon grain populations supporting a Late
Triassic maximum age (Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2014; Ocampo-Díaz
et al., 2019). Moreover, El Alamar Formation contains Carnian–Norian
floras, which confirm that these strata post-date the Early Triassic
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366

Fig. 3. Lithofacies classification scheme for measured sections (modified from Miall, 1985, 1996), and sedimentary structures with the legend for the pattern fills
used in Figs. 1 and 4–61-13.

(~245 Ma) maximum depositional ages indicated by the zircon
geochronology (216 and 214 Ma, sample collected in La Boca Canyon;
Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2010). El Alamar Formation correlates in age
with the marine facies of the Zacatecas Formation. Jurassic red beds and
volcanogenic rocks with red-purple and red-brownish hues from La Boca
Formation (cf., Mixon et al., 1959) rest unconformably atop of El Alamar
Formation. Cretaceous limestone beds, Cenozoic volcanic rocks, and
alluvial deposits cover the Triassic red beds.
3.2. Jurassic red beds: La Boca and La Joya formations
The Jurassic La Boca and La Joya formations overlie Precambrian-
Paleozoic basement units in the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas.
These units lay beneath the Jurassic carbonate strata in the Sierra Madre

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I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366

Table 1
Bounding surfaces hierarchy and descriptions used in this study.
Bounding Depositional unit Surface Description Sequence Characteristics
surface order
unit

1 Bedform set-ripple (microform, microscale set)
2 Bedform coset-dune (mesoform, mesoscale set)
3 Macroforms, marking “large-scale” reactivation.
Indicate stage changes or changes in bedform
(stratum) orientation.
4 Bounding surfaces of macroforms and inclined
strata (minor channels and bars).
5 Bounding small channels-belts (group macroscale
sets).
6 Bounding main channel-belts, palaeovalleys
Flat and non-erosional (except for scouring
associated with the separation of eddies).
Flat and non-erosional.
Cross-cutting erosion surfaces dipping up to 15◦ and
truncates underlying bedding surfaces (1st and 2nd-
order) at a low angle.
Flat to convex upwards. Underlies 1st to 3rd-order
surfaces and is truncated by the next erosional event.
Flat to concave upwards marked by local cut-and-fill
relief.
Regional erosional surface.
Train of bedforms of similar type.
Staking of the same facies type.
Similar facies assemblages and geometries above
and below.
Mud drapes below the surface and intraclasts
resting on the surface. Different facies assemblages
above and below.
Channel infill exhibiting rip-up clasts or lag
breccias.
Channel-belts.

Modified from Miall (1985).

Oriental. El Alamar and La Boca fluvial formations discriminate in the
conspicuous absence of volcanic rocks or volcanogenic layers in the
Triassic El Alamar Formation, whereas volcanogenic strata are common
in the Jurassic La Boca Formation.
The red beds of the La Boca and La Joya formations exposed west
from the Huizachal-Peregrina Anticlinorium core in the Huizachal Val­
ley (Valle de Huizachal), and correlate with strata in other canyons near
Ciudad Victoria, Miquihuana, and Aramberri (Fig. 1). The section in­
cludes three Jurassic stratigraphic successions from which two informal
intervals belong to La Boca Formation, a lower and an upper member,
and a third overlying succession of La Joya Formation (Fig. 2; Rubio-­
Cisneros and Lawton, 2011; Lawton and Molina, 2014). The lower in­
terval of La Boca Formation contains a succession of volcanic and
volcaniclastic strata that includes lapilli tuffs, crystal-rich tuffs, lava
flows, volcaniclastic breccias, ignimbrites, together with shale, siltstone,
sandstone, and conglomerate (Rubio-Cisneros et al., 2011). Vertebrate
fossils found near the base of La Boca Formation are consistent with a
Middle Jurassic age. Beds in the upper member of La Boca Formation
unconformably overlay the lower volcanic interval. The
matrix-supported rocks grade upsection into interbedded
clast-supported conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and subordinate
volcaniclastic strata devoid of fossil material.
A sharp angular unconformity between the lower and upper interval
in La Boca Formation separates shallowly to steeply dipping in the vi­
cinity of rhyolite intrusions cutting both intervals. The angular uncon­
formity might not be related to regional deformation, but rather to local
tilting related to the emplacement of volcanic rocks (Fig. 2). Rhyolite
bodies intrude the lower and upper interval, and bear spherulites along
with flow banding. Both members, upper and lower in La Boca Forma­
tion contain evidence of intra-basin volcanic sources that supplied
detrital and volcaniclastic material, producing feldspathic and lithic
arenites (Rubio-Cisneros et al., 2011). A tuff at the base of the upper
member of La Boca Formation yielded a U–Pb zircon age of 189.0 ± 0.2
Ma (early Pleinsbachian; Rubio-Cisneros and Lawton, 2011) based on a
concordia intercept age ranging from 194 to 186 Ma. The gradual
decrease in maximum depositional ages of interbedded volcanic and
pyroclastic rocks and the stratigraphic position beneath Middle-Upper
Jurassic evaporitic strata, suggest that La Boca Formation is between
~184 and 163 Ma at Valle de Huizachal (Fig. 1).
The uppermost Jurassic red bed interval for the Huizachal Group in
northeastern Mexico is La Joya Formation. The La Joya Formation is
formed by continental to marginal-marine siliciclastic strata, which
unconformably overlay La Boca Formation. This succession comprises
red sandstone, shale, and subordinate conglomerate with lesser, thin
beds of freshwater limestones all over a basal conglomerate. Oxfordian
evaporatite and carbonate strata cap the La Joya Formation (Fig. 2). The
basal conglomerate in La Joya Formationis is crudely bedded and clast-
supported with angular rock fragments. The conglomerate grades
upsection into brick-red sandstone and shale, and is significantly less
indurated and blockier than the rocks underneath. La Joya strata record
infilling of subaerially exposed extensional basins. The coarse clasts in
the conglomeratic horizons were derived from the underlying crystalline
basement, including volcanic and metamorphic clasts found in El Ala­
mar and La Boca formations. The age of La Joya strata is constrained by a
single late Middle Jurassic grain concordant at 163.6 ± 2.6 Ma, which is
not statistically different from the young grain set in the upper member
of La Boca Formation. However, its position between Bathonian-
Callovian red beds and beneath Oxfordian strata is consistent with a
Callovian age. The uppermost La Joya Formation pinches out onto
basement highs and marks the onset of a prolonged Late Jurassic marine
transgression (Michalzik, 1991; Ocampo-Díaz et al., 2019).
Red beds exposed near Aramberri contain facies that correlate to La
Boca and La Joya formations. At Aramberri (Fig. 1), the volcanic rocks
are directly overlying Paleozoic schist and yielded a U–Pb zircon age of
193 ± 0.2 Ma (Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2008, 2011, 2014, 2011; Tor­
res-Sánchez et al., 2016). Other red beds exposures are located in El
Olmo, Caballeros, Peregrina, Novillo, and Miquihuana canyons, and
further south in Bustamante. The red beds lie on top of the Granjeno
schist and correlate with lower-middle Jurassic outcrops
(Barboza-Gudiño et al., 2014).
4. Methods
The study area includes well-exposed and laterally extensive out­
crops, up to ~360 m thick, of which we describe 17 exposures at 10
different locations (Fig. 1). Description of the studied stratigraphic
sections of these strata includes grain size, sedimentary structures such
as bedding contacts, palaeocurrent information, biota, and, where
pertinent, more detailed observations of intercalated volcanic deposits.
Correlations between neighboring stratigraphic sections were made
using photomosaics, used to locally map recognizable major and minor
surfaces. Surfaces were correlated between more distant sites using the
principles of sequence stratigraphy (e.g., Catuneanu et al., 2010). The
terminology for describing and interpreting facies follows suggestions
by Miall (1996). Fluvial bounding-surface relationships in the Huizachal
Group are defined and interpreted through architectural-element anal­
ysis (Miall 1984, 1985, 1988, 1996; Table 1). Mapping and definition of
the hierarchy of bounding surfaces from photographs follow consider­
ations by Holbrook (2001), based on the principles of superposition and
cross-cutting relationships. Paleocurrents, were also analyzed from
cross-bedding, ripple cross-lamination, and flaser or lenticular bedding
following the principles of Potter and Pettijohn (1977) and Collinson

5
 I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook

6
Fig. 4. Measured sections (Block 1). The legend is explained in Fig. 3. Vertical arrows indicate cyclic successions, showing the direction of fining and bed thinning. Numbers in circles indicate the bounding surfaces.
Lithofacies codes are given left of the column. Facies are indicated on white vertical tags on the right of the stratigraphic column. Acronyms from the facies are listed in Table 2 (e.g., Fa-1A). c: Clay; sl: Siltstone; sa:
Sandstone; gr: Gravel. Stratigraphic position of the measured sections (Block 1) with respect to other analyzed areas is plotted on the lower right corner. Correlation by shaded sections: light grey: El Alamar Formation;
dark grey: La Joya Formation. Polar diagrams of measured paleocurrents are shown above measured sections. The inferred fluvial style and major bounding surfaces (MBS) for comparative purposes are on the right of
the column: amalgamation (AmBS), aggradational (AgBS), degradational (DeBS), and major flooding surfaces (MfBS). Bounding surfaces are explained in Fig. 8.
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
 I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook

7
Fig. 5. Measured sections (Block 2). The legend is in Fig. 3. Acronyms are as in Fig. 4. Stratigraphic position of the measured sections (Block 2) with respect to other analyzed areas is plotted on the lower right corner.
Correlation by shaded sections: light grey: El Alamar Formation; middle grey tone: La Boca Formation; dark grey: La Joya Formation. Underlying the measured sections are symbols of reported basement units with
calculated age (Cameron et al., 2004).
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
 I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook

8
Fig. 6. Measured sections (Block 3). The legend is in Fig. 3. Acronyms are as in Fig. 4. Stratigraphic position of the measured sections (Block 3) with respect to other analyzed areas is plotted on the lower right corner.
Correlation by shaded sections: middle grey tone: La Boca Formation; dark grey: La Joya Formation.
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366

Table 2
Table summarizing the main facies, lithofacies and facies associations identified in the Huizachal Group, northeastern Mexico, with their corresponding
interpretations.
Sedimentary facies and environmental analysis

Facies association Facies Subfacies Lithofacies Sedimentary characteristics and interpretation

Channel FA-1:
Classification of fine to medium-grained, trough-and-
planar, cross-laminated sandstone, horizontally laminated
sandstone, non-bioturbated, sigmoidal-laminated sandstone
and conglomerate.
Elements associated with erosion, infill and abandonment of
a channel; also with epiclastic processes: erosion and
sediment transport-deposition of volcanic rocks.
Overbank FA2:
Fa-1A Sh, Sp, Sm, Individual units show conglomerate topped by medium- to
Se-Ss, Sl, Sr fine-grained sandstone. Units include recycled volcanic
material.
Bedding is made by low- to high-angle lamination, planar, and
trough cross-lamination, commonly showing ripple cross-
lamination at the top. Bedding is bound by erosive concave up
bases of 4th to 5th-order erosional surfaces below coarse-
grained sandstone, usually topped by a horizontal contact.
Facies Fa-1A is channel-fills of gravel and sandy rivers.
Bedforms indicate: a dominantly lower flow regime, deep parts
of active channels, migration of sand waves, shallow areas of
active channels during falling water stages, and intermittent
depositional lapses. Sand deposits are of bar-tail, topped by
cross-bar channels and overbank deposits.
FA-1Aa Af and others Subfacies Fa-1Aa is similar to facies Fa-1A in bedding and
in Fa-1A structures, but containing notorious volcanic fragments with
tuffaceous textures, and phenocryst sand-size particles with an
interstitial or devitrified intergranular mass. Sandstone and
conglomerate show clast-supported autoclastite or autobreccia
rock-fragments.
Nature is from epiclastic rocks with sediments derived from
older underlying or contemporaneous volcanic and pyroclastic
deposits, like lahars, ignimbrites, other types of tuffs,
porphyry, and sub-volcanic intrusions, which interfingered
with the channel fill deposits of Fa-1A.
Fa-1B Sp, Sh, Sl, Sr The units comprise fine to medium-grained sandstone beds
with subangular grains and good sorting. The units subdivide
into several bed sets, although fining-upward trends occur
locally as individual sets. Ripple-cross lamination occurs at the
top of some units. Ripple bedding occurs locally. Each unit is
bound by 2nd to 3rd-order bounding surface with a sharp
concave-up base and concave-down top.
The prograding geometries represent downstream accreting
channel bar deposits or downstream mid-channel bars, with
minor upstream accretion. Deposits occur in point bars and
braid bars that form from unit-bars, which accrete to become
compound bars during floods, or represent longitudinal bars
and ephemeral bars.
Fa-1C Sp, Sr Units show similar lithologies and dimensions as facies Fa-1B.
Bedform subdivide in two informal sandstone units, an upper
foreset bed dominated by plane-bedded strata, and lower
cross-laminated sets. Commonly in contact with facies Fa-1A
and Fa-4.
Facies are of lateral- accretion bars or edges of the channel.
These are bank-attached and they have the wrong geometry of
mid-channel bars, which occur next to downstream accretion
bars or sedimentary gravity flows.
Fa-1D Gt, Gp Granule-to-cobble conglomerate beds occur at the base and
matrix-supported. Bedding is normally graded, planar, or
tabular to trough cross-laminated, with significant amounts of
lithic fragments derived from underlying stratigraphic units.
These units are made from trough cross-lamina and are
distinguished by clast imbrication. Fa-1D underlies beneath an
erosional-disconformable contact, or in paraconformity
relationship with another facies in FA-1. Conglomerate to
coarse sandstone deposits are above-channel scours. These
deposits represent poorly sorted bedload that migrated down
the channelized apex area. Channel fills are from reworked
alluvial deposits. The high angle cross-bedded conglomerates
are down channel-migrating bars, with avalanche slip faces in
gravel-bed braided rivers.
Fa-2A Fm Thick beds of thinly laminated claystone to siltstone are
laterally extensive in both dip and strike. Structureless with
isolated ichnofossils. Pedogenic structures are locally present,
but incipient concretions, logs, and root traces. Dispersed
carbonate lenses occur at the top of massive Fa-2A sequences.
Facies is bioturbated overbank sediments deposited on a
fluvial channel-floodplain environment bordering the stream
channel. Peak floods inundated these backswamp
environments, transporting both bedload and suspended load
sediments. These floodplains developed in alluvial valleys and
(continued on next page)

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I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366

Table 2 (continued )
Sedimentary facies and environmental analysis

Facies association Facies Subfacies Lithofacies Sedimentary characteristics and interpretation

alluvial fans. Fa-2A deposits are formed in sheet floods and

Comprises bioturbated massive mudstone to siltstone,
laminated mudstone, laminated siltstone, and
unbioturbated mudstone to siltstone interfingered with
tuffs. Very thick beds of thinly laminated claystone to
siltstone are laterally extensive in both dip and strike.
fully unchannelized. Traces are of active colonization.
Fa-2B Fm, Fl, P, Cb Bedding is alternating mudstone, siltstone, and fine sandstone
with horizontal laminae. Clay and siltstones are >90%.
Rhizoliths are typical. Deposits may present post-depositional
modification like “slumps”. Thin laminae have a moderately
erosive base. Facies represent an overbank deposit similar to
Fa-2A, but with longer subaerial exposures and drainage
developing paleosols and carbonate precipitation.
Fa-2C Fl, Af, Sl Laminae in Fa-2C include lithofacies Fm, Fl, Af, and Sl, but
bioturbation is absent. Beds range from 0.8 to 2 m thick, with
an erosive base and top. Fa-2C can extend horizontally up to 5
km, serving as a correlation marker in Valle de Huizachal. Fa-
2C is overbank deposit made of epiclastic sediments
interfingered with proximal volcanic materials.
These epiclastic-volcanic accumulations derived from
pyroclastic flows, surges, eruption related debris, avalanches,
lahars, other fluvial materials, producing antidunes, or
structures by the remobilization of loose material during and
immediately after volcanic events in the surroundings.

Sedimentary facies and environmental analysis

Facies Lithofacies Sedimentary characteristics and interpretation

Aeolian Fa-3 Sp, Sl Bedding consists of very fine- to medium-grained sandstone, with well-sorted rounded grains, and non-bioturbated planar cross-
laminated. Bed sets comprise tabular-planar cross-sets and wedge planar cross-sets. Cross-lamina has unidirectional and
tangential morphologies with dips of about 25◦ . Bedset is bounded by sharp 3rd-order bounding surfaces.
Sandstone beds facies were accumulated in aeolian dunes. Dunes have a well-developed slip face producing wedge-shaped cross-
sets in a complex dune association with thick grain-flow beds in cross sets. Aeolian dunes were reworking the bars deposited in
overbank areas, due to aridity of climate conditions.
Alluvial Fa-4 Gmm, Gmg, Gci, Facies are of sandstone and conglomerate successions with coarse-grained matrix to granule-pebble grade, and are clast-
fan Gcm, Gh supported to cross-laminated. Grain sizes are from very coarse sandstone up to granule-conglomerate interbedded with pebble
conglomerate. Clasts are mainly extraformational, and subrounded to subangular. Beds have fining upwards-gravelly
successions or inverse-graded gravels.
The strata deposited over angular unconformities or erosional contacts of 4th to 5th-order bounding surfaces.
Facies are hyperconcetrated strata deposited in alluvial fans or their channelized apex areas as hyperconcentrated debris flows,
muddy-to-sandy grain-flows, and with larger particles commonly with inverse grading as in avalanches. Sedimentary gravity
flows deposited as alluvial fans sourced from erosion of scarp.

Table 3
Fluvial facies summary for applied interpretations in bedding diagram built-up.
Interpretation Description Sedimentary structure rock-state Deposits in architectural elements

Still waters clay, silty clay, peat Non-Bioturbated floodplain, mudflat, overbank fine, and levee
long-term settling Bioturbated
Lazy river loams and heterogeneous Non- Bioturbated levee/splay
generally weak erratic flow Bioturbated active channel
Swift current sand and loamy sand Non-Bioturbated thin splay, channel, and lobe
sustained strong flow Bioturbated bar, thick channel thalweg fill

and Thompson (1989). The paleocurrents were corrected for dip, using respectively.
the criteria from Briggs and Cline (1967) and Filguera-Flores (2010).
5.1. Channel-belt elements
5. Architectural elements
Channel-belts include channel-fill (CH), lateral accretion (LA), and
Architectural elements are defined on the largest scale as channel-
downstream accretion (DA) elements. Gravel bedforms (GB), sandy
belt elements or encasing floodbasin elements. Each of these two ele­
bedforms (SB), and sediment-gravity flows (SG) are components of these
ments comprise lower-order elements as described below. The lith­
elements.
ofacies defined in measured sections that fill these elements are grouped
into two facies associations and two more major facies for this study: (i)
5.1.1. Channel-fill elements
fluvial channel-belt facies association (FA-1), (ii) overbank facies asso­
The channel-fill elements extend up to hundreds of meters in width
ciation (FA-2), (iii) eolian facies (Fa-3), and (iv) alluvial fan facies (Fa-4)
and over 2 m in thickness. Bounding surfaces for this element are
(Figs. 4–6). A summarized review of all facies is provided in Tables 2 and
concave up and are generally of 5th-order. Channel-fill components are
3, and an expanded explanation can be consulted in the supplementary
bounded by lower-order surfaces and include: sandy bedforms (SB),
tables and figures. Acronyms for all facies categories in sections of
gravelly bedforms (GB), and sediment-gravity flows (SG). Channel-fills
Figs. 4–6 correspond to FA-1, FA-2, Fa-3, and Fa-4, and they differ in
are common in El Alamar Formation, they are isolated in the upper
nomenclature from facies and subfacies, e.g., Fa-1A and Fa-1Aa,
member of La Boca Formation of La Boca Canyon (Fig. 1), and coarser

10
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 7. Basic architectural elements in fluvial deposits (modified after Miall, 1985, 1988, 1996). Numbers in circles with arrows represent the order of bounding
surfaces. Scales are approximate.
beds are common in channel fills of La Joya Formation.
Element SB includes facies of Fa-1A, Fa-1B, Fa-1C (lithofacies Sm, Sh,
Sp, and St) and is commonly interbedded with facies in element GB like
Fa-1D and Fa-4 (lithofacies Gt, Gp, and Gh; Fig. 7). Where SB interbeds
with GB, it has 5–10% of the coarsest lithofacies in the sandy succession.
SB in channel-fill locally includes lithofacies associated with upper flow
regime such as plain bed, antidunes, and cyclic steps formed in sand-
dominated near-critical-to-supercritical river systems. Gravel-bed (GB)
mesoforms surpass 50 m in length and range from 0.3 to ~1.5 m thick.
4th-order bounding surfaces bind this element, and 2nd and 3rd-order
surfaces bind beds internally. Bounding surfaces of this element are
flat or irregularly eroded (Fig. 7), with bounding wedge shape, or false
11
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
cutbanks. Some internal surfaces are accretionary. GB is present in all
three formations in the Huizachal Group, mostly represented in some
sections in the El Alamar Formation, and at the bases of the upper
member in La Boca and La Joya formations.
Predominant facies in sediment-gravity-flow (SG) are typical of Fa-
1D and Fa-4 (lithofacies Gt, Gp, Gh, Gmm, Gmg, Gci, and Gcm) and
are bound by 2nd and 3rd-order surfaces. Gravely facies in SG (lith­
ofacies Gt, Gp, and Gh) interbed with minor sheets or lenses of finer
sediments in sediment-gravity flows. Individual beds average 0.5 m,
locally exceed 3 m in thickness, and they are hundreds of meters long.
SG flow events filled erosional channels or the irregular topography
originated by earlier sediment-gravity-flow and sheet-flood deposits. SG
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 8. Proposed Major Bounding Surfaces (MBS; after Miall, 1991). The four
different MBS are AmBS– Amalgamation Bounding Surface; AgBS– Aggrada­
tional Bounding Surface; DeBS– Degradational Bounding Surface; MfBS– Major
flooding Bounding Surface.
elements typically have irregular and non-erosive bases. 4th-order
bounding surfaces bind the SG elements. SG is commonly normal or
inversely graded, and lack of bioturbation. The thin and most straight­
forward deposits are the narrow gravel sheets of lithofacies Gh, which
have lobate margins (Fig. 7).
5.1.2. Channel bars
Downstream Accretion (DA) and Lateral Accretion (LA) elements
comprise facies Fa-1B (lithofacies Sh, Sp, Sl) along with mixed lower
flow regime structures of facies association FA-1. The elements represent
bar macroforms that contain 2nd and 3rd-order bounding surfaces,
which gently dip downstream or toward the outer bank of channels.
These two elements are up to 100 m long and ~5 m thick, are bound by
4th-order surfaces and are distinguished by 2nd and 3rd-order accretion
sets dipping laterally (LA) or oblique (DA) to the paleoslope. Deposits
are composed of non-bioturbated sand and loamy sand (Fig. 7).
5.2. Floodbasin elements
Non-channelized elements are at equivalent hierarchy to channel-
belt elements and include flood basin elements of overbank fines (OF)
12
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
and laminated sands sheets (LS). Laminated sands sheets include facies
of Fa-1B (lithofacies Sh, Sl, Fl, and Fm) with minor Fa-2B lithofacies (Sp,
Sm, or Sr; Fig. 7). Individual sheets are approximately 10 cm thick and
extend for more than 100 m along depositional strike. Individual sand
sheets amalgamate to form sheets up to <2.5 m thick and rest on flat or
slightly channelized erosion surfaces (Se-Ss lithofacies). Sp and Sm
gradationally cap the sand sheets. Sheets thin out and split into smaller
finer-grained sand and silt layers. Single sheets commonly incise un­
derlying sheets forming thicker sands as sheets and small channels. 3rd-
order bounding surfaces bind the element, and internally minor order
surfaces such as 2nd and 1st-order bounding surfaces bind the bedding.
Beds are mostly non-bioturbated (Table 2). Laminated sands sheets may
be topped by overbank fines.
Overbank-fine (OF) elements include Fa-2B and Fa-2C (lithofaciesFl)
and other lithofacies in facies association FA-2 (Fig. 7; supplementary
tables). These elements are sheet-like and typically are tens of meters
thick. Grain-size in them are clay-to-silt, and with common peat. This
element is topped by paleosols and lithofacies Fl, bearing desiccation
and bioturbation structures.
6. Major regional bounding surfaces
Four regionally correlative bounding surface types subdivide the
Huizachal Group (Fig. 8). Each major bounding surface binds strata
defining discrete stages of development in the fluvial environment.
These are mapped as: amalgamation bounding surfaces (AmBS), ag­
gradational bounding surfaces (AgBS), degradational bounding surfaces
(DeBS), and major flooding bounding surfaces (MfBS).
Amalgamation bounding surfaces (AmBS) are locally underneath
laterally extensive sheets of amalgamated channel-belt elements later­
ally prolonged. Contacts with underlying surfaces are disconformable
and of unknown duration, but locally are angular unconformities.
Fluvial deposits above amalgamational bounding surfaces comprise
facies Fa-4, deposited by strong sustained flows forming channel-fills
and bars. The amalgamated beds also include sediment-gravity flows
deposited as channelized debris flows (Fig. 6, section 9b and 9d). The
surface records lateral scour and erosion of the land surface with mini­
mal incision (Holbrook, 1996, 2001, 2001).
Aggradational bounding surfaces (AgBS) underlie and bind volca­
niclastic rocks and facies with common sediment-gravity-flow deposits
caused by debris flows, as well as overland flow and gullying over broad
alluvial plains with local channel-fill. Deposits above such surfaces are
upward-coarsening sequences of variable thickness. AgBS bind rocks
dissected by 4th and 5th-order bounding surfaces. Regionally, these
surfaces are interpreted as major aggradational events that burry sub­
aerial surfaces with minimal incision, commonly related to volcanism.
Generally, the surfaces record the rapid burial of landscapes by mass
wasting with negligible incision, differentiated from the more typical
scour surfaces cut by normal channel processes. AgBS are not formed
dominantly by incision associated with the emplacement of the over­
lying units, though local erosion produces flute and tool marks
commonly in deposits overlying AgBS. Sediment-gravity-flow and local
channel-fill elements generate aggradational bounding surfaces that
bind facies Fa-1A, Fa-1B, Fa-2A, and Fa-4 (Figs. 4–6).
Degradational bounding surfaces (DeBS) bind incised valleys that
confine channels and floodplains on a regional scale. DeBS surfaces
unconformably overly fining-upward sequences and are overlain by
facies Fa-1A and Fa-1B (Figs. 4–6). Lithofacies in facies association FA-1
infills eroded topographic lows with heterolithic and sandy channel fill,
and bar deposits from weak/unsteady-to-strong sustained rivers flows,
respectively (e.g., Straub, 2009).
Major flooding bounding surfaces (MfBS) mark a transition to sedi­
ment accumulation formed by overbank flows in low-energy environ­
ments. These surfaces generally form by very rapid sedimentation so
that there is insufficient time to develop structures or even grading. The
formation of MfBS is observed in lithologies that vary from clay-to-silt
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
grain-size, which are locally bioturbated. These surfaces are commonly
located beneath peat sediments. MfBS correlate with disconformities or
5th-order bounding surfaces. MfBS form where surfaces are buried by
environments characterized by long-term settling conditions from
floods, as in floodplains, mudflats, overbank fines, and levees. These
surfaces follow the lateral limits of facies Fa-2B (Figs. 4–6). MfBS overlie
deposits of lower-flow regime, volcaniclastic sandstone facies, and
coarser sequences bound beneath by degradational bounding surfaces or
locally over aggradational bounding surfaces.
7. Discussion
We interpret five main fluvial styles from parts of the Huizachal
Group based on lithofacies, architectural elements, and bounding
surfaces.
7.1. Mixed debris-flow and braided river systems
Debris flows and other types of sediment-gravity flows are wide­
spread in volcanic areas, which tend to rework or extend into gravel-bed
braided rivers (Miall, 1996). Sediment-gravity-flow deposits are either
massive or have tabular-bedding, incorporating facies Fa-4 (lithofacies
Gcm, Gmm, Gci, and Gmg; Fig. 4, section 1a and 1b; Fig. 5, sections 5, 6,
and 7). Sediment-gravity flows are rare or locally absent when coarse
sedimentation dominates, including facies association Fa-1D and Fa-4
(lithofacies Gh, Gp, and Gt). Sediment-gravity-flow (SG) and GB ele­
ments exist as components of channel-fill elements that are otherwise
filled with fluvial deposits of element SB between mass wasting events.
Overbank fine (OF) and laminated sand sheets of not channelized ele­
ments, and partly cover the SG elements with lithofacies Se-Ss, Sp, Fl,
and Fm. These sheets are considered as part of local alluvial fans or
channels. SG elements have tabular sheet-like shapes with curved
convex-up margins or terminate abruptly down dip. Units composed of
elements GB are tabular, typically resting on irregular or unchannelized
erosional bases. Locally, SG and GB incise laterally amalgamated LA and
DA bar elements, as debris flows commonly cut and fill channels.
Bounding surfaces underneath mixed debris and braided channel
flows include both degradational bounding surfaces (DeBS) and aggra­
dational bounding surfaces (AgBS). DeBS represent erosion surfaces
produced by the cutting and entrenchment of channels in river-
dominated distributive systems with local and occasional mass
wasting events and form 4th and 5th-order bounding surfaces. AgBS
represent the burial of landscapes by sustained mass wasting, with the
local accretion of channel-fills and bars (LA and DA) elements resulting
from rework and dewatering of debris flows.
Gravelly braided-to-wandering-river deposits are a variation in this
fluvial depositional style. This variant is dominated by channel-fill, LA,
and DA elements forming wide channel-belts. Channel-fills in this as­
sociation are dominated by GB elements with facies Fa-1A, Fa-1B, and
Fa1C (lithofacies Gh, Gp, St, and Sm). Facies in gravel braided rivers are
tabular and wedge-shape graded conglomerates. Facies Fa-1D and Fa-4
(lithofacies Gt, Gh, Gcm, and Gmg) are common in these deposits
(Holbrook and Allen, 2020). Finning upward successions are typical.
This type of river system occupies an intermediate class between
low-sinuosity, multiple channel rivers such as the classic braided river,
and high sinuosity in single-channel rivers. Locally, this river system had
a single channel, but other locations had more than one active channel
form with poorly sorted bed loads in scours, lacking unit bar develop­
ment. The channel system reflects vertical to lateral accretion with
architectural elements LA and DA in variable seizes with facies Fa-1A
and Fa-1B (lithofacies Sh and Sl; Fig. 4, section 2). Bedding in Sh lith­
ofacies is parallel or subparallel to the bounding surfaces, some of which
cross-cut accretion sets and have the character of reactivation surfaces.
Channel-fills are covered by DA and LA. Channel bar elements are
interpreted as mid-channel, lateral, and tributary bars in braided rivers,
and are common in the El Alamar and La Boca formations.
13
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
Lenses of elements SB are interbedded with GB elements in fills of
abandoned channels (lithofacies Sh). Tops of GB elements are mostly
flat, but are floored by scours beneath cross-trough stratified sandstone
comprising elements GB or SB (e.g., lithofacies Sm). Alternation among
types of bedforms in SB and GB indicates long to short-term variation in
the flow regime. The amalgamation of GB elements can form structures
similar to mid-channel bars. The alternation of GB and SB could be due
to slack-water non-bioturbated deposits, such as abandoned channel-
fills (minor channel elements), bar-edge sand wedges, alluvial fans, or
the deposition of topographically elevated parts of a deep gravel-bed
river-style (Miall, 1996).
Locally, lithofacies St and Sp form the upper part of bar deposits with
facies Fa-1B and Fa-2C. Some other lithofacies occurring to a lesser
extent are sediment-gravity-flow deposits with facies Fa-4 (lithofacies
Gcm, Gmm, and Gmg; Fig. 5, sections 5 and 8). The architecture of LA
and DA elements shows transverse fill with cross-stratification and
locally is massive to complex where SG is included. Floodbasin elements
(OF and LS) usually cover channel-belt elements with facies Fa-1A and
Fa-2B (lithofacies Fm, Fl, and Se-Ss), marking major flooding bounding
surfaces (MfBS). Stratigraphic sections of these deposits represent stages
of progressive down cutting by the river over recognizable degrada­
tional (DeBS) surfaces channel.
Rivers of this association are deposits from variations of shallow
perennial sand-bed braided rivers. End members of this trend are richer
in element DA that comprises gravel sheets above 4th-order bounding
surfaces (Gh and St). DA elements commonly fill with simple tabular
sandstone sheets superimposed by 2D dunes and some linguoidial bed­
forms, producing coarsening-upward channel stories (lithofacies Sp;
Fig. 4, sections 3b and 3c). Other main architectural elements are large
sheets of in-channel (LS) and lower flow-regime dunes comprising
element SB (lithofacies Sh). SB are typically from fields or trains of in­
dividual centimetric ripples that accumulated by vertical aggradation.
7.2. Gravelly or sandy meandering river
These are meandering rivers with a constant flow that vary slightly in
style depending on dominant grain size. The coarsest member preserves
mainly channel-fill and lateral accretion elements with scattered bar DA
elements and locally subsidiary chute channels (Fig. 5, section 4).
Channel-fills are relatively deep and narrow. Gravel and sediment-
gravity flows are part of lateral-accretion elements or channel-fills.
Gravel lithofacies dominate the deposits with facies Fa-1A, Fa-1D, FA-
4 (lithofacies Gp, Gh, and Sm), and interbedded deposits of sandy bed­
forms of facies association FA-1 (lithofacies Sp; e.g., Endrick River,
Scotland, Miall, 1996). The sequence locally comprises Gci lithofacies
from sparse sediment-gravity flows. SG lobes distribute laterally, cutting
GB elements. The local DA elements suggest the system is either locally
braided or that it is one of the braided meandering transitional systems,
like mentioned in Holbrook and Allen (2020). Locally, siltstone suc­
cessions deposit in non-channelized sheets in floodbasin strata at the
same hierarchical rank as channel-fills. Channel-fill elements are sepa­
rated by bank-attached bar elements and gravel sheets developed over
4th-order bounding surfaces. Bounding surfaces beneath successions of
gravel-bed meandering river deposits are amalgamational and
degradational.
Another variation in this meandering style has sediments comprising
sand and pebbly sand, or coarse sand with a lag of gravel (e.g., Mis­
sissippi River, Miall, 1996). Coarse to very-coarse sand sheet facies fill
chute channels or cover sparse gravel bar deposits during high-stage
conditions in facies Fa-1A (lithofacies Sm, Sp, Sl, St, and Se-Ss) with
local sedimentary-gravity flow deposits (lithofacies Gmm and Gcm;
Fig. 4 sections 1a and 1b; Fig. 6, sections 9b and 9e). The lower part of
point-bars (element LA) comprises coarse sand sheets in dipping accre­
tionary sets. Dunes deposit sand on the upper surface in point bars,
lapping inner accretionary bank deposits. Upper point-bar facies
comprise interbedded sand, silt, and clay, including layers of
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366

Fig. 9. Schematic correlation of the Huizachal Group in the ten studied sections in northeastern Mexico. The Upper Triassic El Alamar Formation overlies Paleozoic
crystalline and sedimentary rocks in the northern part of the Huizachal-Peregrina Anticlinorium and is absent in the Aramberri-Miquihuana. The Early-Middle
Jurassic La Boca Formation and La Joya overlie Precambrian–Paleozoic basement units, and lay beneath the Jurassic carbonate strata of the Sierra Madre Orien­
tal. Distribution of architectural elements in the formations correspond to CH– Channel-belt elements, SB– Sand Bedform, LA-DA– Lateral/Downstream Accretion,
SG– Sediment-Gravity-Flow, GB– Gravel Bar, OF– Overbank Fines, and LS– Laminated Sands Sheets. Regional bounding surfaces in the three units of the Huizachal
Group are AgBS– Aggradational Bounding Surface, DeBS– Degradational Bounding Surface, and MfBS– Major flooding Bounding Surface. V–Volcanics. Units drawn
approximately to scale.

cross-laminated and parallel-laminated sandsheets with facies Fa-1A
(lithofacies Sr and Sh) and fine-grained lithofacies Fl. Locally, lith­
ofacies St downlaps onto coarser deposits. Upward finning is typical in
the middle portion of the meander bend. Bar heads may show upward
coarsening because coarse material occupies lobes that migrated across
the channel and intercalate with fine upper bar deposits. Locally, ac­
cretion sets have local cut-and-fill relief and basal sediment-gravity
flows and/or cobble-to-boulder conglomerate lag along the channel
scours, reflecting cutback erosion and caving. Lateral-accretion ele­
ments rest over 4th-order bounding surfaces and are capped by 4th-or­
der bounding surfaces, with internal 3rd-order and lower lateral
accretion surfaces, separating dune and ripple cross-laminated sand­
stone of facies association FA-1 (lithofacies St, Sp, and Sr). Abandoned
channels preserved as clay-silt plugs include facies association Fa-2B
(lithofacies Fm and Fl). Crevasse channel and splays cap point bar de­
posits and are laminated sand lithofacies with tabular geometry. These
are capped by overbank fine elements (lithofacies Fm and Fl).
7.3. Ephemeral sand-bed meandering river
Architectural elements in this grouping are channel-fill, lateral ac­
cretion, laminated sand sheets, and overbank fines (e.g., Buntsandstein,
Spain, Miall, 1996). Subaerial deposits with facies Fa-2B (lithofacies Fm,
Fl, and P) and laminated sand beds with Sh and St lithofacies rest over
3rd-order bounding surfaces (Fig. 6, section 10). Sh lithofacies are
representative of the proximal regions of the depositional system.
Sandstone bodies comprise accretionary bundles of planar laminated
sandstone (Sh) and trough cross-laminated sandstone (St) separated by
internal scour surfaces and subaerial deposits. Sand lenses, desiccation
features, and possible mud drapes occur on 2nd or 3rd-order bounding
surfaces reflecting subaerial exposure of accretion surfaces on bars and
scours in channel-fills between flows. These would normally remain
subaqueous in perennial streams. Mud drapes separate accreted wedges
over 3rd-order bounding surfaces. Overbank flood elements include thin
sandstone sheets and mudstone. Microforms accrete locally during flash
floods. Sh lithofacies in channel-fills record periodic shallow flash-flood
sedimentation down dry channels, typical of semi-arid conditions. Also,
locally irregularly undulating erosional top surfaces of sandstones sheets
record degradational to semi-arid diastems, perhaps modified by rivu­
lets crossing the flood plain.
7.4. Ephemeral sheet-flood distal sand-bed river
LS elements are formed adjacent to channels from sheet flows and
locally flashy floods (e.g., Cooper Creek, Australia, Miall, 1996). Lateral
accretion elements with dominantly plane-laminated sand lithofacies
(Sh) are part of sandstone sheets in this depositional association. Lith­
ofacies Sp and St deposited in pockets incised into broad shallow sheets
during peak flows. Sandy bedform elements record superimposed flood
cycles in channel sheets (>0.5 m). Sand sheets are bound by 5th and
4th-order surfaces. Fine-grained rocks present lithological variability in
the succession, revealing how the depositional surface was flat and
readily susceptible to small changes in depositional processes (Miall,
1996). Sedimentation seems to have taken place in successive in­
crements during flood events or by slowly settling fine-grained sediment
from suspension. Interpreted sedimentary environments include flood­
plain, mudflat, and levees. Desiccation structures evidence pedogenic
processes, and bioturbation diastems respond to seasonal or longer-term
seasonal drying of the floodplain. Other channel-fill elements are poorly
defined or absent altogether. Evaporite crusts or subaerial deposits occur
on the upper surface of sandstone beds, and disruption of bedding by
evaporite crystallization is common. Cut-and-fill relief is recognizable
and records flood cycles scouring along the basal major flooding
bounding surface (Fig. 6, section 10).

14
 I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook

15
Fig. 10. Bounding surfaces and architectural-element hierarchies exposed at a road cut in the upper member of La Boca Formation at Valle de Huizachal. The analyzed road cut was divided into ten smaller control
points (numbers in ovals atop each measured section). The sections are approximately equally spaced to analyze the lateral variability of the different lithofacies, facies association, and architectural elements. Bounding
surfaces are circled. V– subvolcanic intrusions or dikes. FA– facies association with its respective division of facies. For sedimentary structures key see Fig. 3. Abbreviations like Sh and Sl– correspond to lithofacies at the
left of each column. SG, GB, LS, DA, and OF– are architectural elements (Fig. 7). Vertical arrows indicate cyclic successions of various types, showing the direction of grain-size fining and bed thinning. Numbers in circles
indicate the bounding surfaces. c: Clay; sl: Siltstone; sa: Sandstone; gr: Gravel.
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 11. Fluvial styles (not to scale) inferred from El Alamar Fm. with its respective paleocurrent strikes (arrows) for the localities of 1– Lomas de San Paulo
Tranquitas (gravelly or sandy meandering); 2– El Alamar Canyon (braided river); 5– La Boca Canyon (braided river). Each locality number is based on Fig. 1. Source
areas represent exposed crystalline basement units (key for lithology pattern fill in Fig. 3).
8. Regional correlations of Triassic-Jurassic red beds bounding
surfaces
8.1. Triassic
Rocks of the Huizachal Group were deposited in proximal alluvial
fans, braided streams, and distal meandering streams. The Upper
Triassic red beds in El Alamar Formation deposited over an emerging
topography produced by regional extension, which allowed the accu­
mulation of fluvial strata. The setting supported stream diversion, as
well as the growth and dissipation of alluvial fans. Hydraulic conditions
suggest aggradation of eroded alluvial plain surfaces by rivers with
abundant sediment load. Deposition also included alluvial mass wasting
from creep or debris flows, overland sheet flow, and gullying. Sediment-
gravity flows and thin sheet-wash deposits were coeval.
The fluvial elements in El Alamar Formation are channels and
channel-belts that filled aggrading valleys. The base and top of the
formation are degradational and aggradational bounding surfaces,
respectively. Major fining-upward cycles in sandstone have simple ver­
tical burrows and are topped by subaerial surfaces (Supplementary
Figure 2). Sandstone beds in localities near Galeana (Fig. 1) contain
well-to-partially-preserved logs and trace-fossil of Scoyenia ichnofacies,
with Planolites, and Scoyenia ichnoguilds; which are typical floodplain
and paleosol deposits in the Triassic of the study area (Buatois and
Mangano, 1993).
Upper Triassic deposits include an intraformational degradational
unconformity that forms a bounding surface, but no other evidence of
broad erosional surfaces is found (Fig. 9). Northern localities for El
Alamar Formation record predominately consistent aggradation with
minor intervening episodes of regional incision. In comparison, deposits
near the Huizachal Anticlinorium (Fig. 1) record incisional events that
were not (or are yet to be demonstrated) large enough to generate
regional bounding surfaces. For example, El Alamar Formation is
discontinuous in La Boca Canyon and is confined to local valley fills,
with no incisional correlation to other localities. The regional pattern
and timing of scouring into basement or prior sand sheets are uncertain.
Either El Alamar Formation was deposited over a single coeval set of
valley scours filled with fluvial strata, with no evidence of nested val­
leys; or, it was partitioned by nested-valley boundaries that show no
significant evidence of continuity beyond discrete valley limits (see
16
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
Holbrook, 2001).
Fluvial styles of El Alamar Formation (Fig. 11) transitionally change
along strike, north to south, from sandy meandering and braided sys­
tems at Lomas de San Paulo Tranquitas-San Marcos (Fig. 1), onto a
braided and gravel-sand meandering system at El Alamar and La Boca
canyons. These changes in fluvial styles record gravel- and sand-
dominated rivers, with high and low sinuosity, which deposited
fining-upward successions. The succession reflects proximity to areas
supplying coarse sediment sourced from local rocks (Ocampo-Diaz and
Rubio-Cisneros, 2013).
The sediment-gravity flows and fluvial channels of the Huizachal
Group dominantly discharged west-southwest. Paleocurrent analysis of
unidirectional structures in El Alamar Formation shows that localities to
the north had a transverse drainage pattern striking southwest, in
contrast to a northwest-southeast axial drainage lineation observed in
the southern outcrops. The sediment provenance was from northern
sources, such as the rocks hosted in the southernmost thrust front of the
Ouachita System in the Texas Uplifting, and from the basement units
exposed in the west footwall of the Huizachal-Peregrina Anticlinorium,
which include Mesoproterozoic, Neoproterozoic, and Paleozoic rocks
(see Fig. 6 in Dickinson and Gehrels, 2010), which fed this succession
and made it to prograde from east to west. Similarities in sedimentary
architecture and detrital zircon ages correlate the Late Triassic Alamar
paleoriver with its marine counterpart the Zacatecas Formation. Inter­
pretation of a one-river connection between these units is dubious, as no
valley-shape unconformity linking all the outcrops in northeastern
Mexico of these units has been found so far. Moreover, it seems that El
Alamar Formation rivers drained to the southwest toward the accumu­
lation region of the Zacatecas Formation. Drainage may have reflected a
tributary system with multiple inputs of axial rivers, contrary to an
intricate distributary network similar to a regional megafan (see Weis­
man et al., 2010; Hartley et al., 2010). Instead, a series of intra moun­
tainous drainages convey into common rivers through nested and
segmented valleys with rivers flowing over basement steps. In north­
eastern Mexico, the drainage routes in the valleys avulsed during
extension and probably sidestepped highlands toward the paleo-Pacific.
8.2. Jurassic
The narrow and geographically limited Late Triassic basins in
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 12. Schematic sketch of the fluvial styles inferred from La Boca Formation
with respective paleocurrent strikes (arrows) for the localities of 3– Aramberri
(braided shallow perennial sand-bed river/ephemeral sand-bed meandering),
4– El Olmo Canyon (sandy meandering), 5– La Boca Canyon (braided river), 6–
Caballeros Canyon (debris flow braided), 7– Peregrina Canyon (debris flow
braided), 9– Valle de Huizachal (gravelly or sandy meandering), and 10–
Miquihuana (sheet flood distal sand-bed). Locations for each locality by number
are in Fig. 1. Source areas represent exposed crystalline basement, volcanic
rocks, and early sedimentary units (key for lithology pattern fill in Fig. 3).
northeastern Mexico evolved into a back-arc extensional basin in
Jurassic. La Boca Formation in northeastern Mexico is genetically
related to the Nazas volcanic arc. In Early to Middle Jurassic (Pliens­
bachian-Aalenian, ~189.5–171.6 Ma), Mexico developed a convergent
plate margin with orthogonal subduction along the paleo-Pacific rim
(Ocampo-Díaz, 2011). Meanwhile, the Gulf of Mexico remained as a
restricted basin. The Yucatan block was near to the present coast of
Tamaulipas by that time (Molina-Garza et al., 1992) and the eastern Gulf
coast of northern Mexico was a passive margin. The West Pangaean arc
along the paleo-Pacific rim formed igneous rocks now incorporated into
the Sierra Madre Terrane and Maya Block (Ocampo-Diaz et al., 2019).
The continental magmatic arcs of Nazas, Chapolapa, and Todos Santos
in Mexico introduced volcanic deposits into Jurassic nonmarine strata
and marginal marine red beds of eastern Mexico. Related normal
faulting in central and northeastern Mexico was coeval with strike-slip
faulting developing in the west, trending parallel to the convergent
margin. Jurassic strata accumulated in the resulting forearc, back-arc,
and intra-arc basins (Ocampo-Díaz, 2011; Lawton and Molina-Garza,
2014; Ocampo-Díaz et al., 2019).
La Boca Formation accumulated in a back-arc extensional basin be­
tween a Nazas volcanic center and basement near to the Huizachal-
Peregrina Anticlinorium, and in individual (half-?) grabens separated
by interbasinal ridges. The nearby basement was not extensively
exposed during the Early Jurassic before being more deeply buried by
Jurassic volcanic rocks. La Boca Formation deposits consist of channels
fills and channel belts filling valleys, punctuated by significant incision
events marked by coexisting local scouring (Figs. 9 and 10). Vertical
repetition of angular unconformities located under valleys and local
scour reactivation surfaces in the volcanic succession in La Boca For­
mation suggest intermittent episodes of co-depositional deformation.
Steep angular unconformities likely record volcanic emplacement that
changed channel and overbank facies of the braided river deposits and
separated architectural elements from debris flows by 4th and 5th-order
17
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
bounding surfaces, possibly of syneruptive origin. Aggradational
bounding surfaces mark flooding from flashy discharges and long-term
settling deposits in standing waters.
Channel migration and flooding during La Boca deposition in Ara­
mberri (Fig. 1) were restricted to discrete depocenters because of
flanking volcanic activity and relief on local basement highs. Loading
with volcanic materials drives sedimentary cycles with alternating sur­
faces of aggradation, degradation, and flooding in the sedimentary
sequence (e.g., Miall, 1996). It is possible that fan-head aggradation is
connected to sediment supply changes from the continental highs,
perhaps associated with episodic tectonic activity (Holbrook et al.,
2006). Increased sediment supply from the source builds local topog­
raphy and the river channels avulse to a lower part of the basin to fill,
and compensate basin topography toward a regionally consistent
elevation (Holbrook and Miall, 2020). Likewise, lower sediment supply
can cause fan-head entrenchment. As such, these avulsions are not
necessarily tied to sea level or tectonics, but could instead record climate
change or normal autocyclic fan response under sustained subsidence
conditions without an additional allocyclic driver (e.g., Holbrook and
Miall, 2020).
Fluvial styles vary upsection, from braided to ephemeral sandy
meandering, at the northern outcrop of La Boca Formation in Aramberri
(Fig. 1), and have paleocurrents oriented north-south. The appearance
of common laminated sands sheets defines the La Boca Formation,
contrasting with the upper member in La Boca and the La Joya Forma­
tion, especially in the southernmost localities (Fig. 1). Some of these
sandstone sheets record shallow unconfined flash floods across flood­
plains separated by periods of desiccation. To the south, the locality of El
Olmo Canyon (Fig. 1) records a sand meandering river-style that eroded
well-developed degradational surfaces associated with minor crevassing
conditions (Fig. 4). Rocks exposed at El Olmo Canyon have relatively
east-west paleocurrent orientations. South from El Olmo, in La Boca
Canyon (Fig. 1) sediments are consistent with gravelly braided rivers
with degradational bounding surfaces and shift laterally into high-
sinuosity single-thread meandering rivers.
La Boca Formation in the southern localities of Caballeros and
Huizachal-Peregrina canyons (Fig. 1) records gravel-bed braided rivers
in a distributary fluvial system with high-energy stream flow. The
stratigraphy also records degradation and aggradation by debris flows,
predominantly sediment-gravity flows driven by the proximity of the
sources to the fluvial system. La Boca Formation here preserves a
braided fluvial style, with depositional dip and paleo-flow trending west
(Fig. 1). Rock fragments and coarse texture argue the most influential
sedimentary sources for the sections in two later localities, were pre­
existing rocks are close to the source area rather than from later volcanic
sources. The fluvial style of La Boca Formation in the southernmost
studied study site Miquihuana (Fig. 1) was distal sheet sand-beds that
flooded southwest (Fig. 12).
La Boca Formation exposed at the Huizachal Valley (Fig. 1) differs
from exposures in the Huizachal-Peregrina Anticlinorium and other
studied areas. La Boca Formation at the Huizachal Valley is divided into
two members. The lower member has a gravel-bed braided fluvial style
with paleocurrents oriented west-northwest (Fig. 12). “L”-form and
plane disc-morphology organo-sedimentary structures associate with a
major fining-upward cycle in sandstone; this sequence is topped by
subaerial surfaces (Supplementary Figure 2). Floodplain deposits at
Valle de Huizachal (Fig. 1) contain well to partially preserved logs and
taxon of Scoyenia? or Mermia? ichnofacies. The lower member of La
Boca Formation is contemporary with subduction in the west. In
contrast, the upper member of La Boca Formation in Valle de Huizachal
records meandering channels with paleocurrents trending northwest.
The upper member onlaps on the western margin of the basin in some
localities. Tilting is evidenced by multiple angular unconformities in the
upper member of La Boca Formation at Huizachal Valley. Subduction
did not otherwise deform La Boca Formation deposits or the rest of the
Huizachal Group. A strike-slip or transtensional tectonic pattern
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
Fig. 13. Schematic sketch of the fluvial–alluvial styles (not to scale) inferred
from La Joya Formation for the localities of 1– Lomas de San Paulo Tranquitas
(debris flow braided), 4– El Olmo Canyon (gravelly or sandy meandering), 5–
La Boca Canyon (debris flow braided), 6– Caballeros Canyon (debris flow
braided), 7– Peregrina Canyon (debris flow braided), 8– Novillo Canyon
(braided river), 9– Valle de Huizachal (gravelly or sandy meandering). Loca­
tions for each locality by number are in Fig. 1. Source areas represent exposed
crystalline basement units and pre-existing sedimentary units (key for lithology
pattern fill in Fig. 3).
extended from the paleo-Pacific border into the narrow northeastern
Mexico during Early Jurassic.
La Joya Formation deposited over heterogeneous basement with
faulting, extending into the sedimentary cover, and was partly capped
with newly formed arc volcanic rocks. The La Joya Formation filled
extensional basins and consists of sediment recycled from the underlying
El Alamar and La Boca formations, volcanic strata, and nearby basement
units. Flow was strong enough to deposit thick beds of conglomerates.
Sediment-gravity-flow deposits accumulated in alluvial fan distribu­
taries that fed directly from basement heights.
The basal angular unconformity in La Joya Formation is locally of
either degradational or amalgamation origin. Sediments eroded from a
fan sourced near a scarp may break deposition and form amalgamation
bounding surfaces. The angular unconformity at the base of the forma­
tion reflects deformation in an extensional regime, and the formation
pinches out onto basement highs. La Joya Formation rivers alternatively
incised and aggraded its alluvial fan deposits, as recorded by aggrada­
tional bounding surfaces, preserving sedimentary recycling.
A regional composite surface boundary (Holbrook and Bhattacharya,
2012) makes a rough to uneven basal unconformity for the La Joya
Formation. The composite surfaces of La Joya valleys reoccupy El Ala­
mar and La Boca valleys to make compound valleys before the deposi­
tion of marine-influenced strata. The sedimentary succession represents
a set of gravel-influenced fluvial styles, including gravel-bed braided
and gravel to sandy meandering. Architectural elements of various al­
luvial channel facies exposed in most sections (Fig. 9). The paleocurrents
from all fluvial styles were draining to the west and to the southwest
(Fig. 13). The top of the sequence correlates to the caseation of faulting
from crustal extension; the surface records slow deposition and the onset
of Late Jurassic marine transgression.
9. Conclusions
This study in northeastern Mexico describes informal surfaces, ar­
chitecture, and fluvial styles in the Upper Triassic stratigraphy to Lower-
Middle Jurassic continental red beds known as El Alamar, La Boca, and
18
Journal of South American Earth Sciences 110 (2021) 103366
La Joya formations of the Huizachal Group. The Huizachal Group re­
cords deposition during a climatically semi-arid environment set in a
back-arc and continental-rift setting. Lower-flow regime rivers depos­
ited most of all three formations, locally and intermittently depositing
thick beds of conglomerates and upper flow regime fluvial strata.
The Upper Triassic El Alamar Formation comprises gravelly or sandy
deposits of meandering and braided systems. Channels record rivers that
flowed directly over basement units in northeastern Mexico, which were
located in-between western equatorial Pangea and were west of the
southernmost expression of circum-Atlantic rifting. River tributaries
flowed downdip from basement heights of the southernmost Ouachita
near to the Texas Uplift escarpment and from basement units in the west
footwall of the Huizachal-Peregrina Anticlinorium and flowed into the
paleo-Pacific. The continental red beds in La Boca Formation were
deposited by rivers in valleys near a volcanic center of the Nazas Arc and
filled areas of crustal extension. Strata of the Lower Jurassic La Boca
Formation are deposits from shallow perennial sand-bed rivers, braided
systems, gravel-sand meanders, ephemeral sheet-flood distal sand-bed
rivers, and ephemeral sand-bed meandering rivers. The Middle
Jurassic La Joya Formation deposited from debris-flow-to-braided-river
systems and gravelly and sandy meandering rivers. La Joya Formation
deposition was coeval with reactivated faults and exhumation of the
crust, formed from debris flows, also from rivers scouring basement
units and faulted sedimentary cover, while deposited over early formed
arc volcanic-arc rocks.
The fluvial Huizachal Group is dissected by sequence boundaries.
The Upper Triassic sequence is cut by major bounding surfaces recording
aggradation, degradation, and flooding processes. The Early Jurassic La
Boca Formation deposits are separated by major bounding surfaces that
recorded flooding, degradational, and aggradational events. Middle
Jurassic La Joya Formation binds amalgamation, aggradational, and
degradational bounding surfaces beneath a regional marine trans­
gressive interval. All three formations include architectural elements of
overbank fines, lateral and downstream accretion, laminated sand sheet,
sandy bedform, sediment-gravity-flow, and gravel bars deposits.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was partially funded by the following institutions, Amer­
ican Association of Petroleum Geologists Short Course grants (AAPG,
2009). International Association of Sedimentologists (IASS; Student
Grant, 2008), Society of Sedimentary Geology (SEPM; Robert J. and
Ruth A. Weimer Student Research Grant, 2011), ConsejoNacional de
Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT, 2008–2012), also by the Programa de
FortalecimientoInstitucional de la Secretaria de Educacion Pública
(PIFI-SEP), “Estratigrafía y geoquímica de sedimentos terrígenos del
Mesozoico y Cenozoico en el noreste de México” -PAICyT- UANL
CT1377-06, “Procesos magmáticos relacionados a diferentes etapas de la
evolución de la Sierra Madre Oriental, NE de México” - PAICyT-UANL
CT1703-07, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra from the UANL-
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. National Science Foundation
(NSF) grant EAR- 0443387 supported some fieldwork. The corre­
sponding author thanks the hereunder advisors, Uwe Jenchen (PAICyT-
UANL), Juán Alonso Ramírez-Fenández (PAICyT-UANL), Tim Lawton
(NSF), José Rafael Barboza-Gudiño, Carita Augustsson, Yam Zul Ernesto
Ocampo-Díaz, María Fernanda Campa-Uranga (1940–2019†), RaúlGar­
cía-Obregón, Martín Guerrero-Suástegui, Margarita Martínez-Paco,
Tomás Cossio, Rigoberto García-Santos, Iván Elias Lazcano, and sup­
porters of Grupo De Geología Exógeno y Del Sedimentario. Thanks to
Peter Wilcock, Patrick Belmont, and Gary O’Brien for teaching sediment
I.I. Rubio Cisneros and J. Holbrook
transport in stream assessment (Utah State University/S.J. & Jessie E.
Quinney College of Natural Resources). The text was edited by José
Jorge Aranda Gómez and Elisa Fitz.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jsames.2021.103366.
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