Ortega Gutierrez 2014

A review of batholiths and other plutonic intrusions of Mexico
Fernando Ortega-Gutiérrez, Mariano Elı́as-Herrera, Dante J. Morán-Zenteno,

Luigi Solari, Laura Luna, Peter Schaaf
PII: S1342-937X(14)00179-8
DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2014.05.002
Reference: GR 1263
To appear in: Gondwana Research
Received date: 12 November 2013

Revised date: 25 April 2014
Accepted date: 3 May 2014
Please cite this article as: Ortega-Gutiérrez, Fernando, Elı́as-Herrera, Mariano,

Morán-Zenteno, Dante J., Solari, Luigi, Luna, Laura, Schaaf, Peter, A review of
batholiths and other plutonic intrusions of Mexico, Gondwana Research (2014), doi:
10.1016/j.gr.2014.05.002
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A review of batholiths and other plutonic intrusions of Mexico
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Fernando Ortega Gutiérrez1, Mariano Elías-Herrera1, Dante J. Morán-Zenteno1, Luigi Solari2,
Laura Luna1, Peter Schaaf3
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1
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geología, Cd. Universitaria, 04510,
México, D.F., México

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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Geociencias, Juriquilla, Querétaro,
México
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geofísica, Cd. Universitaria, 04510,
México, D.F., México

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Corresponding author: Luigi A. Solari, solari@unam.mx

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ABSTRACT
Granitic plutons constitute a major portion of the Phanerozoic continental crust of
Mexico, with the great majority (ca. 90 %) associated to the Laramide Late-Cretaceous-Eocene
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orogeny and the eastward subduction of the Pacific Ocean plates, as well as to magmatic arcs
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essentially built since the early Mesozoic at the western margin of North America. Exposed
mainly as a wide (up to 300 km) and over 3,000 km long batholithic belt at the Mexican Pacific
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margin from Baja California to Chiapas, granitoids conform large intrusive complexes and
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hundreds of smaller plutons, the age of which vary from ca. 1,400 Ma (Mesoproterozoic) to ca.
10 Ma (late Miocene). In many cases uplift and erosion have revealed the deep roots of the
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batholiths, whereas in other places many intrusions were emplaced in upper crustal
environments, as suggested by the extremely variable cooling rates of >200 ºC/Ma (very
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shallow) to 1-10ºC/Ma (very deep).
Lithologies and isotopic data indicate unambiguously the central participation of the local
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lower crust in the genesis of the batholiths and plutons, imprinting on them marked petrologic,
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geochemical and structural zoning across the Paleozoic paleomargins and through the present
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NW-trending Mexican continental edge according to the lithospheric component involved:
Laurentia in the northern and northwestern regions of Mexico, accreted Mesozoic terranes in
western Mexico, and Oaxaquia (Gondwana) in eastern and southern Mexico.
Major problems related to the evolution of the Mexican main granitoids are outlined in
time slices for the Proterozoic, Paleozoic, Permo-Triassic, Jurassic, Early Cretaceous, Late
Cretaceous-Paleogene and Neogene, which represent in Mexico major epochs of crustal growth
and continental recycling, mainly associated with Pacific-North America convergence, but also
with extensional and transpressional events that altogether marked, not only the lithological and
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structural evolution of most of the country, but also its extraordinary mineral wealth. Finally,
some preliminar comparisons (differences and similarities) are made between the Mexican
batholiths and other plutonic complexes in Central Asia (Lhasa Terrane) and Japan.
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KEY WORDS: Granite, batholith, crustal growth, Mexico, Laramide, tectonic exhumation
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CONTENTS
1. Introduction p. 5
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2. Previous work p. 7
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3. General distribution and geology of the main batholiths p. 7
3.1. Baja California batholithic belt (Mexican Peninsular Ranges) p. 8

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3.2. Los Cabos batholithic complex p. 12
3.3. Sonora Laramide batholithic complex p. 16

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3.4. Sinaloa-Durango-Nayarit batholithic complex p. 20
3.5. Southern Mexico batholithic belts p. 23

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3.5.1. Puerto Vallarta batholith p. 23

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3.5.2. Manzanillo batholith p. 26

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3.5.3. Jilotlán batholith p. 27
3.5.4. La Huacana batholith p. 27
3.5.5. Arteaga batholith p. 28
3.5.6. Sierra Madre del Sur batholiths and smaller plutons p. 28
3.5.7. Coastal Chiapanecan Neogene batholithic belt p. 35
3.6. Pre-Mesozoic arc-related (exposed) batholiths p. 36
3.6.1. Chiapas batholith p. 36
3.6.2. La Mixtequita batholith p. 40

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3.6.3. Honduras, Zaniza and Cuanana plutons p. 41
3.7. Eastern Permo-Triassic batholithic belt (mostly buried) p. 43
3.8. Continental interior plutons (rift, shear zone, and arc-related) p. 44
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3.8.1. Mesoproterozoic plutons p. 45
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3.8.2. Early Paleozoic plutons p. 46
3.8.3. Late Paleozoic and Triassic plutons p. 49
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3.8.4. Cretaceous-Paleogene plutons p. 52
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3.8.5. Cenozoic plutons p. 55
3.9. Alkaline intrusive complexes of NE Mexico p. 57

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3.10. Plutons of the Sierra Madre Oriental p. 60
4. Tectonic evolution of the plutonic intrusives of Mexico p. 61

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4.1. Mesoproterozoic p. 62
4.2. Early Paleozoic and Carboniferous-early Permian p. 63

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4.3. Permian-Triassic p. 64
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4.4. Jurassic p. 65
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4.5. Early Cretaceous p. 65
4.6. Late Cretaceous-Paleogene p. 66
4.7. Neogene p. 68
4.8. Origin of the Late Cretaceous silicic plutonism in NW Mexico p. 69
4.9. Origin and tectonics of the alkaline massif plutonic centers of NE Mexico p. 70
4.10. Brief comparisons between the main batholithic belts of western Mexico
and major plutonic belts of south Central Asia and Japan p. 72
5. Conclusions p. 74
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6. Acknowledgements p. 75
7. References p. 76
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1. Introduction
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Granitic rocks sensu lato (alkaline granite to syenite, and tonalite to quartz diorite) and
associated mafic and ultramafic intrusions of the continental margins constitute one of the largest
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components of the middle and upper crust (Vielzeuf et al., 1990; Wedepohl, 1995; Kemp et al.,
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2007; Condie et al., 2009), and have been continuously generated since Hadean times (e.g. Wilde
et al., 2001; Harrison et al., 2005). In addition, intrusions in the continental interiors are
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generated by distinct tectonic settings, including rifts (e.g. Eby, 1990) and major shear zones
(e.g. Ingram and Hutton, 1994). The great majority of these rocks are assembled at convergent
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margins during subduction of oceanic plates and island arcs interacting with the continental
margins, eventually forming the roots of magmatic arcs (batholiths) that commonly extend for
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thousands of kilometers along the plate margins, such as the Cordillera of western North
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America (e.g. Hamilton and Myers, 1967), the Andes of South America (e.g. Pitcher, 1978) and
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the Altaids of central Asia (e.g. Wilhem et al., 2012).
The geologic structure of Mexico is characterized by its youth (<1.85 Ga) and a complex
tectonostratigraphic architecture (Table 1) dominated by accreted Paleozoic and Mesozoic
orogenic terranes. Although undeformed plutons as old as 1.4 Ga are present, they constitute a
very minor proportion of the exposed geology of the country. During the Phanerozoic, the
prevalent convergent margin character of the Mexican territory that has been active since the
amalgamation of Pangea in the late Paleozoic, imprinted to the middle and upper crust of Mexico
a characteristic granitic composition, which is particularly well exposed along its entire western
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margin, and should also be buried across most of the country, as indicated by the common
presence of Paleozoic to Jurassic granitoids found in numerous oil wells drilled in eastern
Mexico (Wilson, 1990; Jacobo-Albarrán, 1996; Torres-Vargas et al., 1999), as well as by
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dispersed outcrops of intrusions of several ages extending from Chihuahua to Oaxaca states.
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Mexican batholiths thus provide crucial information on the tectonic evolution of the country and
adjacent orogenic (i.e. the southern Cordillera) and cratonic (i.e. southwestern Laurentia)
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domains since the Middle Proterozoic. However, although deformed granites (actually gneisses)
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are present in the roots of the deep orogens of Mexico evolved from the Paleoproterozoic to the
Cenozoic, these rocks are not included in this review because profound tectonic processes in
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addition to magmatism participated in their genesis and are complexly mixed with metamorphic
rocks in the orogens.

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Thus, the main purpose of this contribution is to present a review of the geological,
geochemical and petrologic aspects of the most relevant granitic units of Mexico (see Table 2 in
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data repository), and to discuss the tectonic significance of selected batholithic complexes as
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well as smaller intrusions that have dominated the Paleozoic to Neogene tectonic evolution of
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Mexico.
Here, and for the description of the granitic units, we followed the current definition of
batholiths, namely, simple or composite plutonic intrusions with a minimum exposed areas of
100 km2, whereas pluton is indistinctly used in reference to any intrusive igneous body of
batholithic or lower size. In addition, batholithic belts or complexes are closely related plutons
exposed in relatively narrow bands hundreds to thousands of kilometers long. Individual
intrusions as well as some batholiths in Mexico have received different names according to the
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author(s) preferences, and consequently we will follow the names more often used in the
literature for each particular plutonic unit described in this contribution.
2. Previous work
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While numerous local and regional papers have been published dealing with granitic
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intrusions of Mexico (see Table 2), this work constitutes the first attempt to present a
comprehensive synthesis on the principal geological attributes including geographic distribution
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age, petrology, geochemistry, emplacement and exhumation data for most granites in Mexico, as
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well as on the main aspects of their tectonic evolution. The distribution of granitic rocks of
Mexico shown in the maps is taken form the Geologic Map of Mexico (scale 1:2,000,000) of
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Ortega-Gutierrez et al. (1992), although the Servicio Geológico Mexicano
(http://www.sgm.gob.mx/) has published much more detailed geologic maps at 1:50,000 and 1:
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250,000 scales where many new but minor granitic outcrops are represented.
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3. General distribution and geology of the main batholiths

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Intrusive igneous rocks occupy most of the Mexican Pacific continental margin extending
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well over 3,000 km from Baja California to Chiapas states (Figure 1). The belt exhibits variable
widths acquiring a maximum of around 300 km at the extended (unrestored) continental margin
of Sonora state. The intrusions may be classified in several lithotectonic groups according to
their age, geographic distribution, size, geochemical-petrological composition, intruded rocks,
and tectonic setting. These plutonic belts may range in lithology from ultramafic (in rarely
exposed layered gabbros) to leucogranitic and pegmatitic, whereas their emplacement ages span
from the Early Mesoproterozoic to the late Miocene. It is evident (Figure 2) that the great
majority (87%) of the granitoids of Mexico is of Late Cretaceous-Paleogene age (Laramidic).

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Early Paleozoic granites are rare, whereas late Paleozoic intrusions conform about 12%, and
Precambrian granites only 0.3% of the country. Inland intrusions are also common, but much
smaller in size and constituting shallow level stocks, most of which are of early Tertiary age. The
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origin of the batholiths along the Mexican continental margin and of most of the interior plutons
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is essentially related to the continuous subduction of Pacific oceanic plates beneath the North
American continent. Pre, syn and postectonic examples have been documented, and the traversed
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crust varies in age from Paleoproterozoic (1.8-1.6 Ga) to Cretaceous.
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3.1. Baja California batholithic belt (Mexican Peninsular Ranges)
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The Cordilleran margin of North America contains one of the largest batholithic belts of
the Earth, extending more or less continuously from southern Alaska to southern Mexico. A
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main part of this belt is represented by the Sierra Nevada and the Peninsular Ranges batholiths in
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California and its continuation across the USA-Mexico border apparently along the entire Baja
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California Peninsula (Figures 3, 4 and 5).

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The granitic rocks exposed or buried there can be subdivided into two major continuous
outcrop domains: The Juárez-San Pedro Mártir batholith (JSPMB) in the northern half of the
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peninsula, and Los Cabos batholith (LCB) forming its southern tip. Continuity of both domains
at depth as a single batholithic belt is suggested by the sporadic presence of small plutonic
intrusions with similar ages and lithologies distributed between the two segments (e.g. Santa
Rosalía and Loreto areas, Figure 6) and indirectly by geophysical data, chiefly gravity and
magnetics (Servicio Geológico Mexicano, 2008), (Figure 4).
3.1.1 Juárez-San Pedro Mártir batholith (JSPMB)
3.1.1.1 Tectonic setting

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Forming the continuation in Mexico of the U.S.A. Peninsular Ranges batholith, the
JSPMB (Figure 5) is the largest (~560x110 km) and most continuously exposed batholithic
complex in Mexico; it is currently subdivided in the western, central or transitional and eastern
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zones on the bases of contrasting geologic age patterns, lithology, geochemistry, crustal
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structure, emplacement depth, and the nature and age of intruded units (Table 3) (e.g. Gastil,
1975; Gromet and Silver, 1987; Silver and Chappell, 1988; Schmidt et al., 2002; Busby, 2004).
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South of the Agua Blanca fault (see Figure 3), the western zone is dominated by small, shallow
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intrusions of gabbroic to dioritic or trondhjemitic composition associated with
volcanosedimentary deposits of the Early Cretaceous Alisitos arc, and north of the fault with the
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Jurassic-Cretaceous Santiago Peak continental arc. The transitional and eastern zones are
dominated by large-volume, mainly granitic to tonalitic plutons intruded into continental slope
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metamorphosed flysch deposits of Paleozoic to Jurassic age. These zones are separated by
important structural boundaries that are reflected in abrupt or gradual changes of crustal
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thickness, geochemical, lithological and morphological features. The Santillán-Barrera line in the
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western slopes of the batholith (Gastil et al., 1975; Schmidt et al., 2009) constitutes one of the
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main boundaries, and coincides with the transition between the western ocean kindred terranes
and the eastern continental crust in the peninsula (Schmidt et al., 2009, their figure 2).
Interestingly, the highest topographic relief (>3,000 m above sea level) is not mirrored by a
deeper Moho, but its maximum depression to 42 km is shifted 25 km to the west of the highest
summits, indicating isostatic tectonic controls, the nature of which remains unclear. The
ilmenite-magnetite line in Baja California (Gastil et al., 1990, 1994) defines another fundamental
geologic boundary along the JSPMB, which separates the more oxidized (magnetite-bearing),
smaller (up to 100 km2) and shallower (≤9 km) gabbroic ring complexes and tonalitic I-type
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plutons of the western zone, from the much larger (up to >1,000 km2) and deep-seated (15-20
km) I-type tonalitic to S-type granitic intrusions of the central and eastern zones containing the
less oxidized ilmenite-bearing assemblages. The continental crust east of the Juárez-San Pedro
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Mártir detachment fault system (see Figure 3) thins out rapidly from ~40 km thick beneath the
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batholith to 20 km along the coastal region of the Gulf of California.
An additional fundamental tectonic subdivision of the JSPMB batholith into the northern
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and southern sectors is based on the WNW-trending active Agua Blanca fault, a long-lived shear
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zone that played a fundamental role in the Early-middle Cretaceous accretion of the oceanic
Alisitos arc south of the fault (Wetmore et al., 2002). Cretaceous plutons and volcanic rocks in
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the wall rocks of the peninsular batholith north of the fault show clear evidence of continental
affinity, whereas very little exists along the accreted arc south of the fault (Wetmore et al., 2002).
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According to Busby (2004), the Alisitos Cretaceous arc formed outboard of a narrow
intraoceanic backarc basin fringing the continent that by the end of the Early Cretaceous was
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closed, causing the arc to collide with the pre-Cretaceous continental margin along a high-angle,
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east-verging suture that now separates the western zone from the eastern zone of the batholith.
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Schmidt et al. (2002) discuss other evolutionary models, including, backarc and double
subduction zones settings.
3.1.1.2. Age and petrological data
The large amount of dates of the JSPMB obtained by different isotopic methods may be
related to their igneous emplacement (U-Pb, zircon) or cooling and exhumation (K-Ar, 40Ar/Ar39
and apatite fission track). Ortega-Rivera (2003) and Schmidt et al. (2009) presented excellent
compilations for these ages, which reveal important facts and constraints on the tectonic history
of the batholithic complex; for example, the distribution across the batholith of crystallization
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ages (U-Pb, zircon), albeit scarce, still reflects a clear pattern of eastward younging consistent
with data gathered by the other dating methods. The pattern suggests migration of the magmatic
source axis from west to east in the central and eastern zones of the batholith at rates that varied
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from ~1 to 10 mm/year. Zircon ages on the western zone (Silver and Chappell, 1988) range from
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140 to 105 Ma, whereas those of the easternmost side of the batholith are much younger at 85-75
Ma (Grove, 2003).
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Chemical and lithological zoning of the batholith complex accompanies this age
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asymmetry (see Table 3), with gabbroic-dominant lithologies in the western zone, tonalitic-
granodioritic compositions in the central (transitional) zone and granite-dominated lithologies in

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the eastern zone. This pattern is mirrored by other petrochemical components such as the
Shand´s index (A/CNK) from metaluminous in the west to peraluminous in the east, the flat
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(west) to steep (east) slopes of the REE elements, and the oxidation state of intrusives, as defined
by the magnetite-ilmenite line set through the central zone of the batholith.
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3.1.1.3. Cooling and exhumation

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Cooling and exhumation of the batholith was a very complex process that proceeded at
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different times and rates in different places depending on several factors such as intrusion
volume and age, emplacement depth and local o regional tectonic conditions, including the
Laramide shortening event, as well as the possible delamination of the Mesozoic lithospheric
roots after cessation of the orogeny (e.g. OĆonnor and Chase, 1989). The apatite fission track
method depicts the same younging pattern as the U-Pb crystallization of the plutons indicating a
sequential cooling from west (86.3 Ma) to east (51.5 Ma). Interestingly, the biotite 40Ar/39Ar ages
(closure temperature of 345-280 ºC, e.g. Harrison et al., 1985) are essentially coeval or vary only
one or two million years compared with the hornblende cooling ages, indicating faster rates
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(probably without exhumation) in the short interval 81 to 85 Ma of up to 100ºC/Ma for the
batholith. On the other hand, the study of several discrete areas of the batholith using radiometric
methods with contrasting closure temperatures of ~800ºC for zircon (U-Pb) and 120ºC for apatite
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(fission track) indicate much slower cooling rates of 11-16ºC/Ma for plutons in the western zone,
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and about 6-11.5ºC/Ma for those in the central and eastern zones, features that may be better
explained by differential tectonic exhumations rates. Careful studies (Axen et al., 2000) have
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shown that cooling of the JSPMB in northeastern Baja California occurred in several steps, with
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rates as low as 1ºC/Ma for the 65-45 Ma interval, and up to 50ºC/Ma for the 10-15 Ma to present
time interval. The higher cooling rates were caused by tectonic denudation on detachment faults
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associated with the Neogene opening of the Gulf of California. An earliest phase of cooling (91-
86 Ma) from igneous temperatures of 700-750ºC to 40Ar/39Ar biotite closure temperatures

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representing a cooling rate of ~80ºC/Ma was documented for some intrusions of La Posta
batholith exposed at the Mexico-U.S.A. border region in the east central Peninsular Ranges
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batholith (Grove et al., 2003), apparently in response to stresses associated with the voluminous
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emplacement of the batholith 96±3 Ma ago. The San Pedro Mártir pluton south of the Agua
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Blanca fault was dated using zircon, monazite and biotite (cf. Ortega-Rivera et al., 1997) with
the most coherent data defining a linear trend from 97 to 83 million years and a slope (cooling
rate) of 36ºC/Ma.
Geobarometry performed across the batholith in the San Pedro Mártir area west of San
Quintín yielded (see Table 4) the following average values for the three zones (Schmidt et al.,
2009): western zone 2.2 kbar (8-9 km), transitional zone, 5.33 kbar (~19.5 km), and eastern zone
4.9 kbar (~17.9 km). These emplacement depths in the transitional and eastern zones of the
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batholith represent the bottom of the ductile middle crust, whereas the western zone indicates
exhumation from shallow levels in the brittle upper crust.
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3.2. Los Cabos batholithic complex (LCBC)
3.2.1. Tectonic setting
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Figure 6 shows the location of the Los Cabos batholithic complex uplifted between two
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regional faults at the southern tip of the Baja California Peninsula in northwestern Mexico. It
forms the core of the La Paz crystalline massif also known as Los Cabos block (Schaaf et al.,
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2000), which is a large and continuous batholith (166x30 km) of quartz dioritic to granitic
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composition emplaced within pre-Cretaceous high-grade ortho and paragneisses, aluminous
schists and migmatites intruded by gabbroic-dioritic plutons locally characterized by a layered

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structure (El Novillo Complex, Figure 7). These gabbroic units underwent brittle and ductile
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orogenic deformation and high-grade metamorphism in the Early Cretaceous prior to the
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emplacement of the main batholith (e.g. Aranda-Gómez and Pérez-Venzor, 1989; Schaaf et al.,
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2000) and were thus mostly excluded from detailed considerations in this work. The batholith is
well exposed from La Paz City to Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur and beyond, including,
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Cerralvo and San José islands in the Gulf of California. It is composed of at least four batholithic
complexes: Los Cabos in the south (granodiorite, tonalite, granite, and minor quartz diorite),
Sierra La Cruces in the north (granite and tonalite), a large but very poorly known batholitic
intrusion (40x24 km) exposed in the Sierra La Trinidad (granite, granodiorite and minor tonalite)
in normal fault contact with the San José del Cabo Miocene extensional basin, and the granitic to
tonalitic intrusions forming large areas in the Cerralvo and San José islands of the southern Gulf
of California.
3.2.2. Age and petrological data

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Systematic studies of the igneous rocks composing the batholith (see Figure 8) have
reported ages essentially based on K-Ar, Rb-Sr and a few on Sm-Nd methods, and thus reflect
cooling rather than emplacement ages. The deformed gabbroic rocks exposed along the western
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margin of the batholith were dated (Rb-Sr 4-point whole rock isochron) at 129±15 Ma (Schaaf et
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al., 2000) and taken as the age of crystallization, thus setting a lower limit for the age of the
batholith. K/Ar ages at 115±2.4 and 111±3 Ma on hornblende for the same gabbroic unit
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reported by Frizzel (1984) and Solé et al. (2007) respectively, reflect the approximate age of
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cooling to about 500ºC. The same gabbroic complex also yielded a Rb-Sr whole rock-biotite age
of 116±2 Ma suggesting a mean cooling-rate of 17ºC/Ma. However, given the large errors
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associated with the Rb-Sr isochron, the cooling rate could have been equally extremely fast. The
undeformed granitic rocks in the southern part of the batholith that intrude elsewhere the
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gabbroic complex yielded a whole rock Rb-Sr age of 115±4 Ma and a biotite-whole rock age of
90±2 Ma corresponding to a minimum cooling rate of 14ºC/Ma. It appears then that the biotite
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age of the gabbroic intrusion represents a heating event caused by the younger granites.
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Isotopic studies of the gabbroic and granitic series include initial 87Sr/86Sr ratios and
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epsilon Nd values varying from 0.70354 to 0.70370 and +7.5 to +5.1 respectively for the
deformed gabbroic-dioritic rocks to the west, and 0.70350 to 0.70644 and +0.3 to -3.0, for the
undeformed granitoids in the east (Schaaf et al., 2000). These authors also report NdTDM (Nd
depleted mantle model ages) for the same rocks as follows: The gabbroic deformed rocks range
from 0.34 to 0.56 Ga, and the undeformed granitoids from 0.75 to 1.12 Ga.
Pérez-Venzor (2013) recently presented a more comprehensive work on the geology,
geochemistry and geochronology of the east-central margin of the Los Cabos batholith compiling
the existent geochronology of the area and adding new data. Samples of granitic rocks (sensu
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lato) from five different places along the eastern side of the Los Cabos batholith margin were
studied for their major and trace element chemistry and Sr-Nd isotopic composition. The major,
trace and REE chemistry of the batholithic rocks all fall in the calc-alkaline trend, and may be
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classified essentially as a slightly peraluminous I-type suite, with a modal mineralogy of quartz
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(5-35 %), Kfeldspar (3-50 %), plagioclase (13-60%), biotite (1.3-42%), and hornblende (0-32%),
yielding initial strontium ratios of 0.70421 to 0.70756, epsilon Nd values as high as +0.36 and as
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low as -4.52, with very variable Nd depleted mantle model ages at 0.73 to 2.71 Ga. It is clear that
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the source or sources from which the batholithic rocks of the Los Cabos block originated were
composite and very heterogeneous involving Precambrian crustal components as well as

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primitive sources in the mantle. In a 87Sr/86Sr vs. epsilon Nd diagram constructed for
emplacement ages of 90 Ma ago (Schaaf et al., 2000), the rocks of the batholith show a linear
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negative correlation evolving from bulk earth values to old continental crustal components, again
suggesting an origin of the batholith by hybridization of magmas formed in the upper

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lithospheric mantle above a Cretaceous subduction zone, mixed with anatectic melts derived
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from pre-Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, or directly from Precambrian lower crust.

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3.2.3. Exhumation
Evidently, the evolution of a batholith of this size that was subjected to several tectonic
episodes since emplacement displays contrasting exhumation patterns. Fletcher et al. (2000)
studied the last phases of cooling and exhumation of the LCB by apatite and zircon
thermochronology and found that the western side of the batholith cooled from 250ºC to 110ºC
in the period 65 to 56 Ma (15 ºC/Ma), and subsequently cooled following two possible tracks to
near surface conditions (50ºC) 55 Ma ago (cooling rate of 60ºC/Ma) or 28 Ma ago (cooling rate
of 2ºC/Ma). The eastern side, on the other hand, cooled slowly from 225ºC to 150ºC from 45 to
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10 Ma (cooling rate of 2ºC/Ma), and afterwards cooled much faster at 50ºC/Ma from 10 to 8 Ma
ago. The exhumation occurred on two regional faults: the Cretaceous La Paz ductile shear zone
that apparently constituted the site where oceanic terranes were accreted during the Early
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Cretaceous, which controlled the initial phases of exhumation, and the brittle San José Los Cabos
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fault, probably an active fault that constitutes the site of the main scarp separating the thick crust
flooring the core of the batholith from the highly attenuated crust facing the Gulf of California.
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Estimated exhumation rates of about five kilometers since the late Miocene to the present on this
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fault were rather fast at 0.2-0.7 km/Ma (Fletcher et al., 2000), clearly associated with the
separation of the Baja California Peninsula from main Mexico during opening of the proto-Gulf
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of California and the present Gulf of California.
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3.3. Sonora Laramide batholithic complex (SLBC)
3.3.1 Tectonic setting

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After the batholiths of Baja California, the granitic units composing the SLBC and its
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southern extension in the Sinaloa and Durango states of the Mexican Cordilleran margin (Figure
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5) stand as one of the most studied and probably better understood batholithic complexes of
Mexico (e.g. Valencia-Moreno et al., 2001, 2003, 2005; Ramos-Velázquez et al., 2008; Roldán-
Quintana et al., 1991, 2009; González-León et al., 2011; McDowell et al., 2011; Pérez-Segura
and Roldán Quintana, 2013). Two main and superposed igneous suites of Cretaceous to
Paleogene age characterize the northwestern continental margin of mainland Mexico adjacent to
the Gulf of California. The lowermost Late Cretaceous-Paleocene suite was dubbed the “lower
volcanic group” by McDowell and Keizer (1977), or Tarahumara arc by McDowell et al. (2001)
and González-León et al. (2011). This essentially volcanic suite underlies with a regional
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unconformity the Eocene-Miocene upper arc mainly composed of ignimbrites grouped in the
Sierra Madre Occidental (SMOC) “upper volcanic group” (e.g. McDowell and Keizer, 1977;
Cameron et al., 1980; Ferrari et al., 2007). The western slopes of the SMOC, characterized by
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deep canyons and extreme erosion, expose parts of the three arcs and its stratigraphic
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relationships. In this work, however, we will consider only the roots of the Tarahumara arc,
which exposes abundant intrusions of “Laramide” age (e.g. McDowell et al., 2011).
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The batholiths in Sonora show a general NW-SE structural orientation following the
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characteristic Laramide tectonic grain in Mexico, but enhanced by the pronounced Cenozoic
extensional regimes (Mexican Basin and Range and Gulf of California) that apparently caused
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by Cenozoic extension the exaggerated width (up to 300 km) of the arc. The majority of the
granitic plutons of Late Cretaceous-Paleogene age that extend along the Pacific margin in the
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states of Sonora and Sinaloa have been associated with eastward convergence of the oceanic
Farallon plate beneath the North American plate, producing regional contraction, uplift-
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subsidence and calc-alkaline magmatism, tectonomagmatic events constituting the Laramide

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orogeny (Coney, 1976). In addition, variably deformed batholithic plutons of Jurassic and
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probably Triassic age conform the emerged roots of an earlier Mesozoic arc that is distributed
essentially north of the hypothetical Mojave-Sonora megashear (Tosdal et al., 1989; Rodríguez-
Castañeda and Anderson, 2010), but also crops out in southern Sinaloa (Henry et al., 2003) and
as far south as the Islas Marías in the mouth of the Gulf of California (Pompa-Mera et al., 2013).
More recently, the discovery and dating of Permian intrusions in NW Sonora (Sierra Pinta,
Figure 5) have extended the tectonic record of granitic magmatism in NW Mexico to the
Paleozoic (Arvizu et al., 2009).

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Intrusive rocks of Sonora range in age from the Mesoproterozoic to the Eocene, but the
main volume is related to the so-called Laramide batholithic belt of Sonora, which constitutes the
most studied unit as well. Among the largest individual batholiths in Sonora (Figure 5) are the
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Aconchi (~30x15 km) and Jaralito (~70x40 km), exposed 100 km northeast of Hermosillo
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(Roldán-Quintana, 1989, 1991), Sierra El Manzanal with a total outcrop area well over 1,000
km2 (González-León et al., 2000), El Mazocahui, just east of Ures, exceeding 100 km along the
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strike, and Quitovac batholith located north of Caborca and exposed for more than 50 km with a
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maximum width of about 20 kilometers (Enríquez-Castillo et al., 2009).
3.3.2. Age, petrologic and exhumation data

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The extension, diversity and economic importance (porphyry coppers and metallic
deposits) of the Laramide intrusions in Sonora (e.g. Damon et al., 1983; Barton, 1996; Staude
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and Barton, 2001) have prompted numerous geochronological studies that reveal a certain but
overlapping pattern of eastwards migration of the magmatic axis starting about 90 Ma ago in
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coastal Sonora, and extending about 300 km across the state to reach 59 Ma in age at the border
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with Chihuahua (Valencia-Moreno et al., 2006). This younging pattern represents the
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continuation of the more clearly established pattern for the Juárez-San Pedro Mártir batholith.
However, because the Sonoran Laramidic batholithic complex was affected by extreme
extension during the development of the Basin and Range and Gulf of California extensional
provinces in NW Mexico (e.g. Stock and Hodges, 1989; Gans, 1997; Henry and Aranda-Gómez,
2000), the original distribution of the granitoids was rather distorted and has proved difficult to
reconstruct.
Recent compilations of geochronometric data and precise geographic locations for many
of the Sonoran plutons (e.g., Pérez-Segura et al., 2009), as well as Table 2 may be consulted in
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the repository data for details. U-Pb zircon dating of plutons in central Sonora revealed an age
range of 90-70 Ma (McDowell et al., 2011), but more recent studies of 13 small Laramide
plutons in NE Sonora (González-León, et al., 2011) yielded emplacement ages (U-Pb on zircons)
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of 49.95±1.05 to 71.5±0.20 Ma, which are typical values for the Laramide orogeny timing (80-
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40 Ma), and strongly suggest that magmatism involved a very wide zone for nearly the entire
duration of that orogeny or even earlier. The Aconchi batholith is characterized by simple
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pegmatites intruding the main alkalic granitic facies that consist of poorly zoned quartz-
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microcline-albite bodies with accessory almandine, muscovite and biotite, indicating a strong
sedimentary source. The younger Aconchi batholith (late Eocene) intruded the Laramidic El
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Jaralito batholith, and both consist mainly of two-mica granites, suggesting an anatectic origin
for the two plutons despite their different ages and lithologies. One of the pegmatites intruding
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the muscovite-bearing I-type El Jaralito batholith was dated (K-Ar on muscovite) at 41.6±1 Ma,
whereas the granodiorite of the main body yielded a U-Pb zircon age of 57±3 Ma (Roldán-
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Quintana et al., 1989), namely about 15 million years older, indicating a moderate cooling rate of
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about 27ºC/Ma. Roldán-Quintana (1991) reported K-Ar ages of 51.8 to 69.6 Ma for the two-mica
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I-type El Jaralito pluton, whereas the adjacent S-type Aconchi intrusion yielded a K-Ar biotite
age of 36 Ma. The Sierrita Blanca two-mica granitic batholith (50x20 km) is a relatively well-
studied Laramidic intrusion that was dated (Enríquez-Castillo et al., 2009) by U-Pb on zircons at
40
~70 Ma Ar/39Ar on biotite at ~54 Ma and potassium feldspar at ~42 Ma, thus permitting the
precise estimation of the cooling process associated with this pluton at a mean rate varying
between 19 and 12ºC/Ma.
A transect in Sonora across the batholithic belt measuring 280 km from Hermosillo in the
west to Maycoba in the east (see Figure 5) yielded K-Ar biotite ages of 62.9 and 63. 6 Ma,
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respectively (Roldán-Quintana, 1991), indicating that the batholiths remained approximately at
the same depth (~10 km) and temperature (~300ºC) along the entire transect, although the
plutons may have crystallized at different times following the characteristic Cretaceous to
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Paleogene younging W-E pattern present elsewhere in NW Mexico. The “Laramide” plutons of
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NW Mexico and particularly those present in Sonora show an apparent age pattern of landward
migration, which has been attributed to the shallowing and increased convergence velocity of the
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Farallon plate during that time. However, when examined in detail (e.g., Pérez-Segura et al.,
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2009) that pattern seems to break down if only cooling ages are used. Unfortunately, U-Pb data
across the batholitic belts of Sonora are scarce and limited to a few localities (e.g. Bahía Kino,
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Cananea, Sierra Guaucomea). A recent compilation of 53 Laramide ages older than 62 Ma by
Pérez-Segura et al. (2009) in the Sonoran batholithic complex shows that 72 % represent cooling
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through the 500-300ºC isotherms (K-Ar on hornblende or biotite) rather than intrusion ages.
Moreover, U-Pb dating of granitoids (tonalite to granite) performed on the same area (Bahía
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Kino) yielded contrasting ages ranging from 90.1 to 69.4 Ma (Ramos-Velázquez et al., 2008),
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indicating persistence of Laramide magmatism in the same place for more than 20 Ma. Thus, it
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may be concluded that the age data and distribution available for the Sonoran “Laramide”
batholiths are neither sufficient nor adequate to firmly support models that propose a regular
pattern of migration in space and time (~10 km /Ma) across the 300 km width of exposed
granitoids in Sonora.
3.4. Sinaloa-Durango-Nayarit batholithic complex (SDBC)

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This igneous complex refers to a series of plutons that intruded the continental Mesozoic-
Paleozoic Mexican margin in the states of Sinaloa (pre- and Laramidic), Durango (Laramidic)
and Nayarit (post-Laramidic) (Figure 6). The Laramidic pluronic complex forms the southern
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continuation of the Sonoran batholithic complex, with major exposures better studied in two
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regions: El Fuerte in northernmost Sinaloa (Mullan, 1978; Vega-Granillo et al., in press) and the
Mazatlán area of central Sinaloa (Henry et al., 2003; Cuéllar-Cárdenas et al., 2012). The largest
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pluton in northern Sinaloa is the Capomos, which shows a rather circular outline and a mean
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diameter of about 7.5 km. Larger, but poorly studied batholiths occur in both states along the
foothills of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Most of them are associated with iron oxides and
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polymetallic ore deposits of hydrothermal and contact metamorphic origin (e.g., Los Vasitos (Fe)
near Culiacán, Sinaloa and Tayoltita (Ag-Au) in Durango). The post-Laramidic plutons occur
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isolated in a few areas of Sinaloa and Nayarit, but they are poorly known except for their specific
location, small size and Miocene intrusion ages (Henry et al., 2003; Ferrari et al., 2013). The
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undeformed intrusions are emplaced into orthogneisses dated (U-Pb, zircon) at 157.13 ±0.61 Ma
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(Ferrari et al., 2013), suggesting an important orogenic pre-Laramidic event prior to the intrusion
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of the batholith in this region.
3.4.2. Geochemical and age data
The deformed and undeformed intrusions in the coastal belt of the Sinaloa batholith
exposed in the Mazatlán area are subdivided in three series on the basis of 98 K-Ar and four U-
Pb age determinations performed along a 120x120 km transect across central Sinaloa (Henry et
al., 2003): an early pulse of gabbroic dominant composition, a tonalitic series, and several
postectonic intrusions. They show a wide range of SiO2 values, varying from 54 (mafic diorite)
to 74% (granite), whereas intrusions further inland vary from 47 (gabbro) to 67% (tonalite) SiO2,
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although most have a narrow range of 59-62%. Dating of the gabbroic rocks yielded hornblende
ages of 139 Ma and 134 Ma, probably reflecting excess Ar, whereas the tonalitic series showed
U-Pb ages around 101 Ma, with hornblende ages of 98-90 Ma. Undeformed “Laramidic” and
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younger plutons range in age (K-Ar on hornblende) from 89.5±2 to 19.5±0.4. The San Ignacio
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intrusive of this series was dated by U-Pb on zircons as well as by K-Ar on hornblende and
biotite, yielding ages of 66.8±1.3, 64.1±1.4 and 63.4±0.7 Ma, respectively. Cuellar et al. (2012)
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reported U-Pb zircon ages from tonalites of the Mazatlán area of 98.0±1.0 and 97.13±0.21 Ma,
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with corresponding 40Ar/Ar39 hornblende and biotite ages of 83.36±0.57 and 81.78±0.53 Ma,
respectively.
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Post-Laramidic intrusions extending in three clusters with plutons as large as 25x10 km
in the states of Sinaloa (near Guamuchil and east of Mazatlán) and Nayarit (between Acaponeta
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and Tepic) were dated at 23.2, 21.4 and 20.0 Ma (early Miocene), respectively (Ferrari et al.,
2013). These plutons presumably represent the exposed roots of the Oligocene-Miocene volcanic
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arc of the Sierra Madre Occidental.

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3.4.3. Exhumation
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A deformed tonalite in the Mazatlán region of central Sinaloa was dated (Henry et al.,
2003,U-Pb zircon,) at 101 Ma, whereas undeformed intrusions in the belt range in age from 67 to
29 Ma, and show cooling ages (K-Ar on biotites and hornblendes) that are only one or two
million years younger than the emplacement ages for the same plutons, thus indicating fast
cooling and very shallow levels of emplacement. The data of Cuellar-Cárdenas et al. (2012), on
the other hand (see above) yield a much lower cooling rate of ~21ºC/Ma for the undeformed
tonalite studied at the Mazatlán area. Shallow emplacement levels were also estimated by Al-in-
hornblende barometry for an intrusion in El Fuerte region batholiths (McDonough, 2005), with
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calculated crystallization pressures between 2.2 and 0.5 kbar (~8 and 2 km equivalent depths,
respectively). One of the Miocene intrusions (El Colegio) exposed 40 km north of Mazatlán
shows K-Ar hornblende ages of 18.7±0.2 (biotite), 19.5 and U-Pb (zircon) of 20.0±0.4 Ma
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(Henry et al., 2003), also indicating very fast cooling rates and hence a quite shallow intrusion
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levels. Exposure at the surface of the granitoids may have been related to the middle Miocene
inception of the Gulf of California opening with the consequent eastwards tilting of the NW
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margin of continental Mexico. The 2-3 km post-Oligocene uplift of the entire Sierra Madre
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Occidental at rates of 0.01-0.2 km/Ma (Montgomery and López-Blanco, 2003) may have been
caused by that event.

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3.5. Southern Mexico batholithic belts (SMBB)
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The southern part of the western continental margin of Mexico facing the Cocos and
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Rivera plates south of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) is characterized by the
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abundance, size, composition, tectonic history and age diversity of granitic and related intrusive
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rocks (Figure 9). All considered, the batholithic complex rivals in dimensions with the
northwestern belt, and includes some of the largest Paleozoic intrusions exposed along the entire
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Cordilleran margin of North America. The belt is ~1,550 km long; it extends between the states
of Nayarit and Chiapas showing a variable width of 30 to 100 km. The largest continuously
exposed intrusions include the Late Cretaceous Puerto Vallarta batholith and the apparently
allochthonous Chiapas batholith of Permian age. The northern segment of the SMBB (Nayarit to
Guerrero) intruded low-grade metamorphic rocks of the Triassic-Cretaceous southern Guerrero
terrane in the states of Jalisco (Cuale), Michoacán (Arteaga) and western Guerrero (Placeres del
Oro), as well as high-grade gneisses and migmatites of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Xolapa
Complex in Guerrero and Oaxaca states (Morán-Zenteno et al., 2005). The long debated issue of
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the apparent decreasing ages from northwest (Late Cretaceous) to southeast (Miocene) parallel to
the Pacific coast (e.g. Schaaf et al., 1995) stands as one of the chief problems regarding the
tectonic origin and evolution of this belt, which is explained by contrasting models associated
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either to the pre-Oligocene position of the Chortís block off southern Mexico (e.g. Schaaf et al.,
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1995; Morán-Zenteno et al., 1996), or to subduction erosion truncation of the margin (Ducea et
al., 2004, 2005; Keppie et al., 2009; Keppie Jr. et al., 2012).
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3.5.1. Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo batholiths (PVB and MB)
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The Puerto Vallarta and Manzanillo batholiths form part of the Pacific coastal belt of
Cretaceous granitic intrusions (Figure 9). They are exposed from Bahía de Banderas in the states
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of Jalisco and Nayarit (PVB), to just east of the Colima graben (MB), extending nearly
continuously for about 200 km along the coast, and 70-30 km across the margin. Its approximate
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total area therefore would be more than 10,000 km2, although further isolated outcrops as far
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north as Ameca region in central Jalisco (Valencia et al., 2013) extend the width of the batholiths
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beneath its cover more than 50 km, thus probably duplicating its apparent size. The PVB
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constitutes the conjugate crustal continental segment once adjacent to Los Cabos batholithic
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complex prior to the Pliocene-Recent opening of the mouth of the Gulf of California, which has
been displaced ~340 NW from its former position.
The Puerto Vallarta pre-batholithic basement metasedimentary rocks vary in age from
probably Triassic to Early Cretaceous. Triassic (?) metasediments, together with Jurassic-Early
Cretaceous arc-related pre-batholitic formations have been studied in the El Cuale Mining
District in Jalisco (Bissing et al., 2008), where they constitute the lowermost basement units of
the Guerrero terrane adjoining the intrusions. Pre-Late Cretaceous low grade sedimentary and
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volcanosedimentary schists and phyllites are also exposed along the margins of the batholith,
where they were dated between 135 and 161 Ma (Valencia et al., 2013). Ignimbrites of similar to
slightly younger ages (58 to 83 Ma) than those of the batholith (59 to 92 Ma) (Valencia et al.,
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2013) cover or merge with the northern segment of the Puerto Vallarta batholith. The ages
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determined for the PVB may be referred to at least two different events: intrusion (U-Pb ages,
Schaaf et al., 1995; Valencia et al., 2013) and cooling accompanying exhumation that may
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correspond to two separate plutonic complexes. The crystallization ages measured by U-Pb on
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zircon fall between 103±6.5 (Schaaf et al., 1995) and 59 Ma; those of the younger group (59.4-
71.8 Ma) form the northernmost outcrops in the Ameca region (Valencia et al., 2013), whereas
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the older group in the coastal area shows crystallization ages of 78.3 to 103 Ma. K-Ar data on
biotites representing cooling and exhumation to a few kilometers below the surface, apparently
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exhibit a similar younging pattern varying in age from the coast (85 Ma) to the continental
interior (55 Ma), (Zimmermann et al., 1988).

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Geochemical studies performed in the batholith (Köhler et al., 1988; Schaaf et al., 1995,
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2003; Valencia et al., 2013) characterize most of the samples in the volcanic arc field of Pierce et
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al. (1984), although 20% fall in the within-plate granites of the same diagram. This dual
lithotectonic character of the PVB is also reflected in the petrographic composition of the studied
rocks, which were classified varying from alkaline feldspar granites (northern part) to tonalites
(central part), including sporadic two-mica granitoid to the east. The Nd-Sr isotopic relationships
(Schaaf et al., 1995; 2003) depict four groups covering a wide range of isotopic data (epsilon Nd
= -3.7 to +3.2 and TDM depleted mantle model ages between 0.5 and 1.2 Ga and initial Sr of
0.70400 to 0.70522), thus suggesting the participation of pre-Cretaceous continental crust or
sediments in the formation of the batholith.

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3.5.1.2. Exhumation
Cooling of the Puerto Vallarta batholith according to measurements from closely related
outcrops yielded a four-point Rb-Sr trajectory that suggests very low cooling rates (9ºC/Ma)
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from 102 to 91 Ma (Schaaf, 1990) and 35ºC/Ma for the interval 100-80 Ma (Köhler et al., 1988).
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Samples from nearby outcrops such as at Punta Mita (Valencia et al., 2013), indicate cooling
rates of ~35º to 48ºC/Ma depending on the temperature assumed for the theoretical closure
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temperature of zircon (900ºC in Valencia et al., 2013) or the most probable crystallization
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temperature of the pluton (750ºC assumed in this work). In the northern segment of the PVB
(Ameca region) U-Pb (zircon) and Ar-Ar data (whole rock) for the same sample yield a
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difference of 11.2 Ma (Valencia et al., 2013) and hence a cooling rate of ~40ºC/Ma. The variable
crystallization and cooling ages of the different studied plutons in the coast and the interior of the
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Puerto Vallarta block, however, indicate complex tectonic controls for both emplacement and
uplift of the batholith.

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3.5.2. Manzanillo batholith

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Intrusive rocks in the Manzanillo, Colima area (Figure 9) conform a series of plutons
collectively known as the Manzanillo batholith. They are relatively well known because of their
intimate relationship with the largest iron deposits of Mexico (e.g. Peña Colorada and 12 more
districts in the states of Jalisco, Colima and Guerrero (Tritlla et al., 2003). Panseri et al. (2007)
reported U-Pb zircon dates and distinguished at least seven individual plutons, six of which are
granitic-granodioritic and one of gabbroic composition. Granites constitute the oldest group
dated at 74 Ma, followed by the gabbroic intrusive at 68 Ma, and finally, the granodiorite shows
the youngest age at 62 Ma. Barometry presumably based on Al-in-hornblende determined

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emplacement levels for these groups of 6-12, 15, and <10 km, respectively (Panseri et al., 2007).
K-metasomatism and syenitic facies of the intrusion associated with Peña Colorada, Colima
intrusion yielded potassium feldspar K-Ar ages of 65.3±1.5 and 57±2.1 Ma, indicating
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magmatic-hydrothermal activity close to the K-T boundary (Tritlla et al., 2003). These authors
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presented a complete list of dated rocks along the belt, but none of them were obtained by the U-
Pb method; the data range from presumably crystallization ages of ~700ºC (Rb-Sr whole rock
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isochron) to cooling ages corresponding to 150ºC (K-Ar, potassium feldspar). Table 5 presents a
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summary of the different ages obtained for the PV and MB as they cooled from emplacement to
near surface exposure. Unfortunately, exhumation rates and important petrological aspects are
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insufficiently known for this and the following five batholiths because of the paucity of
published data.
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3.5.3. Jilotlán batholith (JB)
This prominent batholith (6,000 km2) is exposed in the continental interior about 100 km
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from the coast (Figure 9); it varies in composition from gabbroic (older suite) to granitic
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(younger suite) intruding carbonates and volcaniclastic marine rocks of Cretaceous age
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belonging to the southern Guerrero terrane. LA-ICPMS, U-Pb dating of zircons from the
gabbroic facies yielded ages of 112.84±1.20 Ma, and 114.6±1.34, which is indistinguishable
from a magmatic hornblende 40Ar/39Ar age of 114.6±1.1 Ma obtained for the same rock
(Villanueva-Lascurain, et al., 2013). The principal tonalitic unit shows a Rb-Sr whole rock
isochron age of ~70 Ma and intrudes the gabbros. Positive epsilon-Nd values (+4.7 to +6.8) and
low initial Sr isotopes at 0.70328-0.70369 characterize the gabbros, as well as the tonalites and
granodiorites that show nearly similar initial 87Sr/86Sr values of 0.70369 to 0.70379, and
somewhat lower epsilon Nd values of +2.6 to +3.7 (Solís-Pichardo et al., 2008). This isotopic
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composition and the geochemistry of major and trace elements indicate a mantle origin for the
batholith above a subduction zone followed by low-pressure fractionation with little or no crustal
assimilation.
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3.5.4. La Huacana batholith
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In the state of Michoacán (Figure 9), several granitic plutons unconformably underlie the
Holocene basaltic and andesitic rocks of the central Trans-Mexican Volcanic belt represented by
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the newly formed Jorullo volcano, and intrude continental arc rocks of Paleogene or Cretaceous
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age. Although it may be covered by the Quaternary volcanics, the batholitic complex probably
extends further to the north forming the crystalline underppinings of Paricutín and other
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Holocene monogenetic volcanoes, many of which bear abundant granitic xenoliths (Wilcox,
1955; McBirney et al., 1987; Corona-Chávez et al., 2006). At the type locality (La Huacana,
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Michoacán, 101º 49’W-18º 58’N) the plutonic complex consists of granite, granodiorite and
microgranite, occasionally with metasomatic tourmaline-rich banded facies. The granitoids were
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dated at 42±4 Ma (Rb-Sr 3-point isochron, Schaaf et al., 1995), and 38±3 and 35±1 Ma (K-Ar on
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biotite (Grajales-Nishimura and López-Infanzón, 1983). Martini et al. (2009), on the other hand,
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reported younger ages of 33.8±0.4 and 34.4±0.4 Ma on the basis of 40Ar/39Ar integrated and
isochron age data in plagioclase. It shows intrusive relationships with slightly older volcanic
rocks dated at 43±2 Ma (Salazar-Reyes and Librado-Flores, 1997). Unpublished data by Schaaf
(1990) give initial Sr values of ~0.70394 and epsilon Nd of +2 indicating little contamination by
pre-Mesozoic crust.
3.5.5. Arteaga batholith
Very little is known about this batholith despite its large size. It crops out in the Arteaga
region of western Michoacán (Figure 9) intruding Triassic (?) epimetamorphic rocks of the
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Arteaga Complex (Grajales-Nishimura et al., 1993). Two K-Ar plagioclase ages of 62 and 52 Ma
(Grajales-Nishimura et al., 1993) are the only available age information.
3.5.6. Sierra Madre del Sur batholiths and smaller plutons
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3.5.6.1. Tectonic setting
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Lying in the truncated forearc continental margin of southern Mexico and intruding units
of the Guerrero terrane and Xolapa Complex, this batholithic belt extends almost continuously
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WNW-ESE for about 650 km from Zihuatanejo to Huatulco in the coastal areas of the states of
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Guerrero and Oaxaca (see Figure 9), reaching a maximum exposed width of 110 km along the
Pinotepa-Putla transect in western Oaxaca (Martiny et al., 2000; Morán-Zenteno et al., 2005),
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and a minimum of 15 km in the Pochutla region of Oaxaca. Eocene dioritic plutons extending
offshore Oaxaca were drilled and dated (whole rock, K-Ar) at 35.3 Ma (late Eocene) at site 493
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of the DSDP Leg 66 located about 50 km from the trench (Bellon et al., 1982). However, the belt
extends discontinuously for about 300 km more to the northwest in the Michoacán state. The
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intrusive complex is composed of many individual batholiths and plutons, a few of which have
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been studied in detail allowing important tectonic insights into their petrogenesis. The largest
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continuous exposures crop out in the state of Guerrero extending along the strike for 140 km
with maximum and minimum widths of 40 km and 10 km respectively. Magmatic activity along
the central part of the belt was estimated (Martiny et al., 2000) to span 35-25 Ma, with most
rocks showing typical subduction zone chemistry, with LILE and LREE enrichment and flat
HREE at relatively low 87Sr/86Sri values of 0.7042-0.7054, and epsilon Nd of -3.0 to +2.4.
3.5.6.2. Zihuatanejo batholithic complex
Four major batholiths characterize the coastal zone of northwestern Guerrero (Figure 9),
namely Vallecitos de Zaragoza (granite), Agua Zarca (granite), Colmeneros (granodiorite) and
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San Jerónimo Guayameo (granodiorite) widely exposed in the Zihuatanejo area. U-Pb zircon
dating of these plutons (Martini et al., 2010) yielded ages between 48.2±0.8 and 39.8 ± 0.6, with
inherited zircons dated at 1,109±93.2, 1,071±28.1, 160.3±12 and 120±1.6 Ma. The batholiths
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intrude Triassic (?) to Cretaceous units of the Zihuatanejo subterrane of the southern Guerrero
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composite terrane, and were unconformably covered by arc-related volcaniclastic rocks dated
(40Ar/39Ar) at 41-39 Ma (Martini et al., 2010).
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3.5.6.3. Atoyac plutons
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Several plutons exposed near Atoyac (Figure 9) between Zihuatanejo and Acapulco,
yielded zircon U-Pb crystallization ages ranging from 53 to 57 Ma with common inherited
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zircons of Paleogene (58-64 Ma), Mesozoic (72-153 Ma), Paleozoic (320-360 Ma) and
Precambrian (960-1,085 Ma) ages (Valencia-Moreno, et al., 2009).

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Three of the well-known intrusives, Acapulco, Xaltianguis and Tierra Colorada,
characterize the Acapulco region. They were mapped and described firstly by de Cserna (1965)
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who assigned them a Late Cretaceous age on the basis of lead-alpha dating of their zircons
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(Larsen, 1958). Modern dating techniques, however, have determined their true ages to be early
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Eocene (Acapulco granite, Hernández-Pineda et al., 2012) to latest Eocene (Tierra Colorada and
Xaltianguis, Herrmann et al., 1994; Ducea et al., 2004), ages that are consistent with their post-
Laramide, essentially undeformed state and intrusive relationships against the polyorogenic
Xolapa Complex of Early to Late Cretaceous age (see Figure 10). The three plutons somewhat
exceed 100 km2 and therefore may be considered as small batholiths.
3.5.6.4. Tierra Colorada batholith
This pluton crops out about 60 km north Acapulco region group with a very irregular
outcrop shape (~20x10 km) suggesting a tabular top surface rather than cylindrical subvertical
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geometry; it intrudes carbonates of Early Cretaceous age indicating a rather shallow level of
emplacement. It has been dated (Herrmann et al., 1994) at 34.3±4 Ma (U-Pb zircon dates)
including an Oligocene biotite-whole rock Rb-Sr age of 26.3±0.5 Ma (Schaaf et al., 1995),
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suggesting a cooling rate of 50ºC/Ma incompatible with its evidently rather shallow
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emplacement level (~2-3 km, considering the maximum Cretaceous-Paleocene overburden).
Probably the young biotite age represents reheating of the shallow crust during Oligocene
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magmatism, which was abundant in the area.
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3.5.6.5. Xaltianguis pluton
The Xaltianguis pluton crops out half way between Tierra Colorada and Acapulco and it
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is the largest of the group (~60x10 km); essentially, it is composed by a biotite or hornblende-
bearing granodiorite with minor quartz-diorite and monzogranite, and was dated at 34 Ma by
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Herrmann et al. (1994) and Ducea et al. (2004) at the easternmost outcrop area. Previous data
include a Rb-Sr isochron age of 28±1.5 Ma that was reported by Correa-Mora (1997) as well as a
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30.5±0.8 Ma Rb-Sr biotite cooling age (Schaaf, 1990), which reflect some magmatic
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heterogeneities within this pluton. The same authors determined the calc-alkaline geochemical
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trend that characterizes these plutons.
3.5.6.6. Acapulco pluton
This small batholith with an approximate exposed area of 130 km2 underlying the bay of
Acapulco City (de Cserna, 1965; Hernández-Pineda et al., 2012) represents a unique granitic
intrusion in the geologic constitution of Mexico for the following reasons: a) its age is the oldest
of the regional group, varying according to the dated facies (diorite to syenite) from 49.40±0.40
to 50.56±0.39 Ma (U-Pb, zircons), and b) it includes a coarse grained facies of a charnockitic
quartz syenite with hypersthene, fluorite, chevkinite, and allanite as accessory phases and a
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rapakivi texture. This facies displays certain geochemical features (Hernández-Pineda et al.,
2012) such as incompatible element enrichment, marked Sr, Ba, Eu negative anomalies, very
high zinc, and a high Ga/Al ratio that characterize the intrusion as a typical A-type granitoid,
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implying an extensional, post-Laramide tectonic event in the area. Nonetheless, its variable
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initial Sr ratio (0.7035-0.7100) and positive epsilon Nd values (+5.50 to +1.78) indicate
dominant subduction components in the genesis of the granite, whereas the alkaline and partially
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peraluminous composition probably reveal anatexis of the enclosing mica-rich Cretaceous
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Xolapa metamorphic complex.
Hornblende geothermobarometry (plagioclase-hornblende for temperature, and aluminum

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in hornblende for pressure) yielded a mean emplacement temperature of 700ºC at pressures
between 2.08 and 2.8 kbar, equivalent to depths of 8-10 km, suggesting a mean exhumation rate
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of 0.21 km/Ma within the interval 50-20 Ma (Hernández-Pineda et al., 2012).
3.5.6.7. Rio Verde batholith

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Hernández-Bernal and Morán-Zenteno (1996) named and studied this batholith in

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southern Mexico, which is widely exposed in the state of Oaxaca between Pinotepa Nacional and
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Puerto Escondido (Figure 10). The batholith was subdivided in three major intrusive units, Rio
Grande, Jamiltepec and Rio Verde. The former is a rather large granitic intrusion with maximum
dimensions of 54x42 km, and an approximate total exposed area of 1,500 km2. The irregular
shape of the pluton suggests a non-diapiric nature.
The Jamiltepec and Rio Verde plutons are of smaller size and much more irregular in
shape showing diffuse contacts with the enclosing Cretaceous gneisses that enhance even further
the probably low angle and relatively deep levels of emplacement. Contact relationships with the
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country rocks often show syn-plutonic and tectonic fabrics probably due to its forced
emplacement during compression.
The geochemistry of all these batholiths fit into a clear calc-alkaline trend, with SiO2
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contents varying from 59 (diorite) to 75% (granite). The Río Grande batholith is slightly
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peraluminous, whereas the Río Verde and Jamiltepec are clearly metaluminous defining
altogether a linear trend across the geochemical boundary. The REE, chondrite-normalized
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diagrams display similar trends with enriched light elements relative to the heavy REE. The
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initial isotopic strontium ratios of the Rio Verde intrusion yield a mean (n=10) value of 0.70478
± 0.00046, with epsilon Nd ranging from -3.0 to +0.9, indicating considerable old crustal
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contamination. Geobarometry based on Al-in hornblende in the Río Verde intrusive yielded a
pressure of 4.4±0.6 kbar indicating middle crust emplacement depths of 14 to 18.5 km.
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3.5.6.8. Pochutla and Huatulco batholiths (PHB)
The Pochutla-Huatulco coastal zone in southern Oaxaca (Figure 9) is made up of an

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almost continuous belt of early Oligocene plutons that together occupy an area of about 2,500
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km2. The plutons intrude high-grade metamorphic rocks of the Cretaceous Xolapa Complex
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including large segments of migmatites and extend mainly to the north of the E-W tectonic
contact (Chacalapa fault zone) between the Xolapa and the Grenvillian middle Proterozoic
Oaxacan complexes. Left-lateral transtensional deformation along this tectonic boundary
transformed the plutons to mylonites and ultramylonites overprinted by brittle deformation,
indicating exhumation coeval with left-lateral displacement (Tolson, 2005; 2007). Keppie et al.
(2012) also documented kinematic indicators suggesting landward thrusting orthogonal to the
coast that overprints the left-lateral deformation. According to the latter authors this thrusting
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events might be related with episodes of Oligocene-Miocene subduction erosion along the
Middle America trench.
At least four large plutons haven been identified in the area, including the Loxichas,
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Pochutla, Huatulco and Xadani plutons. They vary in composition from granites to granodiorites
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and include biotite and hornblende as the main mafic accesosories. U-Pb crystallization dates of
the plutons range from 30 to 35.5 Ma (Herrmann et. al., 1994; Keppie et al., 2012). Biotite
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40
Ar/39Ar dates, ranging from 25.14 to 20.70 Ma, in combination with amphibole 40Ar/39Ar ages
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ranging from 27.97 to 29.09 Ma, indicate an average cooling rate of ~40 °C/Ma for the last
stages in the thermal history of these plutons. A hornblende K-Ar age of 23.7±1.2 Ma obtained
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from an undeformed porphyritic granodioritic dike cutting the Chacalapa fault zone is considered
the upper time limit of the transtensional deformation.

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Initial 87Sr/86Sr and epsilon Nd values obtained from the Pochutla and Huatulco plutons
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are similar (87Sr/86Sr of 0.7042, 0.7042, and epsilon Nd of +1.42 and +1.34, respectively), which
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indicate a relatively low assimilation of the adjacent Proterozoic crust in the magmatic evolution
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of this plutonic zone (Morán-Zenteno et al., 1999).

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3.5.6.9. Exhumation
The southern Pacific margin of Mexico was truncated between the latest Eocene and the
middle Miocene (Moore et al., 1982; Schaaf et al., 1995; Keppie et al., 2009; Keppie et al.,
2012), accompanied and followed by diachronous uplift and exhumation of the crystalline
basement between 50 and 20 Ma. Hornblende barometry data acquired from Acapulco to
Huatulco (Morán-Zenteno, et al., 1996; Hernández-Pineda et al., 2011) constrained the uplift
rates for that period to values of 0.4 to 0.21 km/Ma, whereas apatite fission track studies (Ducea
et al., 2004) indicate average uplift rates of 0.11-0.33 km/Ma for the younger age interval
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between 25 and 8 Ma. The fact that 22-24 Ma years old slope sediments lie unconformably
above the 35.3 Ma dioritic pluton drilled in Leg 66 (site 493) at 30 km from the coast (Bellon et
al., 1982) requires Eocene crystalline basement to be exposed at the surface by the beginning of
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the Miocene or end of the Oligocene. The Schmidt et al. (1992) hornblende barometer applied to
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data published in Bellon et al. (1982) yields pressures for the offshore quartz diorite varying
from 8.4 kbar (magnesiopargasite) to 1.5 kbar (actinolitic hornblende), interpreted as
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crystallization-recrystallization depths of 31 to 5.5 km respectively, indicating progressive uplift
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from lower crust generation levels to near surface environments, and cooling to 300-400 ºC by
the end of the Eocene. The pluton finally reached the surface at the beginning of the Miocene,
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suggesting a rather fast uplift rate of about 0.9-1.2 km/Ma for the interval between 35 and 24 Ma.
3.5.7. Coastal Chiapanecan Neogene batholithic belt (CCNBB)

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The entire intrusive belt extends for over 275 km in the Pacific margin of the state of
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Chiapas (Figure 11) astride the Neogene Tonalá fault that forms the southern margin of the Late
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Permian Chiapas batholith (Wawrzyniec et al., 2005; Molina-Garza et al., 2008). Many of these
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intrusions are therefore partially affected by cataclastic deformation along the fault. Individual
batholiths in the Soconusco massif (SM) of southwestern Chiapas reach a maximum size of
80x24 km, where they form the crystalline basement of the Tacaná active volcano at the border
with Guatemala. Isolated plutons of late Miocene age also crop out northwest of the Chiapas
batholith in the state of Oaxaca but have not been studied in detail.
The Tacaná volcanic massif (0-2 Ma) rests unconformably on plutonic igneous rocks and
metamorphic units in the Soconusco region (Figure 11) south of the Polochic fault (PF), varying
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in age (K-Ar on biotite separates, García-Palomo et al., 2006 and references therein) from the
Early Cretaceous (142±5 Ma) for the metamorphic units, to Miocene (20±1 to 12.2 Ma) and
Paleogene (39.5 to 29.1 Ma) for the granitic plutons. K-Ar data obtained from an intrusion close
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to the Tonalá fault (TF) yielded an age of 12.65±0.08 Ma (William, 2006), whereas Wawrzyniec
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et al., (2005) reported an age (U-Pb, SHRIMP zircon) of 10.3±0.3 Ma. Damon and Montesinos
(1978) previously reported very young biotite K-Ar ages of 2 to 6 Ma for several plutons along
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the belt. The intrusions range in composition from quartz diorite to granodiorite (SiO2 60.18
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wt.% to 65.29 wt.%) to gabbros (SiO2 51.67 wt.%).
3.5.7.3. Exhumation
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Cooling to 350 ºC (biotite, K-Ar) had occurred by 2-6 Ma ago implying 11 km of
overburden removal for assumed geothermal gradients of 30ºC/km, and hence very fast uplift
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rates of 1.8 to 5.5 km/Ma since the Pliocene. Deep exploratory Pemex wells drilled in the
adjacent Tehuantepec marine basin (Sánchez-Barreda, 1981) detected two major unconformities,
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one above the Miocene and another below, indicating two periods of exhumation, the later
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comprising all of the Oligocene (34-23 Ma), and the former occurring since the late Miocene.
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The change from bathial (Eocene) to neritic (Miocene) sedimentological conditions in the
stratigraphic record of the Tehuantepec basin requires several kilometers of uplift comprising all
of the Oligocene.
3.6. Pre-Mesozoic arc-related (exposed) batholiths
3.6.1. Chiapas batholith

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This batholithic complex (Figure 14) was formerly considered to be composed essentially
of undeformed granitic rocks of late Paleozoic age (e.g. Ortega-Gutiérrez et al., 1992); modern
studies, however, have established a very complex buildup of the batholith, including intruded
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units made out of Paleozoic high grade orthogneisses and paragneisses and probably
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Precambrian schists and gneisses, calcsilicates and migmatites, and most of the batholith shows
penetrative deformation (Weber et al., 2007). Nonetheless, because substantial exposures of the
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northeast tilted batholith are not deformed and granitic rocks predominate, it was included in this
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review.
The batholith (see Figure 12a, b, and c) is located immediately east of the Isthmus of
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Tehuantepec along the coastal region of the state of Chiapas and limited to the northeast by the
middle Miocene Chiapanecan fold belt, and to the southwest by the Miocene plutons and the
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Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic Tehuantepec forearc basin. It is partly truncated by the Polochic fault
along its southeastern corner and plunges northwestward beneath the Mesozoic cover in the
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Isthmus of Tehuantepec area. The batholith measures approximately 256x44 km for an exposed
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area of about 11,300 km2, thus forming the largest Paleozoic pluton of Mexico and probably one
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of the largest of that age in the North American Cordillera. It should be noted that the entire
batholith may have been transported in the Jurassic from its original position in NE Mexico
together with the Yucatán block, when the Gulf of Mexico was formed following the rupture of
Pangea (Molina-Garza et al., 1988), and thus its present position in the Pacific margin is
probably allochthonous.
The Chiapas batholith composition covers the whole range from gabbro to granite and
pegmatites, following a subalkaline trend and moderate enrichment in REE with an absent or
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poorly developed negative Eu anomaly (Schaaf et al., 2002). Geochemical and isotopic data of
biotite (Schaaf et al., 2002) from three samples yield cooling Triassic ages between 239 and 228
Ma. Epsilon Nd values for these samples range from -4.3 to -4.7 and Nd model ages of 1.15 to
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1.25 Ga at initial Sr isotope values of 0.7056 to 0.7060, depicting an underlying contaminant of
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Precambrian age with low Rb/Sr ratios. The major and trace element chemistry of the rocks
clearly follows a calc-alkaline trend (Schaaf et al., 2002).
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Emplacement and recrystallization U-Pb ages of the Chiapas batholith are scarce but they
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extend from early to latest Permian (Schaaf et al., 2002; Weber et al., 2007). SHRIMP data from
magmatic zircons yielded a concordia age of 271.9±2.7 Ma, with recrystallized rims of
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254.0±2.3 Ma and abundant Mesoproterozoic (Grenvillian) inheritance (Weber et al., 2007).
The studied area in the central sector of the batholith from Tonalá to Pijijiapan include
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prebatholithic high-grade gneisses and migmatites, which show very clear evidence for a high-
grade tectonothermal event dated at 254.0±2.3 to 251.8±3.8. This narrow orogenic interval that
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affected the majority of the southern and central parts of the batholith appears to represent the
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deeper roots closer to the Pacific margin, because deformation and metamorphism tends to
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disappear just north of Villa Flores (e.g. Schaaf et al., 2002) and are no longer present at the
northern margin of the pluton (Cintalapa), nor on its western continuation in the Mixtequita
batholith (Oaxaca) beyond the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Biotite K-Ar ages measured across the
batholith from Tres Picos, just north of Tonalá in the coast, to Cintalapa at the northern edge of
the batholith range from 288±6 (early Permian) to 219±4 Ma (Late Triassic) (Damon et al.,
1981), together with a Rb-Sr biotite age of 239±5 Ma suggest diachronic cooling to ~300ºC of
the batholith from early Permian to Late Triassic times.

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At the southern termination of the Chiapas batholith just south of the Polochic fault, S-
type granitic plutons of Ordovician age have been recently reported, with U-Pb ages at 455-462
Ma (Estrada-Carmona et al., 2012) and 482±3 Ma (Pompa-Mera et al., 2008), and can be readily
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correlated with similar intrusive rocks of north central Guatemala grouped in the Rabinal granite,
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which has been more precisely dated with advanced U-Pb methods as Ordovician (460-482 Ma,
Ortega-Obregón et al., 2008; Solari et al., 2013).
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Oldest prebatholithic rocks composed of metamorphic units with igneous and
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sedimentary protoliths crop out in the Motozintla, Chiapas area with U-Pb zircon ages ranging
from Early Ordovician to Devonian times (Estrada-Carmona et al., 2012). The adjacent Santa
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Rosa Group of early Permian to Carboniferous age is older than the late Paleozoic deformed
batholith, but given its barely folded sedimentary nature, elucidating contact relationships with
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the pluton constitutes an important unresolved problem because faults or the Mesozoic cover
obscure the original stratigraphic relationships. The oldest supracrustal units in the batholithic
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cover are continental red beds and scarce volcanics grouped in the Jurassic Todos Santos
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Formation (e.g. Godínez-Urbán et al., 2011).

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The rather elevated initial Sr isotope ratios of 0.70521 to 0.70662 for the granitoids
exposed in the central part of the batholith, with Nd model ages of 1 to 1.2 Ga (Schaaf et al.,
2002) as well as Sr initial ratios of 0.70508-0.71157 reported by Damon et al. (1981) require
considerable assimilation of Precambrian crust, a fact consistent with the abundance of inherited
Grenvillian zircons found everywhere in the batholith (Weber et al., 2007).
3.6.1.3. Exhumation
The Chiapas batholith, because of its protracted tectonic history spanning from the
Permian to the present time has experienced several episodes of burial and exhumation since
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emplacement at 250-270 Ma. The red beds and volcanic units of Early to Middle Jurassic age
that cover the batholith indicate a main exhumation event after the Permian and before the
Jurassic. The postulated translation and rotation of the batholith from NE Mexico during opening
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of the Gulf of Mexico together with the Yucatán block (Molina-Garza et al., 2002) may have
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caused further uplift during the Late Jurassic, and then burial beneath thick successions of Early
Cretaceous to middle Miocene marine sedimentary rocks. Further uplift occurred associated with
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the inception of the Cocos plate regime in the early Miocene, an event coeval with the basin
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inversion that just north of the batholith generated the Chiapas fold-thrust orogenic belt. Related
tectonic disturbances probably responsible for this final exhumation of the Chiapas batholith may
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have been the passage of the Chortís block south of the batholith in response to a possible
vertical component associated with the left lateral Neogene Tonalá fault., or subduction erosion
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of the forearc (e.g. Keppie et al., 2009).
3.6.2. La Mixtequita batholith

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This batholith is exposed continuously in northeastern Oaxaca (Figure 11) as a

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rhomboidal area about 30x17 km (510 km2) forming the northern sector of La Mixtequita massif,
a large part of which is made out of Grenvillian orthogneisses, granulites and paragneisses of the
Guichicovi Complex (Weber and Köhler, 1999). The batholith is completely bounded by Middle
Jurassic red beds along right lateral faults of unknown, probably Jurassic age and separated from
the main mass of the Grenvillian Oaxacan Complex located on the west by the Cuicateco terrane
of Paleozoic-Cretaceous age.
3.6.2.2. Age data

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Two samples dated by U-Pb on zircon (Weber and Köhler, 1999) yielded lower intercept
ages of 254±7 (late Permian) for a monzonite and 145±13.7 Ma (limit Jurassic-Cretaceous) for a
leucogranite, with upper intercept ages respectively of 1,079±15 and 1,014±90 Ma. K-Ar
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hornblende and biotite ages range from about 270 to190 Ma (middle Permian to Early Jurassic),
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but a few yield anomalous Cretaceous to Cenozoic ages (Damon et al., 1986; Weber and Köhler,
1999) indicating a complex thermal evolution of the crystalline massif.
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3.6.2.3. Exhumation
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Unconformable red beds of Middle Jurassic age overly the La Mixtequita batholith,
representing the minimum age for an early exhumation phase, probably associated the opening of
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the Gulf of Mexico. Later shortening during the Laramide orogeny (culminating in the area at
~45 Ma), with the consequent tectonic inversion of the adjacent Veracruz Cenozoic basin should
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represent another phase of major uplift of the batholith. A K-Ar biotite age of 249±4 Ma
determined for the batholith (Solé et al., 2007) implies cooling trough the ~300ºC isotherm by
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the Middle Triassic, which would require burial at this time to about 10 km (assuming a
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geothermal gradient of 30ºC/km).

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3.6.3. Honduras, Zaniza and Cuanana plutons
These batholiths are emplaced across or near major tectonic boundaries between three of
the principal pre-Mesozoic terranes of southern Mexico: Mixteco, Oaxaquia and Juchateco
(Figure 9, Table 1), and are unconformably covered by continental red beds of Middle Jurassic
and probably marine strata of Permian age. Ortega-Obregón et al. (2013) published a detailed
petrologic and U-Pb geochronological study of these intrusions, all yielding late Paleozoic ages.
Previously, Grajales-Nishimura (1988) and Grajales-Nishimura et al. (2009) studied the

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Honduras batholith including K-Ar dating of their hornblende and biotite, and reported apparent
intrusive relationships with the Grenvillian Oaxacan Complex and migmatites of the Cretaceous
Xolapa Complex. The Zaniza batholith in the east central region of the state of Oaxaca is one of
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the largest Paleozoic batholithic units known in southern Mexico, with approximate dimensions
of 30x15 km (~500 km2). Although together with the Cuanana intrusive constitute an important
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mineralized district (Fe, Ag, Pb, Zn, Au), few published geologic data are yet available (e.g.
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Ortega-Obregón et al., 2013).
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The Cuanana intrusive yielded a mean 206Pb/238U zircon age of 287.7±1.7 Ma). It is
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exposed forming the walls of the Cuanana river canyon in east central Oaxaca, just north of the
Zaniza batholith; it has an irregular shape, with maximum dimensions of 18x8 km. Its
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composition is rather mafic (quartz diorite to diorite), and because it was apparently emplaced
just west of the tectonic contact between the Oaxacan and Acatlán complexes, the intrusion
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developed tectonic and synplutonic fabrics leading to the formation of wide bands of mylonitic
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rocks. Ortega-Obregón et al. (2013) reported a mean 206Pb/238U age of 310.8±1.8 Ma (Early
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Pennsylvanian) ranging between 296 and 326 Ma (early Permian to Late Mississippian). Lu/Hf
isotopes in this case yielded depleted mantle ages of 775-1,050 Ma for the most mafic Cuanana
and Honduras intrusions, and 1,330-1,550 Ma for the granitic and larger Zaniza batholith. These
geochemical data indicate different proportions of Precambrian crustal assimilation, with a
strong upper mantle component probably associated to SE-directed subduction accompanying
the oblique and hence diachronous consolidation of Pangea, which in this area was assembled by
the pre-Mesozoic continental and oceanic blocks of southern Mexico (Elías-Herrera and Ortega-
Gutiérrez, 2002).
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3.6.3.3. Exhumation
Exhumation of the last two plutons can only be deduced from stratigraphic
considerations, essentially because of the paucity of precise data other than their crystallization
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ages. Hornblende K-Ar ages ranging from 238±25 to 282±26 Ma (Middle Triassic-early
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Permian), and a K-Ar biotite age of 278±26 Ma were previously reported by Grajales-Nishimura
(1988) for the Honduras batholith, whereas U-Pb zircons yielded a mean 206Pb/238U age of
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290.1±2.2 Ma (early Permian) for the same pluton (Ortega-Obregón et al., 2013). Unfortunately,
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large errors associated with the K-Ar ages from these plutons and lack of a pre-Mesozoic cover
do not permit a precise determination of the cooling rates for this intrusion and hence to
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appreciate their uplift rates.
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3.7. Eastern Paleozoic batholithic belt (mostly buried)

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A mostly buried (2-7 km of overburden) batholithic complex characterizes the crystalline

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basement rocks of NE Mexico (Jacobo-Albarrán, 1986; Wilson, 1990; Salvador, 1991). The
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intrusive complex extends discontinuously from southeastern Chihuahua through the central part
of the state of Coahuila, and continues along the states of Tamaulipas to Veracruz, and into the
Gulf of Mexico. It is considered to mark the roots of a Permian to Jurassic westward-younging
arc that was intermittently active along the western margin of Pangea (Torres et al., 1999).
Intensive oil drilling of the Burgos and Tampico-Misantla basins in the northwestern Gulf of
Mexico have identified the buried presence of this batholitic belt, which in Mesozoic times
constituted the backbone of the continental Paleozoic crust that was rifted and displaced during
opening of the Gulf of Mexico. Gravity models of NE Mexico confirmed (Mickus and Montana,
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1999) the presence of a major horst-like probably batholithic structure that extends over 700 km
from the vicinity of Monterrey in the state of Nuevo León to Poza Rica in the state of Veracruz,
and into the Gulf of Mexico, with a mean width of about 30 to 150 kilometers. The buried
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plutons were emplaced into a rather complex pre-Mesozoic metamorphic crust actually exposed
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in a few structural windows and varying in age from Mesoproterozoic granulite facies gneisses
and massif anorthosites at Ciudad Victoria (Cameron et al., 2004), Tamaulipas, and Molango,
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Hidalgo, (Lawlor et al., 1999), to late Paleozoic (low to middle grade schists at Teziutlán, Puebla
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and related granitic intrusion dated at 268.14±0.24 Ma, Iriondo et al., 2003). Charnockitic and
anorthositic wall rock gneisses, probably Precambrian, also have been identified in many deep
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oil wells drilled in the vicinity of Tampico, Tamaulipas and Ciudad Valles, San Luis Potosí.
3.7.2. Age and petrological data

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The NE margin of Mexico before opening of the Gulf of Mexico in fact consisted of four
crystalline belts trending NW (Wilson, 1990) that include from east to west: a) the buried
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batholith 80x30 km in size along the present Gulf of Mexico region (187±11 Ma, K-Ar on
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hornblende), b) a Paleozoic orogen consisting of metasedimentary units intruded by Permo-

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Triassic granitoids (264±21 to 208±10 Ma, K-Ar biotite ages), c) a belt of Early Jurassic stocks
(173±14 to 179±14 Ma, K-Ar on biotite), and d) the Grenvillian Oaxaquia microcontinent.
Contact metamorphism superimposed on the schists yields K-Ar biotite ages of 276±22 and
263±21 Ma, whereas deformation at the margins of these batholiths yield muscovite K-Ar ages
of 223±18 Ma, and 250±20 Ma from biotites of the granitic mylonites (Wilson, 1990).
According to that author cooling K-Ar ages of these rocks in NE Mexico range from 320 Ma
through 204 Ma (Pennsylvanian to Triassic), but most falls in the Late Triassic (Torres et al.,
1999).
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3.7.3. Exhumation
Because the northeastern batholithic belt is almost completely buried, contact relations
are not exposed and are ambiguous in the drilled cores. Nevertheless, the data given above
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correspond to ages that reflect either cooling at shallow levels, as suggested by the thermal
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contact effects caused on the hosting metamorphic units below, or deeper levels of emplacement
(10 km or more), followed by Jurassic uplift when they were covered by the continental red beds
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associated with opening of the Gulf of Mexico.
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3.8. Continental interior plutons (rift, shear zone, and arc-related)
MA
Intrusions larger or smaller than 100 km2 in extension are common and dispersed across
most northern and southern Mexico, often forming clusters or linear trends probably controlled
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by local and regional structures in the buried crust. They vary from the Mesoproterozoic to
Miocene in age. In this work only those that qualify as batholiths or, being smaller, show
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relevant tectonic properties or have been well studied will be further described.
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3.8.1. Mesoproterozoic plutons

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Proterozoic basement igneous and metamorphic rocks (1.1-1.8 Ga) are extensively
exposed in two separate regions in Sonora: a) along a NW-trending western belt, and b) in
northernmost Sonora close to the border with Arizona. These rocks constitute the southern
extension in northwestern Mexico of the Laurentian craton and of its two most relevant
Proterozoic terranes, Yavapai-Mojave and Mazatzal. Deformed rocks associated with these
provinces in Mexico are known, respectively, as the Bamori and Pinal Schist complexes, which
were intruded by two suites of postectonic, rift-related alkaline granitoids at ~1. 4 Ga,
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characterized by megacrystic, rapakivi granodiorites and quartz monzonites (Cananea-type), and
1.1 Ga micrographic alkaline granites (Aibó type).
3.8.1.1.Cananea Granite
PT
In northern Sonora an old suite of A-type granites haven been studied and named
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Cananea granite after the main pluton that crops out in the Cananea porphyry copper district
(Anderson and Silver, 1977). The Cananea intrusion of the Pinal terrane was newly dated at
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1,427±15 Ma (Anderson and Silver, 2005) together with other granitoids found in the Caborca
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block, with ages between 1,416±12 and 1,438±45 Ma (upper intercept U-Pb zircon ages) and a
composite reference chord of 1423±24 Ma (Anderson and Silver 1981, 2005). These findings
MA
indicate that the 1.4 Ga rapakivi megacrystic granites constitute an old stitching intrusive suite
across the suture between the Paleoproterozoic terranes of NW Mexico. Early and late Paleozoic
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sedimentary marine rocks unconformably overlie these plutons.
3.8.1.2. Aibó and related granites

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Micrographic granites approximately 1.1 Ga are distributed in northern Sonora as small

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plutons intruding Paleoproterozoic crust (1.6-1.8 Ga) and unconformably covered by

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Neoproterozoic marine successions; they may reach maximum dimensions of about 10x3 km,
and therefore are elongated stocks rather than batholiths. The type locality for these granitoids is
the Aibó Ranch sited about 25 km south of Caborca in the Caborca terrane of the state of Sonora
(Figure 5). It intrudes the 1.7-1.8 Ga old Bamori Complex, a low to medium grade metamorphic
unit forming the oldest crystalline basement exposed in Mexico, and it is unconformably covered
by a thick succession of Neoproterozoic-early Paleozoic marine platform strata. Similar granites
have been dated in many other places of western Sonora, such as the Quitovac area about 140 km
northwest of Caborca, Sierra Los Tanques (Iriondo et al., 2004, 2008), and several other places
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mentioned as allochthonous blocks north of the Mojave-Sonora megashear (Anderson and Silver,
2005). The U-Pb zircon ages of Aibó granite at the type locality were determined at 1,079±18
Ma (weighted mean 206Pb/U278, Anderson and Silver, 2005), 1,074±5 (Iriondo et al., 2003) and
PT
1,075±1 (Farmer et al., 2005), which are similar to ages obtained from the Campo Bustamante
(Quitovac area) with a weighted 206Pb/238U mean of 1,083±21 Ma (Iriondo et al., 2004). Epsilon-
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Nd values of -1.4 to -4.6 and Nd model ages of 1,770-1,720 Ma indicate a strong contribution of
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the local Paleoproterozoic crust. Recent studies (Espinoza et al., 2003; Izaguirre and Iriondo,
NU
2007) in the Caborca block also identified differentiated anorthosite-gabbro plutons with U-Pb
ages at 1,096±28 and 1,075±9, configuring a bimodal intrusive suite probably associated with an
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extensional regime in the hinterland of the Grenville orogen of eastern and southern North
America.
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3.8.2. Early Paleozoic plutons
3.8.2.1. Palo Liso, La Noria, Los Hornos, and Cuajilote

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3.8.2.1.1. Tectonic setting

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These plutons are essentially undeformed megacrystic granites exposed at the northern
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sector of the Paleozoic polymetamorphic Acatlán Complex, state of Puebla (Figure 9). All of
them are peraluminous with volcanic arc or within-plate granite affinities (Miller et al., 2007;
Hinojosa-Prieto, 2008). The Palo Liso granite is a stock of ca. 6 km2 with complex contact
relationships; it intrudes Neoproterozoic (?) amphibolites and turbiditic sediments of Cambrian
(?) age, and it seemingly tectonically overrode Mississippian high-pressure rocks. The Palo Liso
granite at its eastern border intruded clastic rocks of the latest Devonian-middle Permian
fossiliferous Patlanoaya Formation. All these megacrystic plutons in the Acatlán Complex
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contain abundant inherited material with complete or partially assimilated low-grade xenoliths
from the local low-grade sedimentary units.
3.8.2.1.2. Age and exhumation data
PT
Geochronological studies of Miller et al. (2007) reported intercept U-Pb ages of ca. 479
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and ca. 461 Ma for the Palo Liso granite, whereas Elías-Herrera et al. (2007) reported an U-Pb
age of ca. 468 Ma for the same granite. A new U-Pb age of ca. 438 Ma (early Silurian) was
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obtained (Macías-Romo et al., 2013) from euhedral and clean zircons of the Palo Liso granite.
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This later age may be considered the best estimation for the magmatic crystallization of the
granite, whereas their previously documented Early-Middle Ordovician ages would correspond
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to inherited material from the local basement. A poorly constrained 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of
305±26 Ma on biotite of the Palo Liso granite was interpreted as the time of cooling through ca.
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300°C (Miller et al., 2007). Thus, a very slow cooling rate of ~2.8°C/Ma or ~3.4°C/Ma may be
estimated for the Palo Liso granite, assuming Middle Ordovician or early Silurian U-Pb
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crystallization ages, respectively. La Noria granite, exposed 25 km SSE of the Palo Liso area,
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was first dated as Devonian (371±34 Ma, Yañez et al., 1991). Subsequently, a U-Pb zircon age
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of 467 ±16 Ma (Middle Ordovician) was published (Miller et al., 2007) for this pluton. La Noria
granite intrudes metasediments with youngest detrital zircon defining peak ages at ca. 488 and
466 Ma (Hinojosa-Prieto et al., 2008), implying that the Ordovician intrusion was roughly
synchronous with deposition of some of the host rocks. La Noria granite in turn is intruded by a
Late Devonian (?), weakly deformed leucogranite (Hinojosa-Prieto et al., 2008). Poorly
constrained 40Ar/39Ar muscovite plateau ages of ca. 330 Ma from deformed sectors of La Noria
pluton and the leucogranite were related to a Mississippian deformation event in the Acatlán
Complex, with probable late thermal disturbances below 300°C at ca. 300, 220 and 172 Ma
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(Hinojosa-Prieto et al., 2008). Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotope data reported for La Noria granite
(Yañez et al., 1991) show 87Sr/86Sr values of 0.74492 and 143Nd/144Nd of 0.512199 that are
supported by NdTDM model ages of 1.40 Ga and epsilon Nd of -8.6 indicating a dominant old
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crustal contamination component.
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Los Hornos granite is apparently the northern prolongation of the La Noria pluton, and
both granites define a N-trending elongated area covering about 24 km2. Los Hornos granite
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intrudes Neoproterozoic-Ordovician (?) amphibolites, greenschists and metasediments of the El
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Rodeo lithodeme; it is unconformable covered by a succession of conglomerate, sandstone and
late Permian (Leonardian) fossiliferous limestone. Preliminary U-Pb zircon ages at 442-428 Ma
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(Miller et al., 2007) and ca. 465 Ma (Elías-Herrera et al., 2007) have been reported for zircons in
the pluton. Additional megacrystic granite exposed at the northern part the Acatlán Complex is
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the Cuajilote granite. This pluton, although shows sheared contacts against Pennsylvanian-
Permian sedimentary rocks with fossiliferous limestone and contains numerous xenoliths of
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these rocks, a preliminary U-Pb zircon age also yielded Middle Ordovician (ca. 463 Ma, Elías-
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Herrera et al., 2007), probably indicating strong inheritance from detrital zircons of the intruded
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metasediments. The fact that some of these granites intrude sedimentary rocks of late Paleozoic
age (Patlanoaya Formation), constitutes an apparent contradiction, the solution of which requires
further geochronology and field mapping.
3.8.2.2.Motozintla pluton
Ordovician granites have been recently recognized near Motozintla, Chiapas, north of the
Polochic fault in SE Mexico (Figure 11). U-Pb zircon dating revealed crystallization ages of
448±7.2 and 445.9±6.1 Ma, with inherited cores of 978-1,290 Ma namely of clear Grenvillian
affinity (Estrada-Carmona et al., 2012). Ongoing studies have recently discovered in the same
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area large plutons of massive anorthosites rich in ilmenite and rutile, the age of which remains
poorly constrained between Mesoproterozoic and Permian.
3.8.3. Late Paleozoic-Triassic plutons
PT
3.8.3.1. Acatita-Las Delicias batholith, Coahuila
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Two partially exposed plutons in the crystalline basement of the Coahuila terrane crop
out associated with a thick succession of orogenic sedimentites paleontologically dated as
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Mississippian to Permian. One intrusion (Coyote pluton) crops out continuously (McKee et al.,
NU
1999) for about 9 km on the west side of Sierra Los Remedios near Acatita (Figure 15), whereas
the second intrusion crops out for about 7.5 km along the eastern flank of Sierra Las Delicias.
MA
McKee et al. (1999) suggested that the two intrusives, 35 km apart, might be one and the same
igneous pluton, which if true, it would constitute one of the largest pre-Jurassic batholiths
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(partially) exposed in Mexico. U-Pb zircon and K-Ar data for the “batholith” (reported in McKee
et al., 1999) yield ages of ~220 and 208±4 Ma (Norian), respectively, indicating a Triassic rather
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than a Paleozoic age. More recent 40Ar/39Ar data yield similar ages of 215.9±1.9, 217.3±1.2 Ma
CE
and 205.6 ± 1.4 Ma for hornblende, biotite and K feldspar, respectively (Molina-Garza, 2005),
AC
support the previously known Triassic age and suggest a mean, relatively slow cooling rate of
~36ºC/Ma. Limited chemical data of these plutons indicate subduction-related magmatism
associated with convergence in the western margin of Pangea.
3.8.3.2. Etla Granite, Oaxaca
This pluton is a K-feldspar megacrystic granite with abundant xenoliths and locally
garnet xenocrysts comprising an area about 150 km2 in the central valleys near the city of
Oaxaca (Figure 9); it is slightly E-W elongated with a maximum length of 14 km and a minimum
width of five km; it intruded the upper levels of a metanorthositic Grenvillian massif and
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adjacent paragneisses of the Oaxacan Complex exposed in this region, locally developing a
mylonitic fabric. Tilted Miocene and Cretaceous strata unconformably cover the intrusion. A
zircon 207Pb/206Pb age of 917±6 Ma (Ortega-Obregón et al., 2003), formerly interpreted as the
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crystallization age for the granite, was recently corrected using LA-ICP-MS dating techniques on
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zircons to a value of 255±2.3 Ma (Ortega-Obregón et al., 2013). This age is much younger than a
previous Rb-Sr whole rock isochron age of 272±8 Ma that yields an initial Sr ratio at
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0.7047±0.0005 (Ruiz-Castellanos, 1979), suggesting important contamination from the intruded
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Precambrian rocks, also confirmed by recent Hf isotopic studies by Ortega-Obregón et al.
(2013), who calculated Hf TDM model ages of 1.45-1.9 Ga for the pluton.
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3.8.3.3. Totoltepec Pluton, Puebla
This heterogeneous intrusion is of Pennsylvanian-early Permian age and exposed within

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the northern part of the Acatlán Complex (Figure 9) bounded on all sides by tectonic contacts of
Permian to Jurassic age (Kirsch et al., 2012). The granite measures ~16x5 km and trends ENE,
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varying in composition from gabbro (306±2 Ma, Middle Pennsylvanian) in the periphery to
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trondhjemite-diorite-tonalite elsewhere (283-289±2 Ma, early Permian). The southern margin or

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structural bottom of the pluton is a Permian, north-dipping thrust marked by up to 200 m of the
mylonitized granitoids overriding low-grade Pennsylvanian-Permian marine siliciclastic strata of
the Acatlán Complex. It shows a weak, slightly folded tectonic foliation trending E-W and
dipping north at steep to moderate angles. Geochemical data (Kirsch et. al., 2013) indicate an
origin in a magmatic arc on the west central margin of Pangea that was active during
contemporaneous oblique dextral contraction, and emplaced in a local transtensional structure.
Unfortunately, contact relationships with the adjacent Pennsylvanian-early Permian Tecomate
Formation of the Acatlán Complex before thrusting are not clear, as the metasediments include
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pebbles from the Totoltepec pluton but it is also intruded by pegmatites presumably rooted in the
pluton. Hornblende thermobarometry performed on the main tonalitic facies yielded pressures of
5.7±0.6 kbar (19-23 km) and temperatures of 762±40 ºC (Kirsch et al., 2012), implying rapid
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ascent rates of the magma from generating depths to its shallow level of emplacement within
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very low grade metasedimentary rocks.
3.8.3.4. Cozahuico granite, Puebla
SC
The Cozahuico pluton is a granitic rock that occupies the entire length (24 km) of the N-S
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trending Caltepec fault zone (Elías-Herrera and Ortega-Gutiérrez, 2002), separating the
Mesoproterozoic granulites of the Oaxacan Complex on the east, from the Paleozoic
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polymetamorphic Acatlán Complex to the west (Figure 13). The exposed width of the granitoid
(Figure 9) varies form about 3.5 to <1 km. It is considered a shear zone-related granite emplaced
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syntectonically during oblique dextral shearing in the early Permian, and a product of deep-
seated anatexis of the Grenvillian crust involved in an oblique collisional zone against the
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Paleozoic Acatlán Complex. The age of the pluton was obtained on zircons extracted from the
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leucosomatic (anatectic) fraction of the granitoid at 275.6±1 Ma (early Permian). The initial Sr
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isotope ratio shows values of 0.70435-0.70686 and Sm-Nd model ages of 1.0-1.6 Ga indicating
mixtures of mantle derived magmas with the anatectic products of the partially melted
Grenvillian basement involved in the collisional zone. A rather deep emplacement environment
is strongly suggested by the presence of magmatic epidote in the anatectic facies associated with
the roots of the pluton. An 40Ar/39Ar cooling age of 268.6±1.27 Ma measured from micas of the
mylonitic phyllonite at the base of the thrust contact overlying the Acatlán Complex, on the other
hand, indicates rapid uplift and cooling rates up to 180ºC/Ma (Elías-Herrera et al., 2007).
Guadalupian (262-270 Ma) continental deposits of the Mazitzi Formation overly directly the
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sutured pluton, stressing the extremely rapid tectonic uplift and exhumation of the collisional
root.
3.8.4. Cretaceous-Paleogene plutons
PT
3.8.4.1. Placeres del Oro batholith
A small granitic batholith (~150 km2, 21x7 km) mapped as the Placeres del Oro batholith
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crops out (Figure 9) about 20 km west of Ciudad Altamirano in the state of Guerrero (Martini et
SC
al., 2009). It intrudes a marine succession of Late Jurassic-Cretaceous age and is unconformably
NU
covered by continental volcanic rocks of Paleogene age. The composition varies from
granodiorite to quartz diorite and its crystallization and cooling ages from 120.2±2.1 Ma (U-Pb,
MA
zircon), to ca. 115-116 Ma (40Ar/39Ar biotite and hornblende), with concordant zircon cores at
1,110 to 1,071 Ma, and discordant grains ranging from 266 to 160 Ma (Martini et al., 2009).
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Cooling from ~750 (zircon) to 300ºC (biotite) thus would yield cooling rates about 90ºC/Ma
indicating shallow levels of emplacement. Much younger batholiths (San Jerónimo and
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Guayameo) in the same area consist of granite to diorite yielding integrated 40Ar/39Ar plagioclase
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ages in the range 34.2± to 39.1± 0.7 (Late Eocene) and an 40Ar/39Ar isochron plagioclase age at
AC
43.7±0.5 Ma (Martini et al., 2009), suggesting that these granitoids belong to the same intrusive
event typified by La Huacana batholith described above.
3.8.4.2. Tingambato batholith
This granitoid exposed some 40 kilometers NW of Tejupilco, Estado de México (Figure
14), measures about 20x10 km and it intrudes epimetamorphic rocks of the Guerrero terrane arc-
oceanic assemblages. The intrusive rock consists of granodiorite, with a K-Ar cooling age of
107±5 Ma (Elías-Herrera et al., 2000), and U-Pb concordant ages at 129.6±1.1 Ma (Barremian)
and 131-133 Ma (Hauterivian) reported by Martini et al. (2009). The difference between the K-
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Ar and U-Pb ages (31 to 16 Ma) seems too large to reflect a continuous process of cooling, and
more probably excess of argon was introduced by crustal contamination.
3.8.4.3. Morelos-Guerrero platform intrusives
PT
The Guerrero-Morelos Cretaceous platform constitutes an enigmatic tectonostratigraphic
RI
block astride the buried contact between the Mesozoic Guerrero terrane on the west, and the
Paleozoic Mixteco terrane on the east. Small (1 to 15 km long) and shallow quartz dioritic,
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monzonitic and granodioritic intrusions are known from several places of the platform (Figure
NU
14) emplaced within deformed Albian-Cenomanian carbonates and Late Cretaceous terrigenous
marine units (Fries, 1960). The plutons have been preferentially studied in the context of their Fe
MA
and Au associated deposits, and most ages are based on 40Ar/39Ar data on biotites, indicating a
general “Laramide” timing for the several intrusions that occur in clusters near the town of
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Mexcala, and younger bodies further north at Buenavista de Cuéllar and Coxcatlán. The Mexcala
cluster plutons are very irregular in shape forming outcrops as large as 13x3.5 km and multiple
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small exposures within the Cretaceous marine calcareous and siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. The
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mean plateau 40Ar/39Ar biotite ages obtained for six localities in the Mexcala cluster vary from
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60.8±0. 8 Ma to 68.0±1 Ma, and yielded a similar U-Pb zircon age of 63±2 Ma (Levresse et al.,
2004), suggesting a very fast cooling and hence quite shallow emplacement levels consistent
with their small size and mineralized contact metamorphic aureoles formed in the carbonate
units. Adakitic plutons of the same area and their xenoliths studied by Levresse et al. (2007)
yielded U-Pb crystallization zircon ages in the range 60-75 Ma, with abundant inherited zircons
in the xenoliths dated as Early Cretaceous (134 and 136 Ma), Triassic (244 Ma), Grenvillian (~1
Ga), and Early Cambrian (532 and 545 Ma). The intrusions define a clear AFM calc-alkaline
metaluminous trend and a dominant granodiorite composition with pronounced light REE
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enrichment relative to the heavy REE, and a negative europium anomaly (Meza-Figueroa et al.,
2003), indicating an origin associated with Laramidic subduction processes, including adakitic
signatures developed during melting of the subducted slab (Levresse et al., 2004).
PT
The Coxcatlán pluton, exposed in the northern part of the Guerrero Morelos Platform, is
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the small-scale plutonic root of an extensive Eocene NW-trending silicic volcanic belt extending
for more than 259 km, south of the present-day Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Specifically, the
SC
pluton is located within the perimeter of a large-scale dome structure, which has been interpreted
NU
as the expression of a batholith underneath genetically related with the Eocene silicic volcanism
(Martiny et al., 2013). The pluton is composite in nature and contains granodiorite and quartz-
MA
monzonite facies, as well as several enclaves of dioritic composition. U-Pb zircon mean ages
obtained from the pluton are 35.75±0.28 and 36.01 ± 0.36 Ma overlap those obtained from K-Ar
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dating of biotite and K-feldspar (35.76±0.13 to 36.97±0.12 Ma), which are indicative of a rapid
cooling related to their shallow emplacement levels (Martiny et al, 2013).

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Many similar but barely known intrusions of early Tertiary age intruding Cretaceous
CE
rocks of the adjacent Guerrero terrane are present, for example in Temascaltepec, Tlatlaya and
AC
Zacualpan areas of the state of México (Figure 14).
3.8.5. Cenozoic plutons
3.8.5.1. Comanja-Arperos intrusives
Just east of León, Guanajuato (see Figure 9) and limited by a set of NW (El Bajío fault)
and NE (Guanajuato fault)-trending normal faults, two plutons dubbed as Comanja (~113 km2),
and La Estancia-Arperos (15x11 km, and 13x5 km, respectively) are well exposed together with
over ten minor outcrops that may be simple apophyses of only one major pluton (Stein et al.,
1994; Aranda-Gómez et al., 2012). These intrusions are emplaced in the Mesozoic
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volcanosedimentary sequence (Arperos Basin) that constitutes a basement window of the
Guerrero terrane (Martini et al., 2012). The granitic intrusions consist of granodiorites and
alkalic granitoids dated (Ar-Ar on biotite) at ~49-53 Ma (early Eocene) and a K-Ar age of
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51.3±1.3 Ma (Stein et al. 1994). Aranda-Gómez et al. (2012) reported similar K-Ar ages of
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51.5±0.69 Ma on Kfeldspar and 52.10±0.49 and 52.48±0.63 Ma on biotite. Geochemistry
performed on both plutons (Stein et al., 1994) shows a pronounced negative Eu anomaly (relative
SC
to chondrite), and moderate enrichment of light REE. In a Y/Nb diagram both plutons plot in the
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orogenic granites field and show slight negative (-0.5 to -2) epsilon Nd values, suggesting
moderate assimilation of actual or reworked Precambrian crust beneath the Guerrero terrane
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Mesozoic rocks. Abundance of potassium feldspar and tourmaline in the late hydrothermal
phases of the intrusion suggest possible partial melting at depth of the Mesozoic pelitic
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metasediments. The presence of marked contact effect against the enclosing rocks and fast
cooling rates (~100ºC/Ma), on the other hand, reveal quite shallow levels of emplacement.
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3.8.5.2. Palma Sola Massif intrusions

CE
Small but tectonically significant outcrops of deformed gabbroic and dioritic plutonic and
AC
subvolcanic intrusions occur flooring the Quaternary and Neogene volcanic rocks of the eastern
Palma Sola Massif in northern Veracruz (Gómez-Tuena et al., 2004; Ferrari et al., 2005). A
plutonic unit exposed and dated a few kilometers WNW of Palma Sola (see Figure 9) is
vertically foliated, hydrothermally altered and defining an E-W oriented shear zone several
hundred meters wide. They were dated by K-Ar and 40Ar/39Ar methods at 15.6 to 10.9 Ma
(Ferrari et al., 2005). The fact that volcanic rocks as old as 6.5 Ma years are known in the area
covering with an unconformity this young plutonic basement (Ferrari et al., 2005) indicates a
fast and considerable tectonic uplift, as well as ductile deformation events of Miocene or more
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recent age that are anomalous in a region where all orogenic motion waned by the middle Eocene
at the end of the Laramide orogeny.
3.8.5.3. Core Complexes
PT
A peculiar tectonic characteristic of the western margin of North America is the existence
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of structural circular to oval massifs cored by high to low-grade metamorphic rocks and lineated
granites, mantled by sedimentary and volcanic rocks with extensive mylonitic and cataclastic
SC
fabrics that extend from southern Canada to Sonora in NW Mexico in the rear of the Laramide
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orogenic front (Armstrong, 1982; Coney and Harms, 1984). The age of deformation varies from
Late Cretaceous to middle Miocene, and in those cored by granites in Sonora (Figure 5) the
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deformation is of Miocene age comprising a total area of more than 35,000 km2 (Nurse et al.,
1994). U-Pb zircon ages on the lower plate granites that compose the crystalline protolithic cores
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of the extensional structures vary from 78±3 Ma (Magdalena core complex) to possibly Middle
Proterozoic and 57±2 Ma (Mazatán core complex). On the other hand, K-Ar ages of syntectonic
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micas (muscovite and biotite) and whole-rock samples of deformed granites, schists and
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supracrustal units range from 36.5±0.8 Ma (late Eocene) to 14.8±0.5 Ma (middle Miocene)
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(Nurse et al., 1994). More precise illite Ar-Ar dates of the Mazatán core complex faulted surface
yielded (Haines and van der Pluijm, 2008) an age of 14.9 Ma, whereas Wong and Gans (2003)
calculated for other places in the Mazatán core complex K-Ar cooling ages of 18 Ma at 350ºC
(micas), and 16 Ma at 200ºC (feldspar), implying a cooling rate of 75ºC/Ma in the middle
Miocene. These data indicate that the Miocene southern core complexes of Sonora are more
related to the inception of the Gulf of California opening, and not to the collapse of the Laramide
orogen, as postulated elsewhere for those in western U.S.A. and Canada (e.g. Armstrong 1982).
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3.9. Alkaline intrusive complexes of NE Mexico
The alkaline magmatic province of northeastern Mexico (Thorpe, 1977; Cantagrel and
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Robin, 1979; Treviño-Cázarez et al., 2005; Viera-Décida et al., 2009) contains several intrusive
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complexes (Figure 15) with extremely alkaline composition (ijolites) and ranging in age from
Eocene to Oligocene. The province extends in eastern Mexico and across the U.S.A. border in
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Texas (Transpecos magmatic province) to conform a belt well over 2,000 km long probably
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extending to the Palma Sola and Los Tuxtlas basanitic volcanic massifs (see Figure 9). The
plutonic system in Mexico is not continuous; up to five intrusive centers regularly spaced at
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200±50 km integrate the province, namely Sierra Maderas del Carmen, Coahuila (mainly
subvolcanic syenitic intrusions that are no further considered here), Sierra Los Picachos, Nuevo
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León, and sierras de San Carlos and Tamaulipas.
3.9.2. Sierra Los Picachos, Nuevo León

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This alkaline intrusive complex is virtually unknown except that, as the other plutons of
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the province, may be of middle Tertiary age and intruding calcareous units of the Cretaceous
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Sierra Madre Oriental province. The intrusive complex (McKnight, 1963) consists of stocks of
Ti-augite pyroxenite (ca. 10 km2) with local variations to gabbro and diorite, and aegirine-augite
syenite (ca. 25 km2). Several thick sills (up to 100 m of thickness) of microsyenite and aplitic
and pegmatitic dikes, distributed in an area of 20x15 km (300 km2), are also part of this complex.
The emplacement order was pyroxenite-syenite-microsyenite according to crosscutting
relationships. Preliminary geochemical studies (Morton-Bermea and Altherr, 1991) characterized
the complex as consisting of two series: an older one composed of gabbros, pyroxenites and
diorites (20 km2), and a younger one formed by nepheline syenite (30 km2). Much younger
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volcanic and subvolcanic rocks consist of diabase and alkaline basalts associated with the
gabbroic rocks, and of basanite-tephrite dikes, as well as phonolite lavas associated with the
nepheline syenites. The gabbroic rocks show gently sloping chondrite normalized REE patterns
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without europium anomaly, whereas the syenites display a strong negative europium anomaly
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and more pronounced REE chondrite normalized slopes. Both series display a marked Nb
positive anomaly indicating absence of a subduction component in the genesis of this mafic-
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alkaline intrusive complex (Morton-Bermea and Altherr, 1991).
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3.9.3. Sierra de San Carlos-Cruillas, Tamaulipas intrusive complex
The San Carlos-Cruillas massif (Figure 16) is 60 km wide and covers an approximate
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area of 3,600 km2. It pierces the Gulf o Mexico coastal plain rising from 300 up to 1,740 meters
above sea level. The main pluton measures 22x12 km for a total area of about 260 km2
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(Hubberten, 1985). The igneous complex (Treviño-Cázares, et al., 2005 and references therein)
comprises three groups of rocks according to their relative ages; the oldest units are calc-alkaline
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gabbros, diorites and quartz-diorites, the intermediate group consist of alkaline rocks such as
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aegirine-augite syenite and nepheline-analcime syenite ranging in composition from 49 % to 54

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% SiO2 and 11 % to 15 % total alkalis (Hubberten, 1985), and the youngest group, mainly
distributed in the periphery of the intrusive complex, consists of phonolitic, trachyitic and
basaltic lavas and dikes, some of them containing small mantle xenoliths (Treviño-Cázares, et al.
2005). They intruded late Mesozoic carbonate units of the Gulf of Mexico basin. Ultra-alkaline
igneous rocks that characterize the well-studied intrusions at El Picacho magmatic center located
further south in the Sierra de Tamaulipas, however, are lacking in the San Carlos-Cruillas
complex.
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Bloomfield and Cepeda (1973) dated the intrusive rocks at 31-27 Ma (Oligocene) by K-
Ar on micas and amphiboles. These are the only geochronological data so far determined for the
entire plutonic alkaline belt in Mexico.
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3.9.4. Sierra de Tamaulipas (El Picacho)
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This igneous complex is indeed the most notable alkaline intrusion in Mexico because
carbonatite dykes and ijolites were reported there for the first time (Elías-Herrera et al., 1991). It
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is located in the state of Tamaulipas at El Picacho (Elías-Herrera et al., 1991; Ramírez-
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Fernández, et al., 2000) forming a small, slightly elongated annular intrusive complex 5.2x3 km
in size cutting Cretaceous carbonates. Its composition includes gabbro, kaersutite diorite,
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nepheline syenite, foidolites (urtite, ijolite) and subvolcanic phonolite and trachyte dykes.
Carbonatites (soevite and alvikite) occur as dikes associated with apatite-rich veins and, although
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Elías-Herrera et al. (1991) predicted their existence, their actual identification was later reported
by Ramírez-Fernández, et al. (2000), who also studied the C and O isotope composition
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confirming their mantle magmatic origin. By analogy with the Sierra de San Carlos alkaline
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intrusives dated as Oligocene (Bloomfield and Cepeda, 1973), El Picacho intrusive complex also
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may be tentatively considered of the same age.
3.10. Plutons of the Sierra Madre Oriental
Small granitic intrusions occur inside the folded ranges of the Sierra Madre Oriental
Laramidic structural province (Figures 15 and 17). They tend to be clustered and vary in
composition from granite to diorite and from alkaline to calc-alkaline. Despite their relatively
small size (max. ~15x10 km), they play an important tectonic role in the timing of the Laramide
orogeny that structured the Mexican fold and thrust belt.

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3.10.1. Concepción del Oro intrusive belt
A peculiar intrusive, E-W trending belt about 500 km long crops out in the transversal
sector of the Sierra Madre Oriental orogen; it is conformed by eight plutonic complexes
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extending from Papantón, Durango, to El Peñuelo, Coahuila (Figure 15). None of these plutons
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acquired the dimensions of a batholith, and the largest one (El Peñuelo) is a sub-circular
intrusion ~9x6 km in size intruding Cretaceous folded structures of the Sierra Madre Oriental.
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The belt is known as the Concepción del Oro intrusive belt, with reported K-Ar ages (Velasco-
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Tapia et al., 2011 and references therein) of 75 Ma (alkaline granitoids) to 35 Ma (calc-alkaline
granitoids. El Peñuelo intrusion in the eastern termination of the intrusive belt is mainly
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composed of quartz syenite emplaced within sedimentary marine rocks of Late Cretaceous age. It
varies in SiO2 from 46 to 72 % wt., with enriched LILE, (La/Yb = 9-16), no europium anomaly
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and Sr contents as high as 2,192 ppm and Y as low as 10 ppm (Velasco-Tapia et al., 2011).
3.10.2. Candela-Monclova intrusive belt

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This belt (Figure 15) consists of 13 small intrusions (maximum size of 11x3 km) that
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extend for about 100 km distributed along a band trending ENE from Candela to Monclova in
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the states of Nuevo León and Coahuila (Molina Garza et al., 2008). The ages of individual
plutons vary from 41 to 44 Ma (middle Eocene) and some are considered synchronous with the
Laramide orogeny because ductile deformation (mylonite-ultramylonite) and high temperature
synmagmatic fabrics affected at least the monzonite of Cerro del Mercado, yielding a 44.29±0.19
Ma, 40Ar/39Ar hornblende age (Molina Garza et al., 2008). A biotite age from the same pluton
was dated at 41.54 Ma, indicating a mean cooling rate of 90ºC/Ma corresponding to a shallow
level of emplacement in the middle Eocene.
3.10.3. Isolated small intrusions

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Other important members of this group include a granitic intrusion in the Tamazunchale
ranges of the Sierra Madre Oriental described briefly by Suter (1990), with K-Ar ages of 62.2 to
41.5 Ma (Suter, 1984), implying a syntectonic relationship with the culmination of the Laramide
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deformation in eastern Mexico. In the state of San Luis Potosí the Guadalcazar intrusion of
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Oligocene age (31±2 Ma) is a unique small granitic intrusion (2x2 km) distinguished by its
world-famous mineralogy (guadalcazarite, dumortierite, cassiterite, etc.) and alkaline
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composition.
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4. Tectonic evolution of the plutonic intrusives of Mexico
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The “granite problem” is very old and controversial because it has involved the study and
explanation of four main geological processes: generation, ascent, emplacement and exhumation
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(e.g. Petford et al. 2000). These processes differ in their timing, intensity, and rates evidently
controlled by the particular conditions that established the tectonic and magmatic history of each
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plutonic system (Figure 18). In this contribution, most of these tectonic elements have been
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considered in variable detail throughout the text and will not be expanded here. The following
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discussion thus will focus on the origin and main tectonic implications of the seven more
significant batholithic events of Mexico, which were grouped according to their age of
emplacement from the Mesoproterozoic to the Miocene, as well as on two of the most debated
plutonic systems in the geology of Mexico: the northwestern, Laramide-related batholithic belts,
and the eastern Mexican Tertiary alkalic plutonic centers.
4.1. Mesoproterozoic
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The ~1.1 and ~1.4 Ga intrusions of cratonic Sonora consist of A-type granites showing
alkaline composition, hypersolvus megacrystic texture, and often rapakivi petrographic facies,
features that are typical of granites in many anorogenic or extensional regions of the Earth. A-
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Type granites may be originated from purely mantle, crustal or mixed sources, and modified by
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crystal fractionation, immiscibility, or metasomatic processes (Goodge and Vervoort, 2006). All
agree, however, that they are generated in extensional environments and commonly associated
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with anorogenic conditions in the interior of stable continents (e.g. Bonin, 2007).
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The nature of the intruded Paleoproterozoic crust in Sonora recorded the earlier accretion
of two intra-oceanic island arc terranes (Yavapai and Mazatzal) onto the Archean-
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Paleoproterozoic margin of ancient Laurentia, spanning a period of time between 1.79 and 1.62
Ga. Thus, the subsequent appearance in two pulses of “anorogenic” granites (the younger pulse
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was accompanied by anorthosites and gabbros) 500 and 200 million years after orogeny ceased
requires tectonic reactivation of a long-lived stabilized continental craton. The early pulse (1.4
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Ga) has been explained by the incipient breakup of the putative supercontinent Columbia (e.g.
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Rogers and Santosh, 2002), or alternatively, by contractional, long fetched orogenic or

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transpressional events (e.g. Nyman et al., 1994; Karlstrom et al., 2001). The Aibó-type 1.07-1.12
Ga bimodal granite-gabbro/anorthosite event probably represents continental extension behind
the collisional front of the Grenville orogen of eastern and southern Laurentia or the first signal
of the diachronous dispersion of Rodinia.
Both post-orogenic granitic pulses in Sonora define the southernmost extension of the
transcontinental Mesoproterozoic magmatic province of Laurentia and its prolongation in Baltica
(Anderson and Morrison, 2005), which includes two major series, the anorthosite-ilmenite (low
fO2) northern belt, and the granite-magnetite (high fO2) southern belt. The Sonoran alkalic and
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rapakivi Mesoproterozoic granites fall geographically in the latter group, but their temporal and
spatial association with anorthosites and gabbros, potassic composition, and the rapakivi textures
suggest that they belong to the anorthosite-ilmenite series associated with the deep-seated partial
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melting of a mafic lower crust in an extensional environment.
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4.2. Early Paleozoic and Carboniferous-early Permian
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Plutons of this age fall in two lithotectonic age groups: early and late Paleozoic. The
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former are part of the Acatlán Complex of southern Mexico (Miller et al., 2002) and of the El
Jocote unit of SE Chiapas (Estrada-Carmona et al., 2012). Those related to the Acatlán Complex
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define a cluster (Figure 9) of small intrusions which, although dated as Ordovician, they pose
interesting problems because of their apparent intrusive relations with adjacent sedimentary units
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as young as early Permian. The coexistence of high pressure metamorphic granites of similar
Ordovician ages (Esperanza Granitoids of the Acatlán Complex) in fault contact with the
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undeformed plutons of the same age has been explained by an elaborated tectonic model (Keppie
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et al., 2012) implying the existence of late Paleozoic listric faults that exhumed and juxtaposed
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the subducted parts of the granitoids buried over 60 km against the undeformed remains of the
once common cluster of intrusions. An alternative explanation (Elías-Herrera et al., 2007b)
interpreted the Ordovician zircons as all inherited from the stratigraphically underlying high-
pressure (Ordovician) granites, from which they were eventually derived by anatexis and granite
genesis during the early Permian orogeny that accreted the Acatlán Complex to Oaxaquia.
Carboniferous intrusions are rare in Mexico and in fact only the Zaniza, Honduras and
Cuanana batholiths and the gabbroic facies of the Totoltepec pluton in southern Mexico (Figure
9) fall in this age category. This group may be best interpreted as related to SE-directed
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subduction under the western Gondwanan margin along the Ouachita collisional orogen that
eventually closed the Rheic Ocean.
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4.3. Permian-Triassic
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The eastern Mexican batholithic belt (essentially buried) has been considered as the roots
of a plutonic arc developed in response to subduction along the Pacific margin of Pangea
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following its assembly in the late Paleozoic (Torres-Vargas et al., 1999). The ages for these rocks
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are mainly based on K-Ar isotopes and most are Triassic. Nonetheless, features such as low-
grade contact and regional metamorphism imprinted on the wall rocks, as well as sharp
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boundaries, indicate quite shallow levels of emplacement, and therefore similar crystallization
and cooling ages. It is then clear that the eastern Mexican batholith reflects post-Pangea
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subduction of Pacific plates undergoing several changes in inclination and velocities of
convergence, with an overall trench retreat from the east (Permo-Triassic) to the west (Early
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Jurassic), as suggested by the apparent westward younging distribution of the plutons.

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However, this age pattern is not evident in the Chiapas batholith despite the conjugate
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position that this block apparently played in NE Mexico prior to the opening of the Gulf of
Mexico. In fact, the Chiapas batholith bears a penetrative orogenic phase dated at 252-253 Ma
(Weber et al., 2007) involving polyphase deformation and partial melting of the batholithic roots,
events that are unknown in the geologic record of NE Mexico. However, a full analysis of this
problem is beyond the scope of our present work, although it constitutes one of the main but still
unresolved aspects of the tectonic evolution of Mexico during the late-Paleozoic-early Mesozoic.
4.4. Jurassic
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The well known Jurassic batholithic rocks described in northern Sonora define the
continuation in Mexico of the early Mesozoic arcs exposed in the southwestern Cordillera
(Busby-Spera, et al., 1990); these rocks have been also considered the plutonic equivalent of the
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putative volcanic Jurassic Nazas arc (Barboza-Gudiño, et al., 2008) present in north central
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Mexico, which apparently extends a far south as the Chiapas state (Godínez-Urban et al., 2011).
This inference, if supported by further data, would make the Jurassic magmatic arc a system
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similar in length to the Cretaceous arc of northwestern Mexico, although the volumes involved in
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the latter are orders of magnitude larger. Abundant evidence of strongly deformed Jurassic
plutons occurs in many places along the Pacific margin of Mexico (e.g. Mazatlán and Michoacán
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areas of the Guerrero terrane and Xolapa Complex). However, whether these rocks constituted a
continuous or closely related magmatic arc of Jurassic age in the western margin of continental
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Mexico but variously reworked during Creteaceous orogenies, constitutes an open question in
the Mesozoic tectonic history of Mexico.

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4.5. Early Cretaceous

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Undeformed plutons of this age are scarce in the geology of Mexico compared to the
subsequent granitic flareup that invaded the western half of that territory associated with the
Laramidic orogenic events encompassing more than 40 Ma (~80-40 Ma) of continuous
batholithic construction. Because of their pre-Laramidic age and rather internal location of the
intrusives within the Guerrero terrane, they probably represent the Late Jurassic-Early
Cretaceous roots of the island arcs that formed the core of the entire Guerrero superterrane. The
undeformed state of the two main plutons of this age in southern Mexico, Placeres del Oro,
Guerrero and Tingambato, Michoacán (Figure 14), as opposed to the abundant presence of
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deformed granitic intrusions of Jurassic and Early Cretaceous age identified in the Mesozoic
protoliths of the Xolapa Complex, has not been satisfactorily explained. An intense
tectonothermal event probably equivalent to a full collisional orogeny occurring in the earliest
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Cretaceous (140-130 Ma) along the southern Pacific margin of Mexico (e.g. Harlow at al., 2004)
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would explain why many plutons of Early Cretaceous and older ages are deformed along the
margin (Xolapa Complex) but those in the continental interior are not. Alternatively, an entire
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block constituted by undeformed volcanosedimentary units of the Guerrero terrane, including the
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Early Cretaceous undeformed intrusions, may have been accreted in the upper plate above the
Arperos suture to the continental margin.

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4.6. Late-Cretaceous-Paleogene
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The largest volume of granitic rocks of Mexico was generated during the interval 100-40
Ma, and they represent 87 % of the total exposed area of these rocks in Mexico. Although the
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time interval corresponds exactly with the activity of the Laramide orogeny in Mexico (between
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80±5 and 40±5 Ma (e.g. Coney, 1972; Dickinson et al., 1988; Bird, 1998), this issue is currently
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under discussion. Intrusive and volcanic rocks of this age occur across most parts of the country,
with the clear predominance of the plutonic component. The nature and origin of these granites
is plagued with problems and controversies related to source or sources for the parental magmas,
the relative role of mantle and crustal processes in the origin, ascent, emplacement and
exhumation of plutons that were variably buried from 20 km or more, to a few kilometers in the
middle and upper crust, and finally the geodynamic settings that controlled the gradual or rapid
apparent migration patterns of the magmatic axis along and across the Cretaceous and Paleogene
arcs (e.g. Morán-Zenteno et al., 2005; Valencia-Moreno et al., 2006).

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Although the tectonic history of the Farallon plate undoubtedly was the ruling process
that caused both, orogeny and magmatism along the western margin of Mexico, the exact
mechanisms that triggered the massive invasion and actually new formation of continental crust
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during the event, remains debated. Subduction of the Farallon Pacific plate beneath North
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America in fact was continuous since the Jurassic, and much of the buried crust of eastern and
central Mexico is also constituted by granitic batholiths generated above subduction zones in the
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west central margin of Pangea, as presented above.
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On the other hand, the isotopic geochemistry of the batholithic Laramide province in
Sonora does have clear indicators of chemical and isotopic zoning that reveal the lithotectonic
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nature of the underlying crust interacting in variable proportions with the subduction products
generated in the mantle wedge above the Farallon plate. Of particular tectonic importance is the
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locus of the Laurentian southern edge, which is currently defined along an E-W trending line
located approximately along the 29º N-latitude parallel based on the initial 87Sr/86Sr value of
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≥0.706 (Valencia-Moreno et al., 2001). A recent compilation of this parameter in Sonora for
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more that 70 plutons varying in age from 95 to 49 Ma yield values of 0.7051 to 0.7103 (Pérez-
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Segura et al., 2013), clearly suggesting a substantial component of Precambrian crust in the
genesis of the Laramide batholithic complexes of NW Mexico (see Figure 5).
4.7. Neogene
The scarcity of exposed granitoids of this age in Mexico is clearly due to insufficient time
for uplift and erosion processes to excavate the 3 to 10 km that commonly cover plutonic
intrusions. However, the presence of a well-developed late Miocene batholiths in SE Mexico
along the southern margin of the Chiapas batholith and in eastern Oaxaca is a conspicuous
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exception. Unfortunately, beyond their cartographic representation in relatively small scale
geologic maps (Figure 11), little or no other systematic studies exist, making it difficult any
tectonic interpretation other than their close association with past subduction of the Cocos plate
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beneath the continental structure of southern Mexico. The lack of petrologic, structural,
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geochemical and geochronological information for these plutons does not permit, for example, to
discern about precise sources (mantle or crust), or rates of cooling, uplift and exhumation,
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although it is evident that several kilometers of overburden had to be eroded in the last 10 Ma
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along the margin of SE Mexico in order to expose the late Miocene granitic intrusions. The fact
that large Miocene plutons are aligned parallel to the southern margin of the Chiapas batholith
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defined by the left lateral Neogene Tonalá shear zone, and that some of these plutons occur south
or north of that megashear structure, they may be structurally related to that fault. On the other
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hand, the distance of the Miocene plutonic arc axis to the present location of the Middle America
trench (~185-163 km) suggests for the Cocos plate a late Miocene angle of subduction similar to
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the present inclination of the southern Cocos plate, in this case indicated by the location of the
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Tacaná volcano 185 km away from the active trench. On the other hand, Manea and Manea
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(2006) proposed that the origin of the abandoned arc along this part of the Mexican Pacific
margin (Miocene plutons), and the present location of the modern Chiapanecan volcanic arc
(Tacaná-Chichón), are a natural consequence of shallowing of the Cocos plate and the frontal
subduction of the serpentinized Tehuantepec Ridge. This tectonic process may eventually be also
considered an important cause for the exhumation of the Miocene plutonic belt of southwestern
Chiapas.
The very small outcrops of deformed gabbroic to quartz dioritic plutons in the Palma Sola
Massif at the Gulf of Mexico margin (Figure 9) may be related to magmatism above a sub-
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horizontal middle Miocene Cocos plate, whereas the early Miocene small batholithic intrusions
in the western slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental could represent the incipient exposure of
the plutonic roots of that arc. Figure 19 shows a graphic summary of the tectonic evolution and
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magmatic register in Mexico.
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Indeed, the two more relevant problems related to intrusive events in Mexico are the
nature and origin of the voluminous magmatic belts in the western Pacific margin, and the
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occurrence of several central massifs in NE Mexico with extremely alkaline composition. These
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two tectonomagmatic systems are therefore discussed in more detail below.
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4.8. Origin of the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene voluminous silicic magmatism in NW Mexico
Although the subduction of the Farallon plate and the related arc volcanism along
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western Mexico was a continuous process at least since the Jurassic (Figure 20), the extensive
exposures of Late Cretaceous granites along the Pacific continental margin of Mexico is
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indicative of an episode of high flux of magmatism related to the Laramide orogeny. According
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to Ducea and Barton (2007) flare-ups of silicic magmatism are connected with crustal thickening
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produced by shortening in subduction-arc zones, and represent episodes of net crustal growth.
Sustained low angle geometry of the subduction zone and subduction erosion of forearc
materials in western North America produced a high rate of volatiles flux to the lithospheric
mantle promoting an increase of magmatic fertility and the generation of voluminous silicic
volcanism in the Cordillera (Ducea and Barton, 2007).
The petrogenesis of transient silicic flare-ups has been recently interpreted in terms of the
thermo-mechanical maturation of the crust as result of high rates of mafic magma input into the
lower crust (De Silva and Gosnold, 2007). The thermal evolution of the crust produces not only
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the accumulation of residual melts due to the incomplete crystallization of mafic magmas, but
partial fusion of fertile segments of the lower and middle continental crust (Annen et al., 2005).
The ascent of evolved bodies of magma produced the accumulation of silicic melts in the middle
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and upper crust favoring the construction of large batholiths and eventually the generation of
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caldera forming super eruptions (De Silva and Gosnold, 2007).
The age range of mid-Cretaceous-Paleogene batholiths of Baja California, Sonora-
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Sinaloa, Nayarit, and Jalisco is mostly coeval with main episodes of Laramide shortening in
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northern Mexico, suggesting a connection of high rates of convergence in an scenario similar to
that of the North American Cordillera. The Sr and Nd isotopic signatures of most of the
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batholiths of northwestern Mexico suggest that both, mantle magmas that underwent fractional
crystallization and crust recycling of Proterozoic to Mesozoic age were involved in the
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generation of silica magma.

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4.9. Origin and tectonics of the alkaline massif plutonic centers of NE Mexico
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The alkaline intrusive complexes of northeastern Mexico constitute the southward

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prolongation of the alkaline Trans-Pecos magmatic province of Texas. The Trans-Pecos province
consists of roughly NW-SE parallel belts of Cenozoic rocks, ranging in age from 48 to 16 Ma
that grade from alkaline in the northeast to metaluminous or alkali-calcic rocks in the southwest
(Barker, 1977, 1987; Price et al., 1987). Magmatism in Trans-Pecos province is considered the
easternmost part of a broad belt of late Mesozoic and Cenozoic activity in the southern
Cordillera, much of which is clearly related to subduction (Barker, 1987; Price et al., 1987,
Henry et al., 1991). This pattern of magmatism has generally been interpreted to reflect
progressive shallowing with time of the subducting Farallon plate (Henry et al., 1991), or
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eastward migration of the arc with increasing depth to the Benioff zone (Clark et al., 1982), and
an inferred paleotrench located ca. 1,000 km away, outboard the western edge of North America.
Based on paleostress and geochemical data combined with regional age patterns Henry et al.
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(1991) and James and Henry (1991) considered that pre- and post-31 Ma magmatism in the
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Trans-Pecos region occurred in a subduction-related continental volcanic arc, related to an
environment of intraplate E-NE extension of the Basin and Range province, respectively. The
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extension may be linked to the change from convergent to a transform margin along the western
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edge of North America, which roughly coincided with the collision of the East Pacific Rise and
the paleotrench (Henry et al, 1991).

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The intrusive complexes of northeastern Mexico, although little systematic studies have
been done, some interpretations can be outlined. The oldest intrusive rocks in these Mexican
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complexes (Candela-Monclova belt) show a well-defined subduction-related geochemical
features that are Eocene-early Oligocene in age (Chávez-Cabello, 2005), whereas the alkaline
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intrusive complexes display geochemical intraplate signatures, and have been dated as Oligocene
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to Miocene (Bloomfield and Cepeda-Dávila, 1973; Viera-Décida et al., 2009). Thus, assuming a
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similar evolution of northeastern Mexico and the eastern Chihuahua-Trans-Pecos province,
where Eocene calc-alkaline, compression-related magmatism grades eastward into Oligocene-
early Miocene alkaline extensional magmatism in Trans-Pecos (Barker, 1987; Price et al., 1987),
a tectonic setting of continental extension for the alkaline magmatism of the northeastern Mexico
seems more likely. Although Pliocene intraplate volcanism in Coahuila seems to be closely
related to reactivated Jurassic basement faults (Aranda-Gómez et al., 2005), major structures
linked to the emplacement of the Mexican alkaline intrusive complexes are not evident.
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At present, we consider that the spatial and temporal relationships of the arc-related calc-
alkaline and intraplate-type alkaline magmatism in northeastern Mexico can be reasonably
explained by a tectonic scenario in which Eocene-early Oligocene subduction of the Farallon
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plate changed into Oligocene-early Miocene back-arc spreading. Viera-Décida et al. (2009)
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proposed an Oligocene-Pliocene evolution with slab rollback of the Farallon plate and back-arc
extension, allowing the ascent of asthenospheric magmas. This extensional setting is consistent
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with a Cenozoic event occurring at 28 Ma to 12 Ma (Oligocene-Miocene), when the convergence
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velocity of the Farallon plate relative to North America was minimal (Engebretson et al., 1985).
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4.10. Preliminary comparisons between the main batholithic belts of western Mexico and major
plutonic intrusive belts of south Central Asia and Japan

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The Cordilleran batholiths that conform the backbone of the continental crust of western
Mexico form a substantial part of the Circum-Pacific tectonic zone of the Earth, and thus good
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analogs are present in Japan, as well as in southern and Central Asia, considering their former
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Andean-type tectonic setting before the collision of the Indian plate and rise of the Himalayas.
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However, in spite of being products of similar tectonomagmatic processes that characterize
subduction zones at convergent margins, the rather young geology of the westernmost Mexican
continental margin (essentially Mesozoic), affected by intense plutonism since the Jurassic,
displays contrasting geologic attributes compared to the Asian domains. For example, in the
Central Asian Fold Belt (Jahn et al., 2000) mantle processes involved lithospheric and plume-
related magmatism that may have provided 70 to 100 % of the batholithic material, as well as the
heat to melt the crustal rocks originating the more mature plutons during plate convergence.
Also, the terminal collisional scenario in which the Asian batholiths evolved radically differs
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from the non-collisional setting that characterized the Cordilleran batholiths, which were mainly
generated by partial melting and differentiation of the mantle wedge and partly by continental
crustal assimilation without plume components, as reflected in their isotopic characteristics. The
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regular zoning pattern of the Cordilleran batholiths is also a distinctive feature that is not
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apparent in the Central Asian Phanerozoic batholiths.
On the other hand, and before the Himalayan collision between India and Asia took place
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(50-40 Ma ago), the northern Neo-Tethys oceanic crust was being subducted beneath southern
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Asia, creating an Andean-type continental margin arc (Kohistan-Transhimalayan-Ladakh
batholiths) similar in age (Jurassic to Eocene) and in many other aspects to the Cordilleran
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margin granitoids of North America (Searle et al., 1987; Wen et al., 2008). The southern Tibet
batholithic complexes extend in the eastern Himalayas for over 1,800 km along the entire Lhasa
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terrane and into the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, whereas the Ladakh batholith conforms a
plutonic complex 600 km long and 20-80 km wide in the western Himalayas (Santosh, 2010).
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Perhaps the closest analog to the western margin batholiths of Mexico in continental Asia would
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be the Gangdese batholith exposed along the southern segment of the Trans-Himalayan
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batholithic belt, the age of which and its position just inboard of the Indus-Tgsampo suture
(Copeland et al., 1995) compares well with the tectono-stratigraphic location of the Mexican
Pacific batholiths that were emplaced astride major tectonic boundaries.
Phanerozoic batholiths of the Japanese Islands comprise several major epochs of
emplacement, ranging in age from the Cambrian to the Miocene (Takagi, 2004), constituting a
temporal distribution quite similar to that of the Mexican Phanerozoic granitoids that range in
age from the Early Ordovician to the Miocene. Those batholiths exposed in the 200 km wide
inner zone of SW Japan (e.g. Ishihara and Matsuhisa, 2002) share a similar Cretaceous-
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75
Paleogene age range and geochemical-mineralogical zoning as the Cordilleran batholithic belts
of Mexico (e.g. Takagi, 2004), indicating coeval subduction and accretion of Mesozoic Pacific
plates (Kula, Izanagi and Farallon), with the net growth of both relatively young continental
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margins. Nonetheless, the ilmenite-magnetite series (showing the oxidation state of granitoids),
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so well developed in the Peninsular Ranges batholith of Mexico, has been considered in the
Japanese batholiths as inherited from the assimilation-contamination of subducted sediments
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(Takahi, 2004), rather than to the W to E decreasing water contents of ascending magmas, and
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the partial melting of the increasingly continentalized margin that characterizes the Cordilleran
batholiths of North America.

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5. Conclusions
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Granitic batholiths constitute a major part of the Mexican middle crust formed by
subduction-related, Andean-type convergent processes essentially active on the eastern Pacific

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continental margin from Permian to Miocene times. Geochemical data and geologic inferences
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indicate a variable but substantial amount of continental crust recycling during the process, with
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a clear and growing role of the pre-Mesozoic crust across the southern Laurentian (northwestern
and northern Mexico) and the northwestern Gondwanan (Oaxaquia) continental margins. With a
total exposed area of about 120,000 km2 and a possible mean original thickness of ca. 20-30 km,
the Mexican batholiths would represent a minimum volume of about 2.4 million km3 of
essentially new crust, a large proportion of which would have been late Mesozoic and Paleogene
additions from the lithospheric mantle and oceanic crust to the Mexican subcontinent.
Emplacement, cooling and uplift processes of the Mexican batholiths, not surprisingly,
exhibit complex patterns in space and time determined by the local petrogenetic conditions and
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tectonic setting, the most influential of which were: a) the consolidation of the Pangea
supercontinent by Permian-Triassic time, b) the opening of the Gulf of Mexico in the Jurassic, c)
the Laramide orogeny during the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene, d) the subduction events in the
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Cenozoic associated with the demise of the Farallon plate, e) the Oligocene-Miocene lateral
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truncation and/or tectonic erosion of the southern Pacific margin of Mexico, and f) the Neogene
opening of the Gulf of California. Preliminar comparisons of the Mexican batholiths with those
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of the western Pacific (Japan) and central Asia (southern Himalayan batholiths), reveal closer
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similarities between the Mexican Laramidic batholiths and the Cretaceous-Paleogene batholiths
of SW Japan, as both belts indicate substantial continental growth mostly related to Cretaceous-
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Paleogene accretionary processes along both margins of the Pacific Ocean.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support was obtained from Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología

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(CONACyT) grant CB-164454 to Fernando Ortega-Gutiérrez. We deeply appreciate the hard

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work dedicated to the completion of the Excel database for the Mexican plutons by Diana Flores,
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and also thank Consuelo Macías-Romo for her invaluable help in the drawing and arrangement
of some of the figures of the paper. Substantial corrections on the text grammar and constructive
suggestions made to the original manuscript by an anonymous reviewer are deeply appreciated.
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Figure captions
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Figure 1. General distribution map of plutonic intrusions in Mexico, with the outcrop
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areas taken mainly from the Geologic Map of Mexico (Ortega-Gutiérrez et al. 1992). Five major
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age groups are distinguished at this scale: a) Late Paleozoic in SW Chiapas and Oaxaca, b)
Early-Mid Jurassic en northern Sonora, c) Cretaceous along the western margin of Mexico from
Baja California to Michoacán, d) Paleogene exposed from Sonora to Oaxaca and e) Miocene
exposed along the southwestern Pacific margin from eastern Oaxaca to SE Chiapas, as well as in
the interior of the country. Larger scale maps for the pluton distribution are shown in the
corresponding figures of the delimited regions.

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Figure 2. Graph showing the extension and age distribution of the granitic rocks of
Mexico. Total exposed area with these rocks comprises 110,061 km2 representing only 5.7 % of
the Mexican territory.
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Figure 3. Shaded relief model of the Peninsular Ranges batholith extending continuously
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from the Garlock fault and the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California (outside the map
area), to northern Baja California across the international border. The Agua Blanca fault (ABF)
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divides the Mexican batholith in the Juárez (northern) and San Pedro Mártir (southern) segments,
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whereas the Sierra de Juárez (SJF) and San Pedro Mártir (SPMF) detachment faults constitute
the eastern limit of the batholith. LSF, Laguna Salada fault.

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Figure 4. Magnetic anomaly map of Baja California Sur (Servicio Geológico Mexicano,
2008). The conspicuous low magnetic trend on the eastern side of the peninsula and its high
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anomaly counterpart on the west may be interpreted as the buried expression of the Mexican
Peninsular batholith, with the lows and highs indicating magnetite-free (i.e. with ilmenite) and
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magnetite-rich granitoids, respectively. The dashed black line in the figure may correspond to the
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possible continuation of the magnetite-ilmenite boundary of the Peninsular Ranges batholith.

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Figure 5. Map showing the distribution of plutonic units in northern Baja California and
Sonora. Ages range from the Mesoproterozoic (ca. 1.1 to 1.4 Ga, in Sonora), through Jurassic
and Cretaceous-Paleogene. LSF, Laguna Salada fault. SJF, Sierra de Juárez fault. SPMF, San
Pedro Mártir fault. ABF, Agua Blanca fault.
Figure 6. Map showing the distribution of intrusions in Los Cabos block, including the
Los Cabos main batholith at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, bounded between the La
Paz and San José del Cabo normal faults, together with those present in Sinaloa, Durango,
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Nayarit and other states of northern Mexico. Ages range from Late Cretaceous to Paleogene.
LPF, La Paz Fault. SJCF, San José del Cabo fault.
Figure 7. Layered gabbroic outcrop representing the earliest intrusive event of the Los
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Cabos batholith. Main mineral phases in the outcrop include cumulitic calcic plagioclase and
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hypersthene commonly replaced by late magmatic hornblende.
Figure 8. Up to four generations (I to IV) of plutonic magmas in the Los Cabos batholith,
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Baja California Sur may be observed in individual outcrops.
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Figure 9. Map showing the distribution of granitic intrusions in southern Mexico. Ages in
this region range from early Paleozoic (small outcrops in the Patlanoaya area) to late Miocene.
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The dashed blue line depicts the southern limit of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. PVB, Puerto
Vallarta batholith. MB, Manzanillo batholith. JB Jilotlán batholith. OF, Oaxaca Fault. LVF, La
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Venta Fault. RVB, Río Verde batholith. LB, Loxicas batholith. PB, Pochutla batholith. HB,
Huatulco batholith. ChF, Chacalapa Fault.

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Figure 10. The Xaltianguis pluton and Río Verde batholith of the Sierra Madre del Sur
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batholithic belt. (a). Aplite vein of Xaltianguis pluton traversing a late shear zone affecting
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Cretaceous orthogneisses of the Xolapa Complex. (b). Large anatectic S-type pegmatite
(muscovite-garnet) related to Xaltianguis pluton intruding the Cretaceous gneisses of the Xolapa
Complex. (c). Cerro del Volcán, an Oligocene undeformed granitic intrusion part of the Río
Verde batholith.
Figure 11. Map showing the distribution of the late Paleozoic and Tertiary batholithic
complexes exposed in SE Mexico. ChB, Chiapas batholith. TF, Tonalá fault. MF, Mapastepec
fault. PF Polochic Fault. BDF, Belisario Domínguez fault, SM, Soconusco massif. LMB, La
Mixtequita batholith.
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Figure 12. Chiapas batholith. (a). View of the Chiapas late Permian batholith, Villa
Flores, Chiapas. (b). Mildly deformed Permian granite of the Chiapas batholith. The ductile
deformation may correspond to high temperature late magmatic flow rather than to tectonic
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strain. (c). Three generations of granitic magmas in the Chiapas late Permian batholith.
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Figure 13. The early Permian Cozahuico granite intruding banded granulite facies of the
Grenvillian Oaxacan Complex near Caltepec, Puebla, at the tectonic contact with the Acatlán
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Complex of Paleozoic age.
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Figure 14. Relief map showing the distribution of granitic bodies in the Guerrero-
Morelos Cretaceous platform of southern Mexico. The dashed red lines constitute the
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approximate limits of the platform, whereas the dashed blue line shows the southern limit of the
Tran-Mexican Volcanic belt. AF, Arcelia fault. TF, Teloloapan fault. PF, Papalutla Fault.
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Figure 15. Relief map showing the distribution of the isolated late Paleozoic outcrops of
the Eastern buried batholith (Acatita-Las Delicias) and Oligocene alkaline intrusive plutons of
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NE Mexico (Coahuila, Sierra Los Picachos, Nuevo León, sierras de San Carlos and Tamaulipas,
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Tamaulipas, as well as other intrusions of Paleogene age.

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Figure 16. View of the nepheline syenite ranges of the San Carlos alkaline intrusive
complex, Sierra de San Carlos, Tamaulipas.
Figure 17. View of the Late Cretaceous-Paleocene Pico de Teyra pluton intruding Late Triassic
marine turbiditic units. Mazapil District, Zacatecas state (see Figure 15 for location).
Figure 18. Main processes and factors controlling the tectonothermal evolution of
plutons.
Figure 19. Synoptic frame picture for the evolution of plate margin Phanerozoic
magmatism in Mexico.
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Figure 20. Summary of the Late Jurassic-Cenozoic tectonomagmatic history of the
northern Pacific margin of Mexico.
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Fernando Ortega Gutiérrez obtained his Ph.D. in 1975 at the University of Leeds, U.K, and he is
Emeritus Researcher at the Institute of Geology and professor of geology at the Faculty of
Sciences, National Autonomous University of Mexico since 1975.
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Currently he is the Project Leader working with over a dozen leading researchers on the tectonic
evolution of Mexico, including its sedimentary basins, magmatic arcs, and shallow and deep
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orogens. His and his coauthor’s concept of Oaxaquia, published in 1995, has been a small and
yet clue piece in the reconstruction of Rodinia and the continuity of the Grenville belt across
major continental plates of the Proterozoic.
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He is author or coauthor of over 150 scientific articles on the geology and tectonics of Mexico
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and Central America and leader of the most recent Geologic Map of Mexico published in 1992.
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Mariano Elías-Herrera is a Researcher in the Department of Regional Geology in the Institute
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of Geology at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico. He obtained his B.Sc. degree
from the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in 1976, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico in 1981 and 2004, respectively. Prior to joining
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Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico in 1986, he held positions at Consejo de Recursos
Minerales on ore-deposit exploration. His current work has mostly involved field geology and
petrological studies aimed at understanding tectonic processes at local and regional scales.
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Dante Morán is a researcher at the Institute of Geology of Mexico’s National University

(UNAM) since 1994. He has also been professor at UNAM for over thirty years, both at
undergraduate and postgraduate levels, in the fields of Geological Engineering and Earth
Sciences. He obtained his B.Sc. in 1977, his M.Sc. (Hons) in 1987 and his Ph.D. (Hons) in 1992,
all three degrees from UNAM, having carried out his doctoral research at the University of
Munich. Besides his academic duties, he is presently UNAM’S General Director for Academic
Staff Development. His research fields include geochemistry applied to magmatic processes; the
relationships between magmatism and crustal deformation; the volcanic-plutonic connection in
silicic magma systems, as well as Mexico’s geological evolution. He is author or co-author of
more than 50 publications amongst research papers, books or book chapters. He is member of the
National Academy of Sciences of Mexico, Fellow of the Geological Society of America and has
held the distinction of ‘national researcher’ since 1990.
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Luigi Solari did his undergraduate studies in Italy, where he graduated in 1994. After moving to
Mexico, he undertook a Master and then obtained his PhD in 2001 at Universidad Nacional
Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico, working on structures and geochronology of Grenvillian
granulites of the Oaxacan Complex. He’s been working at UNAM since then as Researcher,
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prior at the Institute of Geology and now at the Centro de Geociencias, where he’s one of the
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leaders of the Laboratorio de Estudios Isotópicos (LEI). His research mainly focuses on
instrumental development and application of microanalytical techniques, such as U-Pb and Hf
isotopy by LA-(MC)-ICPMS, to unravel the tectonic history of rocks and minerals. He’s
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published more than 40 research papers on the geology of Mexico, the Caribbean and adjacent
areas.
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Laura Luna-Gonzalez is an Academic Assistant in the Institute of Geology at the National

Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). She obtained her BSc degree (Geography) from
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the UNAM in 1989, and her MSc degree (Natural Resource Planning) from the same university
in 1997. Laura Luna has specialized in geographical information systems, remote sensing, and
digital mapping techniques. She has also worked on research projects related to various
geographic topics (national forest inventories, assessment of transport infrastructure,
environmental impact, land use change, flood risk, etc.). Besides, she has extensive experience in
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the use of GIS, as well as search, organization, and data standardization. She has collaborated on
the building of the geologic information system of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, and also
implemented the digital version of the updated Geologic Map of Mexico for the National Atlas
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of Mexico. At present, Laura Luna is head of the Laboratory of Digital Cartography and
Visualization at the Institute of Geology (UNAM), and responsible for implementing the new
GIS Tectonic Map of Mexico to build an updated and multi-scale digital mapping, as well as the
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design, implementation and maintenance of the system
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Peter Schaaf is from Munich, Germany, where he obtained his PhD in 1991 studying the
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geochemistry and geochronology of Mexican Cordilleran plutons between Puerto Vallarta and
Acapulco. He works at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Institute of Geophysics,
where he is a co-founder and head of the Isotope Geochemistry (LUGIS) and
Thermoluminescence (TL) laboratories. Dr. Schaaf has published more than 40 papers in SCI
journals, and graduated 17 students between PhD, MSc and BSc. His research is mainly focused
on geochronology and isotope geology (Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, U-Pb, archeometry, as well as on Mexico
paleogeography.
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Figure 8, Ortega-Gutiérrez et al. (2014)

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Table 1. Summary of terrane constitution and orogenic history of Mexico

Tectonostratigraphic Main collisional timing
Collided continental margin Orogeny
Unit (Ma)
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Superior-Penokean-Wyoming-
Bámori Complex 1,700 Yavapai
Mojavia
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Pinal Schist 1,650-1,620 Yavapai-Mojave Mazatzal
Oaxaquia 990-970 Laurentia-Baltica Zapoteca
SC
Mixteco terrane 350-270 Oaxaquia-Gondwana Acateca
Cortés terrane 260-240 Displaced Laurentia Sonoma
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Tahue terrane 260-240 Paleozoic Laurentia Sonoma
Maya terrane 280-250 Paleozoic Laurentia Ouachita
MA
Alisitos oceanic arc 105-110 Displaced Laurentia "Alisitos"
Vizcaíno terrane ~115 Western Pangea "Alisitos"
Guerrero terrane ~130 Mixteco terrane Náhuatl
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Juchateco terrane ~270 Mixteco terrane and Oaxaquia Caltepense

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Table 2. Main geologic, petrological, and geochronological features characterizing the batholiths and plutons of Mexico
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Note: This table is a data-base under current development and is arranged in ascendent order of age: Purple, Mesoproterozoic;
wine red, early Paleozoic; blue, late Paleozoic; dark green Early-Late Cretaceous; bright green, Late Cretaceous-Paleogene; dark
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orange, Paleogene; pale orange, interior plutons of Cretaceous-Paleogen age; and gray, Neogene
SC
Intru
sion Coolin Cooli NdD Olde Olde
Pluto Expo Initia Empl
NU
Geolo Domin age Inhe g age ng M st st Typ
n Lat sed l Initial acem
gic Long ant (zirc rited (40Ar/ age Mod strati strati e & Refer Refere
Name State itud area 87Sr/ Epsil ent
MA
Provi itude compos on, ages 39Ar, (Rb- el grap grap Orig ences nces
/Loca e (km2 86Sr on Nd depth
nce ition U- (Ga) K-Ar) Sr) ages hic hic in
tion ) ratios (kbar)
Pb), Ma Ma (Ga) host cover
ED
Ma
1:
PT Valenzu
ela-
CE
Navarro
et al.,
Neopr
AC
2003,
Mojav oteroz I-
GSA
Qz- e- oic- Type
El Caborc Cordille
28° 110° sienita 1,730. Undete Yavap Paleo ,
Cresto Son a 424 (+)3.1 1.81 1, 2 ran 99th
58' 43' Graniodi 1±9.1 rmined ai zoic Arc-
n Block Annual
orite terran marin relate
Mtg; 2:
e sedim d
Valenzu
ents
ela-
Navarro
et al.,
2005,
RMCG;
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3:
A- Anders
Mazat Camb
Fixed 31° 110° Qz- Type on &
PT
Canane 1,440 Undete zal rian
Son. Lauren 03' 32' 213 monzonit , 3 Silver,
a ±15 rmined terran sedim
tia 21'' 14'' e intra 1977,
e ents
RI
plate Econ.
Geol.
SC
4:
Iriondo
NU
et al.,
Neopr
Mojav 2003,
oteroz A-
MA
e- GSA
Caborc oic Type
30° 112° 1,080 -1.4 to Undete Yavap Cordille
Aibó Son. a Granite 1.08 marin , 4, 5
50' 00'' ±20 -4.6 rmined ai ran 99th
Block e intra
terran Annual
ED
sedim plate
e Mtg.; 5:
ents
Booth
PT et al.,
2005
CE
4:
Iriondo
Mojav
AC
A- et al.,
1,102 e-
Campo Caborc 31° Undet Type 2003,
112° ±11 -4 to - Undete Yavap
Bustm Son. a 33' 13 Granite ermin , 4 GSA
50' 22'' 1,055 4.66 rmined ai
ente Block 43'' ed intra Cordille
±16 terran
plate ran 99th
e
Annual
Mtg
Placer North Grenv Camb 6:
29° 105° Colli
de Ameri Pegmatit Undete illian rian Blount,
Chih. 09' 22' siona 6
Guadal can e rmined basem marin Ph.
39'' 59'' l
upe Grenvi ent e Thesis
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lle sedim
ents
PT
Missis
sippia
RI
n-
I-
1,232 Permi
SC
Las Coahui Type
26° 100° ±7 to an Undet 7:
Uvas la Undete ,
Coah. 39' 55' Granites 1,214 1,850 sedim ermin 7 López,
(pebble Plafor rmined Arc-
NU
24'' 54'' ±2, entary ed 1997
s) m relate
580±4 and
d
volca
MA
nic
rocks
ED
8:
Uname 0.7054 El
Motozi 15° 92° Undet Unde Estrada
d Anorthos 470.0 9 to -4.5 to Undete Jocote
Chis ntla 22' 17' None 1.3 ermin termi 8 et al.,
PT
intrusi ite ±5.0 0.7116 -5.0 rmined compl
terrane 0.4'' 35'' ed ned 2012,
ons 0 ex
IGR
CE
Early
Paleo Penns
448.5 S- 8:
AC
Granite, 0.7022 zoic ylvani

Motozi Motozi 15° 92° ±7.2, 406±4 -0.98 0.855 Type Estrada
Granodio 4, Undete schist an
ntla Chis. ntla 22' 20' ~25 445.9 None (Ms, to - to , rift 8 et al.,
rite, 0.7017 rmined s (Sta.
pluton terrane 33'' 02'' ±6.1, Ar-Ar) 1.56 1.067 relate 2012,
Granite 5 (Jocot Rosa
482±5 d IGR
ecom Fm.)
plex)
Ordov Late S- 9:
98° 417±11 ician Devo Type Miller
La Mixtec 18° 467±1 Undete
Pue. 11' Granite (Bt, Ar- Acatlá nian , rift 9, 10 et al.,
Noria a 24' 6 rmined
30'' Ar) n marin relate 2007;
Comp e d 10:
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lex sedim Sanchez

ents -Zavala
et al.,
PT
9:
Late
Ordov Miller
RI
Devo S-
ician et al.,
18° nian Type
Cuajilo Mixtec 98° 463.5 Undete Acatlá 2007;
SC
Pue. 05' Granite marin , rift- 9, 10
te a 02' 17 ±3.7 rmined n 10:
22" e relate
Comp Sanchez
NU
sedim d
lex -Zavala
ents
et al.,
MA
9:
Late
Ordov Miller
Devo S-
467.8 ician et al.,
305±26 nian Type
ED
Palo Mixtec 18° 98° ±4.2; 1,210- Undete Acatlá 2007;
Pue. Granite (Bt, Ar- marin , rift- 9, 10
Liso a 31' 18' 461.0 1,065 rmined n 10:
Ar) e relate
±2.1 Comp Sanchez
PT
sedim d
lex -Zavala
ents
et al.,
CE
9:
Late
Ordov Miller
AC
Devo S-
ician et al.,
98° 157±12 nian Type
Los Mixtec 18° 464.9 Undete Acatlá 2007;
Pue. 11' Granite (Bt, Ar- marin , rift- 9, 10
Hornos a 24' ±2.3 rmined n 10:
30'' Ar) e relate
Comp Sanchez
sedim d
lex -Zavala
ents
et al.,
Cenoz I- 11:
274, Oaxac
17° 96° oic Type Ortega-
Zapote 251±1 Undete an
Etla Oax. 14' 53' 188 Granite contin , 11 Obrego
ca , rmined Comp
48'' 17'' ental Arc- n, et al.,
255±1 lex
sedim relate 2013
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ents d
PT
I-
Type
228- 12:
RI
Undete ,
Granite 229 12 Weber
rmined Guich Arc-
SC
±8/12 et al.
La icovi Middl relate
La d
Mixteq 17° 95° 1.15 Comp e
Mixteq
NU
uita Oax. 11' 19' 872 to lex Jurass 12:
uita
batholi 38'' 56'' 1.25 (Gren ic red I- Weber
Massif 181±9
th villian beds Type
MA
Gabbro et al.,;
249±4 Undete ) ,
Granodio 12, 13 13: Solé
(Bt, K- rmined Arc-
rite et al.
Ar) relate
ED
2007
d
RMCG
Penns late
Granitoi 275.6 PT ylvani
an
Permi
an Colli
14:
Elías
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Cozah Mixtec 18° 97° d ±1, 0.7043
Pue. -3.40 1.10 >5 Acatlá contin siona 14 and
uico a 05' 19' leucoso 270,4 50
n ental l Ortega,
me ±2,6
AC
Comp depos 2005

lex its
Oaxac 15:
La 17° Diorite- 275±4 Undet Unde
Zapote 97° 0' Undete an Solari
Carbon Oax. 17' granodio , ermin termi 15
ca 39'' rmined Comp et al.,
era 59'' rite 272±1 ed ned
lex 2001
306±2 I- 16:
Gabbro, Acatlá Middl
18° , 283±1 Type Yañez
Totolte Mixtec 97° tonalite, -0.8 to n e 16,
Pue. 14' 375 289±2 (Ms, ≤20 , et al.,
pec a 52' 0'' diorite, +2.6 Comp Jurass 17, 18
0'' , 289- Ar-Ar) Arc- 1991,
etc. lex ic
283 relate GSA
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d Bull.,
17:
Keppie
PT
et al.,
18:
RI
Kirsch,
et al.,
SC
2012,
IGR
NU
Missis
sippia
MA
n-
I-
Permi
Coahui Type
26° 100° an Undet
Las la Undete ,
Coah. 39' 55' Peperite 331±4 sedim ermin
ED
Uvas Plafor rmined Arc-
24'' 54'' entary ed
m relate
and
PT
d
volca
nic
CE
rocks
Ordov
19:
AC
ician
Weber
El
I- et al.,
Jocote
Chiapa Granite, Middl Type 2007,
Chiapa 16° 93° Unit,
s >20,0 tonalite, 271.4 e , Int. J. E.
Chis. s 20' 32' <5.8 Sepult 19
Batholi 00 gabbro, ±5.4 Jurass Arc- Sci.,
Massif 21'' 38'' ura
th etc. ic relate 2005.
Unit,
d Int.
Custe
Geol.
peque
Rev.
Uni
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11:
Ortega-
Obrego
PT
n et al.,
Paleo I- 2013;
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260 ± zoic Middl Type 20:
16° 97°
Cuana Mixtec 20 Undete Juchat e , 11, Elías et
SC
Oax. 51' 27' Diorite 311±2
na a (Hbl, rmined engo Jurass Arc- 20, 21 al.,; 21:
25'' 50''
K-Ar) seque ic relate Grajales
NU
nce d -
Nishim
ura et
MA
al.,
1986
Paleo I- 22:
ED
zoic Middl Type Elias et
16° 97° 290.8
Mixtec Granite- Undete Juchat e , al.,
PT
Zaniza Oax. 30' 21' ±3.3, 22
a tonalite rmined engo Jurass Arc- 2007,
26'' 39'' 287±2
seque ic relate GeoCho
CE
nce d rtis
21:
AC
Grajales
282±26, et al.;
251±26, I- 23:
238±25 Oaxac Type Ortega-
16° Tonalite- Undet
Hondu Zapote 97° 1' (Hbl, Undete an , 21, Obrego
Oax. 18' Qz 290±2 -4.66 1278 ermin
ras ca 53'' K-Ar) rmined Comp Arc- 23, 24 n et al.,
53'' diorite ed
278±26 lex relate 2012;
(Bt, K- d 24:
Ar) Torres
et al.,
1999
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Geologi
cal
Society
PT
of
Americ
RI
a
Special
SC
Paper
13: Solé
NU
San 16° 97° 216±4 Undte Undet Unde
Zapote Undete et al.,
Miguel Oax. 59' 18' Granite (Chl, rmine ermin termi 13
ca rmined 2007
Piedras 59'' 15'' K-Ar) d ed ned
MA
RMCG
24:
Torres
Sierra Grenv
ED
28° 105° 250±21 Undet Unde et al.,
de Chihua Undete illian
Chih. 51' 57' Granite (Kfs, ermin termi 24, 25 1999;
Aldam hua rmined basem
16'' 00'' K-Ar) ed ned 25:
PT
a ent
Múgica,
1986;
CE
24:
Sierra Grenv Torres
AC
28° 105° 267±21 Undet Unde

de Chihua Undete illian et al.,;
Chih. 57' 12' Granite (Ms, K- ermin termi 24, 25
Carriza hua rmined basem 25:
04'' 53'' Ar) ed ned
lillo ent Múgica
1986;
Missis
I-
sippia
Acatita Coahui Type
26° 103° Bt-Hbl 266±21 n- Undet 25:
-Las la Undete ,
Coah. 31' 01' Granodio (Bt, K- Permi ermin 25 Múgica
Delicia Plafor rmined Arc-
42'' 25'' rite Ar) an ed 1986
s m relate
sedim
d
entary
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and
volca
nic
PT
rocks
Missis
RI
sippia
n-
SC
I-
Permi
Acatita Coahui Type
26° 102° Bt-Hbl 256±20 an Undet 25:
NU
-Las la Undete ,
Coah. 13' 48' Granodio (Hbl, sedim ermin 25 Múgica
Delicia Plafor rmined Arc-
06'' 24'' rite K-Ar) entary ed 1986
s m relate
MA
and
d
volca
nic
rocks
ED
I-
Gulf of
Pozo Type 26:
PT
Mexic 20° 97° 241±20 Undet Undet
Hallazg Granodio Undete , Jacobo
Ver. o 18' 09' (Bt, K- ermin ermin 26
o 80, rite rmined Arc- Albarrá
CE
Mioge 42'' 18'' Ar) ed ed
N-2 relate n 1986
ocline
d
AC
I-
Gulf of
Pozo Type 26:
Huiltep Granodio Undete , Jacobo
ec 2, rite rmined Arc- Albarrá
N-2 relate n 1986
ocline
d
Gulf of I-
26:
Pozo Mexic Undet Undet Type
Granodio 247±21 Undete Jacobo
Pericos Ver. o ermin ermin , 26
rite (K.-Ar) rmined Albarrá
1, N-3 Mioge ed ed Arc-
n 1986
ocline relate
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PT
I-
Gulf of
Pozo Type 26:
RI
Corona Undete , Jacobo
Ver. o 15' 57' Tonalite (Bt, K- ermin ermin 26
do 1, rmined Arc- Albarrá
SC
N-10 relate n 1986
ocline
d
NU
I-
Gulf of
Pozo Type 26:
MA
Chapop Granodio Undete , Jacobo
oteras rite rmined Arc- Albarrá
1, N-8 relate n 1986
ocline
ED
d
24:
Torres
PT et al.,
1999
CE
Geologi
I- cal
Gulf of
AC
Pozo Type Society

Entabla Granodio Undete , of
Ver. o 15' 01' (Bt, K- -3.3 1020 ermin ermin 24, 26
dero 2, rite rmined Arc- Americ
N-4 relate a
ocline
d Special
Paper;
26:
Jacobo
Albarrá
n 1986;
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I-
Pozo Gulf of
Type 26:
Paso de Mexic 20° 97° 258±21 Undet Undet
Granodio Undete , Jacobo
PT
Oro Ver. o 13' 04' (Bt, K- ermin ermin 26
rite rmined Arc- Albarrá
101, N- Mioge 35'' 03'' Ar) ed ed
relate n 1986
8 ocline
RI
d
I-
SC
Gulf of
Pozo Type 26:
Hallazg Granodio Undete , Jacobo
NU
o 101, rite rmined Arc- Albarrá
N-2 relate n 1986
ocline
MA
d
I-
Gulf of
Type 26:
Pozo Mexic 20° 97° 264±21 Undet Undet
ED
Granodio Undete , Jacobo
Pericos Ver. o 20' 27' (Bt, K- ermin ermin 26
rite rmined Arc- Albarrá
1, N-4 Mioge 30'' 11'' Ar) ed ed
relate n 1986
PT
ocline
d
CE
I-
Type
San 17° 97° 241±19 Undet Undet 27:
Mixtec Undete ,
AC
Pedro Oax. 20' 22' Granite (Bt, K- ermin ermin 27 Murillo

a rmined Arc-
Tidaá 32'' 25'' Ar) ed ed 1986
relate
d
I-
Type
San 17° 97° 262±21 Undet Undet 27:
Mixtec Undete ,
Pedro Oax. 20' 22' Granite (Bt, K- ermin ermin 27 Murillo
a rmined Arc-
Tidaá 32'' 25'' Ar) ed ed 1986
relate
d
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I-
Cerro Type
17° 97° Ms 259±21 Undet Undet 27:
Negro- Mixtec Undete ,
PT
Oax. 20' 22' Granodio (Ms, K- ermin ermin 27 Murillo
Cahuac a rmined Arc-
32'' 25'' rite Ar) ed ed 1986
ua relate
RI
d
I-
SC
San
Oaxac Type
Cristób 16° 97° 251±16 Undet 27:
Mixtec Bt-Hbl Undete an ,
NU
al- Oax. 16' 01' (Hbl, ermin 27 Murillo
a Diorite rmined Comp Arc-
Hondur 40'' 15'' K-Ar) ed 1986
lex relate
as
MA
d
28:
Chavez-
ED
Cabello
I-
et al.,
Penins Type
2006
PT
ular 102.5 Undete ,
28, 29 Tectono
ranges, ±1.6 rmined Arc-
Lower physics;
CE
BC 101±5.0 relate
30° 115° Cretac Undet d 29:
El (Hbl) Johnson
BC 55' 38' 25 Granite eous ermin
Potrero 94±1.4
AC
17'' 46'' Alisit ed et al.,

(Bt) 1999
os Fm
I-
30: Tate
Penins Type
and
ular 103±1 Undete ,,
30 Johnson
ranges, .6 rmined Arc-
., 2000:
BC relate
J. Geol.
d
Penins Early Undet I- 31:
La 30° 115° 93- 85.7±1. 92±2.8
BC ular 1400 Granite 5 Meso ermin Type 31 Walaw
Posta 38' 15' 95±2 4 (Bt) (Bt)
ranges, zoic ed , ander
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BC schist Arc- et al.,

s relate 1989
d GSA
PT
I- Memoi
Type r
RI
,
31
Arc-
SC
relate
d
NU
I- 32:
Penins Type Schmid
Lower
MA
El ular 30° 115° Hbl 108±2.7 Undete , t et al,
BC Cretac 32
Cipréss ranges, 22' 39' tonalite (Bt) rmined Arc- 2009,Te
eous
BC relate ctonop
ED
d hysics
11:
PT
Ortega-
Obrego
CE
n et al.,
Undet 2013;
ermin 29:
AC
ed I-
Johnso
Penins 2.3±0. Type 11,
Lower n 1999;
ular 30° 115° Hbl 115±2 110.9±1 6 , 29,
Zarza BC 10 <0.704 (+)7 Cretac 30:
ranges, 53' 49' tonalite .0 .4 (Bt) (kbar)- Arc- 30,
eous Tate
BC 8km relate 32, 33
and
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Johnso
n 2000;
32:
Schmid
t et al,
2009,Te
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
151
ctonop
hysics;
33:
PT
Tate
1999;
RI
I- 32:
Penins Type Schmid
SC
Lower
La ular 30° 115° Undete , t et al,
BC Gabbro 132±7 Cretac 32
Suerte ranges, 33' 18' rmined Arc- 2009,Te
NU
eous
BC relate ctonop
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MA
Alisit ermin 30:
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BC 8 Tonalite 114±1 tion 30 Johnso
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Cretac 2000: J.
PT
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eous) Geol.
CE
30:
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AC
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Lower Johnso
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30° 115° Cretac n.,
San ular 7-12 ,
BC 59' 44' 108 Tonalite 108±2 eous 30, 34 2000: J.
José ranges, km Arc-
57'' 49'' Alisit Undet Geol.;
BC relate
os Fm ermin 34:
ed d
Johnso
n et al.,
2003
La Penins Lower 35:
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Trinch BC ular Cretac 35 Schaaf
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BC Alisit 2000
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PT
13:
Solé, et
RI
93±2 al.,
La
(Bt) I- 2007,
SC
Paz
Los 116±2 129±15 Oligo Type RMCG
Los Tonalite (+)5.84 meta
Cabos (Bt) (wr), 0.47, Undete cene , ; 35:
BCS Cabos Tonalite 0.7 , morph 13, 35
NU
batholi 77±3 116±2 0.34 rmined rhyoli Arc- Schaaf
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th (Bt) (Bt) tes relate et al.,
compl
106±3 d 2000,
MA
ex
(Hbl) Tecton
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ED
La
Middl I-
Paz
PT
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Planes volca relate
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ex
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rmined Arc-
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morph ne Arc-
ic volca relate
compl nics d
PT
ex
36:
RI
Guerre Lower
Eocen I- Martini
ro- Cretac
120.2 e Type et al.,
SC
Placere Colima 18° 100° Granodio eous
±2.1, 115±1.6 Undete lavas , 2007;
s del Gro. orogen 12' 53' rite- 1,100 Guerr 36, 37
129.6 (Hbl) rmined and Arc- 37:
NU
Oro ic 54'' 24'' diorite ero
±1.1 ignim relate Martini
comple terran
brites d et al.,
x e
MA
2009
I-
59.6±1.
Granite- Type 38:
3, Undet
ED
Oposur Sonora 29° 109° Qz Undete Cretac , Roldán,
Son. 250 62.7±1. ermin 38
a n 55' 30' monzonit rmined eous Arc- 1994
4 (Bt, ed
e relate RMCG
PT
K-Ar)
d
CE
3:
Anders
on &
AC
I-
Silver,
Type
31° 110° Undet 1977,
Cuitac Sonora Granodio Undete ,
Son. 01' 24' 81 64±3 0.71 0.51 1.1 ermin 3, 39 Econ.
a n rite rmined Arc-
13'' 48'' ed Geol.;
relate
39:
d
Woodzi
cki
1995
29° 110° Granite, 51.8- 0.7089 Neopr Undet I- 40, 40:
El Sonora Undete
Son 30' 09' 750 granodio 57±3 69.6 to oteroz ermin Type 41, Roldán
Jaralito n rmined
36'' 40'' rite (K-Ar) 0.7091 oic ed , 42, et al.,
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sedim anate 43, 44 1989

ents ctic RMCG
; 41:
PT
Roldán
-
RI
Quinta
na,
SC
1991;
42:
NU
Mead
et al.,
1988
MA
43:
Anders
on et
ED
S- al.,
41.6±1 Undet Type 1980,
Pegmatit Undete
PT
(Ms, K- ermin , GEOL.
e rmined Soc.
Ar) ed anate
CE
ctic Americ
a,
Mem.
AC
153
(Fecha
miento
U/Pb);
44:
Damon
et al.,
1983,
Asoc.
Ing.
Minas
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155
Met.
Geol.
México,
PT
Conv.
Nacion
RI
al, 15
(Fecha
SC
miento
41.6)
NU
41:
S-
Paleo Roldán
Granite, 35.96±0 Undet Type
MA
Aconc Sonora 29° 110° Undete zoic -
Son. 200 pegmatit .70 (K- ermin , 41
hi n 55' 24' rmined carbo Quinta
e Ar) ed anate
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ED
1991
45:
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Segura
et al.,
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Type
Undet 2009,
Sonora 90.6± Undete ,
64 ermin 45, 46 RMCG
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AC
ed ; 46:
0.5122 relate
Tonalite 0.7066 1.04 Pérez-
Bacano 28° 109° 08 to Paleo d
Son. Granodio to to Segura
ra 57' 27' 0.5123 zoic et al.,
rite 0.7070 1.11
11 2013
I- 47:
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Undet
Sonora 88.7± Undete , er,
53 ermin 47
n 1 rmined Arc- 1987,
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relate Thesis
d (K-Ar)
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
156
3:
I-
Anders
Type
28° 110° Undet Undet on &
PT
Chivat Sonora Monzodi Undete ,
Son 42' 36' 69±1 ermin ermin 3 Silver,
o n orite rmined Arc-
48" 44" ed ed 1977,
relate
RI
Econ.
d
Geol.
SC
48:
I-
74-67 Ramos-
NU
Coastal 90.1± Type
28° 111° Granodio (Bt, Ar- Undet Undet Velazq
Sonora Sonora 1.1 to Undete ,
Son. 56' 56' rite- Ar), 68- ermin ermin 48 ue, et
batholi n 69.4± rmined Arc-
MA
44'' 36'' Tonalite 42 (Kfs, ed ed al.,
th 1.2 relate
Ar-Ar, ) 2008,
d
RMCG
ED
139,
Sinalo I-
134 Jurass
Sinaloa a Type 49:
Layered (Hbl, ic(?) Undet
PT
Ranges orogen 23° 106° 101.2 Undete , Henry
Sin. gabbro K-Ar), metas ermin 49
batholi ic 24' 13'' ±2 rmined Arc- et al.,
Tonalite 98-90 edime ed
CE
th comple relate 2003
(Hbl, nts
x d
K-Ar)
AC
Sinalo 66.8± I-
Jurass
Sinaloa a 1.3, Type 49:
Granite, 64, 46, ic(?) Undet
Coastal orogen 23° 106° 47.8± Undete , Henry
Sin. granodio 19 (Hbl metas ermin 49
batholi ic 53' 24' 1.0, rmined Arc- et al.,
rite & Bt) edime ed
th comple 20.0± relate 2003
nts
x 0.4 d
Sinalo I-
Paleo 13: Solé
a 24° 106° 58±4 Undet Type
Sanalo Granodio Undete zoic et al.,
Sin. orogen 55' 50' 646 (Pl, K- ermin , 13
na rite rmined sedim 2007
ic 02'' 19'' Ar) ed Arc-
ents RMCG
comple relate
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x d
PT
50:
North I-
Schaaf
Sierra ern Type
RI
Nayarit Undet et al.,
Madre Undete Guerr ,
batholi Nay. Granite 80 ermin 50 2001
SC
Occide rmined ero Arc-
th ed AGU
ntal terran relate
Fall
e d
NU
Mtg.
84±2(B 51:
MA
t), 70±2 Schaaf
Guerre (Bt); 59.1±1. 1990;
19° 104° South I-
ro- 64.31.3 2 to 52:
Manza 27' 39' ern Type
ED
Colima Gabbro to 67.2±1. 0.7036 (+)5.10 Undet Panseri
nillo 29'' 05'' 74 to 6-12 Guerr ,
Col. orogen Granodio 66.91.3 3 (Bt- to to ermin 51, 52 et al.,
batholi 19° 104° 62 km ero Arc-
ic rite (Bt, K- WR) 0.7033 (+)6.37 ed 2007
PT
th 44' 34' terran relate
comple Ar) 69±3 Goldsc
30'' 40'' e d
x 63.51.3 (WR) hmidt
CE
(Hbl, abstrac
K-Ar) ts
AC
56- 51:
106.3 Schaaf
74.9±2 Late
(Bt) 1990;
to Creta I-
Puerto 81.9±2 Triass 52:
101±3 84.2±2 ceous Type
Vallart 20° 105° Granite, to 0.7126 (-)7.20 ic (?) Martin
Jalisco >9,00 .4 to (Bt- Undete - , 51,
a Jal. 30' 18' tonalite, 83.1±2 to to metse y et al.,
Block 0 103±6 WR) rmined Paleo Arc- 52, 53
batholi 29'' 28'' diorite (Bt, K- 0.7033 (+)3.18 dome 2000;
.5 91±3 to gene relate
th Ar) nts 53:
99±4 ignim d
85.8±1. Zimme
(WR) brites
7 (Hbl, rmann
K-Ar) et al.,
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
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I- 1988,
Type JSES;
108.4-
Jalisco Undete ,
PT
51.7
Block rmined Arc-
(wr)
relate
RI
d
59.4±1.
SC
55.2±1. 51:
2 to South I-
1 to Schaaf
Gabbro, 60.3±1. 0.7032 ern Type
NU
Jilotlán 19° 103° 58.7±1. Undet 1990
Jalisco tonalite- 2 (Hbl, 8 to +4.7 to Undete Guer ,
batholi Jal. 23' 01' 158 2 (Bt- ermin 51, 53 53:
Block granodio K-Ar) 0.7036 +6.8 rmined rero Arc-
th 50'' 48'' WR) ed Schaaf
MA
rite 59.5±1. 9 terra relate
68±12 et al.,
2 (Bt, ne d
(WR)
K-Ar)
ED
Late
I-
Paleo
Type 54:
29° 0.707 zoic Undet
PT
Hermo Sonora 110° Granodio 64 (K- -4.6 to Undete , Núñez
Son 05' to marin ermin 54
sillo n 58' 08" rite Ar) -5.3 rmined Arc- et al.,
59" 0.7088 e ed
CE
relate 2003
sedim
d
ents
AC
51:
Guerre
South I- Schaaf
ro-
ern Paleo Type 1990;
La Colima 18° 101° Granodio 0.7034 (+)1.52
42±4 Undete Guerr gene , 55:
Huaca Mich. orogen 57' 48' rite, 51±7 ±0.000 - 0.6 51, 55
(WR) rmined ero volca Arc- McBirn
na ic 47'' 25'' tonalite 3 (+)2.90
terran nics relate ey et
comple
e d al.,
x
1987;
Sierra 17° 101° Qz 37.4±1. South Paleo I- 51:
Petatlá Undete
Gro. Madre 32' 16' monzodi 5 to 0.7 4.89 ern gene Type 51, 56 Schaaf
n rmined
del Sur 21'' 07'' orite 38.8±2. Guerr volca , 1990;
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
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5 (Bt, ero nics Arc- 56:

K-Ar) terran relate Stein et
e d al.,
PT
1994
JSES;
RI
I-
Paleo Type
SC
Sierra 18° 101°
Agua 45.8± Undete gene ,
Madre 06' 54' Granite 57
Zarca 0.8 rmined volca Arc-
NU
del Sur 32'' 31''
nics relate
d
MA
South I-
57:
ern Paleo Type
Sierra 18° 101° Martini
Colme Granodio 40.1± Undete Guerr gene ,
Gro. Madre 05' 42' 57 et al.,
ED
neros rite 0.7 rmined ero volca Arc-
del Sur 41'' 26'' 2010
terran nics relate
RMCG
e d
PT I-
CE
Paleo Type
Sierra 17° 101°
Zihuat 48±0. 36.5±5 Undete gene ,
Madre 38' 20' Granite 0.7 (+)4.66 57
anejo 8 (WR) rmined volca Arc-
AC
del Sur 11'' 33''

nics relate
d
17°
101° Qz- South I-
56'
Zihuat 16' monzodi 43.4± ern Paleo Type 58:
Sierra 59.6
anejo 30'' to orite, 1.6 to Undete Guerr gene , Valenci
Gro. Madre '' to None 58
transec 101° granodio 40.8± rmined ero volca Arc- a et al.,
del Sur 17°
t 27' rite, 1.4 terran nics relate 2009
36'
52'' granite e d
29''
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
160
72-74,
83-87,
17° 90-92, 51:
PT
100° South I-
09' 57.3± 105- Schaaf
24' ern Paleo Type
Atoyac Sierra 09'' Granite, 2.2 to 111, 1990,
28'' to Undete Guerr gene ,
RI
transec Gro. Madre to granodio 52.7± 143- 0.7 (-)1.04 51, 58 58:
100° rmined ero volca Arc-
t del Sur 17° rite 1.9, 153, Valenci
SC
11' terran nics relate
24' 40.2 320, a et al.,
51'' e d
48'' 360, 2009
NU
960-
1085
MA
28:
I-
Chavez-
Xolap Paleo Type
Sierra 17° Granodio 28 ± Cabello
90° Undete a gene ,
Madre 09.9 rite, 1.5 28 et al.,
ED
50.43' rmined Comp volca Arc-
del Sur 5' diorite (WR) 2006
lex nics relate
0.7040 Tectono
PT
d
Xaltian 87 to physics
Gro. (+)2.9
guis 0.7050 51:
CE
09 I-
Schaaf
Xolap Paleo Type
Sierra 99° 30.5 ± 1990;
17° Granodio Undete a gene ,
AC
Madre 44' 0.8 (Bt- 51, 59 59:

09' rite rmined Comp volca Arc-
del Sur 50" WR) Correa
lex nics relate
-Mora
d
1997;
51:
I-
Schaaf
Xolap Paleo Type
Tierra Sierra 17° 99° 26.3 ± 1990;
Granodio Undete a gene ,
Colora Gro. Madre 10' 31' 34±04 0.5 (Bt- 0.7 (+)1.56 51, 60 60:
rite rmined Comp volca Arc-
da del Sur 50" 20" WR) Herrm
lex nics relate
ann et
d
al.,
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
161
1994
PT
51:
Schaaf
RI
1990;
61:
SC
Hdez.-
43 ± 7 A-
49.4± Xolap Pineda
Sierra 16° 99° (WR) 0.7035 +1.78 Undet Type
NU
Acapul Granite, 0.40- 2.08- a 51, et al.,
Gro. Madre 49' 52' 43.4 ± to to ermin , arc-
co Syenite 50.56 2.8 Comp 61, 62 2011,
del Sur 30'' 02'' 0.9 (Bt- 0.7100 +5.50 ed relate
±0.39 lex Geosph
MA
WR) d
ere; 62:
Guerre
ro-
ED
García
1975
Sierra 17° 99°

PT 55.3±3.
Xolap
Undet
S-
Type
63:
CE
El Undete a ,
Gro. Madre 08' 38' Granite 5 (Ms- 0.71 ermin 63 Solari et
Salitre rmined Comp Arc-
del Sur 53'' 00'' WR) ed al.,
AC
lex relate
d
I-
Xolap Type 64:
Sierra 17° 99° Granite- 45.3±1. Undet
Las 57.6± 50.5±1. Undete a , Solari
Gro. Madre 05' 31' Granodio 9 (Bt- 0.7 ermin 64
Piñas 1.7 2 (Bt), rmined Comp Arc- et al.,
del Sur 43'' 33'' rite WR) ed
lex relate 2007
d
El Sierra 17° 99° Xolap Undet I- 64:
129±0 Undete
Pozuel Gro. Madre 06' 33' Granite a ermin Type 64 Solari
.5 rmined
o del Sur 12'' 04'' Comp ed , et al.,
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
162
lex Arc- 2007

relate
d
PT
I-
Xolap Type
RI
Sierra Undet 63:
Las Undete a ,
Gro. Madre Granite ermin 63 Solari
Palmas rmined Comp Arc-
SC
del Sur ed et al.,
lex relate
d
NU
Middl
e I- 65:
MA
Leg Xolap Mioce Type Bellon
Sierra 35.5±1.
66, 16º 98º a ne , et al.,
Gro. Madre Diorite 7 (WR, 65
Site 22' 52' Comp marin Arc- Init.
del Sur K-Ar)
ED
493 lex e relate Rep., v.
sedim d 66
ents
PT 60:
CE
Herrm
ann
1994;
AC
Middl
66:
27.7±1. e I-
Hernán
1 (Bt, 0.7042 Xolap Mioce Type
Sierra 16° 97° Granite- 60, dez-
Jamilte K-Ar), 70 to (-)0.2; a ne ,
Oax. Madre 10' 57' Granodio 66, Bernal
pec 29.9±1. 0.7042 (+)0.73 Comp marin Arc-
del Sur 21'' 01'' rite 67, 1995;
1 (Hbl, 87 lex e relate
67:
K-Ar) sedim d
Hernán
ents
dez-
Bernal
and
Morán-
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
163
Zenten
o 1996;
PT
66:
Hernán
RI
dez-
Middl
Bernal
SC
e I-
1995;
0.7047 Xolap Mioce Type
Sierra 16° 97° 23.5±0. 67:
Río Granite- 51 to a ne ,
NU
Oax. Madre 00' 26' 1,500 6 (Bt, (-3) 66, 67 Hernán
Grande Tonalite 0.7053 Comp marin Arc-
del Sur 40'' 44'' K-Ar) dez-
80 lex e relate
Bernal
MA
sedim d
and
ents
Morán-
Zenten
ED
o 1996
Middl
Sierra 16° 97°

PT 24.4±0.
6 (Bt,
0.7047
e I-
Xolap Mioce Type 66:
CE
Río Granite- K-Ar), +0.9 to 4.4±0. a ne , Hdez-
Oax. Madre 09' 45' 82±45 66
Verde Tonalite 27.7±1. -3.0 6 Comp marin Arc- Bernal,
del Sur 49'' 55'' 7
AC
1 (Hbl, lex e relate 1995,

K-Ar) sedim d
ents
I-
Xolap Type 13: Solé
Sierra 16° 98° 24±1 Undet
Cacahu Undete a , et al,
Oax Madre 32' 09' Granite (Bt, K- ermin 13
atepec rmined Comp Arc- 2007,
del Sur 56'' 12'' Ar) ed
lex relate RMCG
d
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
164
13: Solé
et al,
I-
2007,
PT
30±0. Xolap Type
Sierra 16° 98° 33±1 Undet RMCG;
Pinote Granite 2 Undete a ,
Oax. Madre 15' 11' (Bt, K- 0.7 (+)1.68 ermin 13, 60 60:
pa Tonalite 28±0. rmined Comp Arc-
RI
del Sur 34'' 26'' Ar) ed Herrma
4 lex relate
nn et
SC
d
al.,
1994
NU
I-
Xolap Type 13: Solé
Sierra 16° 99° 33±1 Undet
MA
Granodio Undete a , et al,
Copala Oax. Madre 37' 00' (Bt, K- ermin 13
rite rmined Comp Arc- 2007,
del Sur 41'' 14'' Ar) ed
lex relate RMCG
d
ED
Guerre
South I-
ro-
PT
ern Type 13: Solé
Colima 17° 99° 68±2 Undet
Xochip Qz Undete Guerr , et al,
Gro. orogen 53' 41' (Bt, K- ermin 13
CE
ala diorite rmined ero Arc- 2007,
ic 07'' 42'' Ar) ed
terran relate RMCG
comple
e d
AC
x
36.28 ±
68:
0.23,
Late Martin
35.76 ± I-
Eocen y et al.,
Monzogr 35.75 0.13 Eocen Type
Sierra 32.2 ± e 2013;
Coxcat 18° 99° anite- ± 0.28 167, (Bt) Undete e ,
Gro. Madre 18 0.7 (Bt- contin 68, 69 69:
lán 28' 28' granodio 36.01 164 35.84 ± rmined volca Arc-
del Sur WR) ental Alba-
rite ± 0.36 0.37, nics relate
depos Aldave
36.97 ± d
its et al.,
0.12
1998
(Fk);
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
165
Ar-Ar
PT
Platafo Oligo I-
RI
rma 30.9±o. Acatlá cene- Type
Cerca et
Chiuatl Guerre 18º Granodio 3, Shallo n Mioce ,
SC
Gro. 98º 35 al.,
a ro- 20 rite 30.6±0. w Comp ne Arc-
2009
Morelo 4 (Bt) lex volca relate
NU
s nics d
South I-
64.7±1.
MA
ern Type
19° 104° Granite, 3- Undet 51:
Cihuatl Jalisco Undete Guerr ,
Jal. 14' 32' granodio 69.5±1. ermin 51 Schaaf
án Block rmined ero Arc-
46'' 47'' rite 4 (Bt- ed 1990
terran relate
ED
WR)
e d
Guerre
PT
I-
ro-
Type
Colima 18° 103° 56.5±1. Undet Undet 51:
CE
San Granodio Undete ,
Mich. orogen 21' 31' 1 (Bt- 0.7 5.34 ermin ermin 51 Schaaf
Telmo rite rmined Arc-
ic 08'' 26'' WR) ed ed 1990
relate
AC
comple
d
x
I-
Trans
32.5±0. Type 44:
Mexic 18° 101° Undet Undet
San Granodio 7 (Hb), Undete , Damon
Mich. an 56' 58' 0.7 ermin ermin 44
Isidro rite 31.8±0. rmined Arc- et al.,
Volcan 49'' 07'' ed ed
7 (Sr) relate 1983
ic Belt
d
Sierra 16° 99° Granodio 33.5±0. 2.58 Xolap Undet I- 60, 60:
San 31±0. Undete
Gro. Madre 46' 24' rite, 7 (Bt- tonalite a ermin Type 69, Herrm
Marcos 6 rmined
del Sur 44'' 41'' tonalite WR) 3.15 Comp ed , 70, 71 ann
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
166
diorite lex Arc- 1994;

relate 69:
d Alba-
PT
Aldave
et al.,
RI
1998;
70:
SC
Herrm
ann et
NU
al.,
1983;
71:
MA
Morán-
Zenten
o 1992
ED
60:
Herrm
PT ann
1994;
CE
69:
Alba-
I-
AC
Aldave
Xolap Type et al.,
Sierra 99° 116° 35.7±0. Undet 60,
Cruz Granodio 32±0. 2.15 to Undete a , 1998;
Gro. Madre 07' 43' 7 (Bt- ermin 69,
Grande rite 8 3.5 rmined Comp Arc- 70:
del Sur 30'' 13'' WR) ed 70, 71
lex relate Herrm
d ann et
al.,
1983;
71:
Morán-
Zenten
o 1992
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
167
52:
Martin
y et al.,
PT
2000;
I-
72:
Sta. 0.7043 Xolap Type
RI
Sierra 16° 97° Granite, 25.5±0. 25±1 Undet Guerre
Ma. 72 to 1.96 to Undete a ,
Oax. Madre 53' 58' granodio 7 (Bt, (Bt- ermin 52, 72 ro-
SC
Zacate 0.7043 2.02 rmined Comp Arc-
del Sur 27'' 36'' rite K-Ar) WR) ed García
pec 66 lex relate
and
d
NU
Herrer
o-
Berver
MA
a, 1993;
25.1±0.
60:
5 to
ED
I- Herrm
26.7±0.
Xolap Type ann et
Sierra 15° 96° 5 (Bt- Undet
PT
Huatul 29±0. Undete a , 60, al.,
Oax. Madre 45' 14' Granite WR), ermin
co 2 rmined Comp Arc- 73, 1994;
del Sur 16'' 17'' 62.2±0. ed
lex relate 73:
CE
5
d Schaaf
(Mscv-
1995;
WR)
AC
I-
Xolap Type
Sierra 20.4±0. Undet 73:
15° 96° Undete a ,
Xadani Oax. Madre Tonalite 4 (Bt- ermin 73 Schaaf
56' 02' rmined Comp Arc-
del Sur WR) ed 1995
lex relate
d
Xolap I- 74:
20.9±0. Undet
Mixtec 15° 95° Undete a Type Solís-
Ayutla Oax. Granite 4 (Bt- ermin 74
a 53' 52' rmined Comp , Pichar
WR) ed
lex Arc- do tesis
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
168
relate doctora
d l
PT
I- 74:
Type Solís-
Sierra 16.6±0. Undet Undet
RI
16° Undete , Pichar
Bomba Oax. Madre 95° 24' Granite 3 (Bt- ermin ermin 74
02' rmined Arc- do tesis
SC
del Sur WR) ed ed
relate doctora
d l
NU
I-
Type 75:
Sierra 21° 103° 69±2 Undet Undet
MA
Techal Granodio Undete , Pantoja
Jal. Madre 00' 29' (Hbl, ermin ermin 75
utla rite rmined Arc- -Alor
del Sur 46" 49" K-Ar) ed ed
relate 1992
ED
d
Guerrer
67.7±1. I-
o-
PT
Los 4 (Bt, Type 76:
Colima 19° 104° Undet Undet
Tecom K-Ar) Undete , Gastil
Jal. orogeni 32' 29' Diorite ermin ermin 76
CE
ates 64.5±11 rmined Arc- et al.,
c 59" 10" ed ed
(127) .9 (Hbl, relate 1978
comple
K-Ar) d
AC
x
77:
Grajale
Guerrer
I- s-
o-
Ahuiju Type Nishim
Colima 60±5 Undet Undet
llo Granodio Undete , ura and
Mich. orogeni (Bt, K- ermin ermin 77
(MG/L rite rmined Arc- López-
c Ar) ed ed
I 7083) relate Infazón
comple
d (datos
x
inéditos
)
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
169
Guerrer
61±1 South I-
o-
(Bt, K- ern Type 78:
Aquila Colima 18° 103° Undet
PT
Granodio Ar) Undete Guerr , Pantoja
(JP- Mich. orogeni 35' 30' ermin 78
rite 63±1 rmined ero Arc- -Alor
208) c 56" 14" ed
(Hbl, terran relate 1983
RI
comple
K-Ar) e d
x
SC
Guerrer
57±1 I-
o-
NU
(Hbl, Type 78:
Ostula Colima 18° 103° Undet Undet
Granodio K-Ar) Undete , Pantoja
(JP- Mich. orogeni 29' 28' ermin ermin 78
rite 56±1 rmined Arc- -Alor
MA
201) c 40" 32" ed ed
(Bt, K- relate 1983
comple
Ar) d
x
ED
Guerrer
I-
San o-
Type 78:
Jeróni Colima 36±1 Undet Undet
PT
Granodio Undete , Pantoja
mo Mich. orogeni (Bt, K- ermin ermin 78
rite rmined Arc- -Alor
(JP- c Ar) ed ed
CE
relate 1983
172) comple
d
x
AC
Guerrer
I-
La o-
Type 78:
Guaca Colima 19° 100° 47±1 Undet Undet
Granodio Undete , Pantoja
maya Mich. orogeni 06' 34' (Bt, K- ermin ermin 78
rite rmined Arc- -Alor
(JP- c 46" 50" Ar) ed ed
relate 1983
182) comple
d
x
Puerto 38.9±0. Xolap Middl I- 51:
Xolapa 15° 97°
Escond 9 (Bt, Undete a e Type Schaaf
Gro. Compl 51' 04' Granite 0.7 7.3 51, 79
ido K-Ar) rmined Comp Mioce , 1990;
ex 46" 12"
(UAK 40.7±0. lex ne Arc- 79:
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
170
A 9 (Hbl, marin relate Delgad

80103) K-Ar) e d o-
sedim Argote
PT
ents 1986;
37:
RI
Guerrer
43.7±0. I- Martini
o- Maast
5 (Plg, Eocen Type et al.,
SC
Colima 18° 101° richtia
Guaya Granite- Ar-Ar) Undete e , 2009
Gro. orogeni 17' 13' n- 37, 78
meo diorite 47±1 rmined depos Arc- 78:
NU
c 30'' 20'' Paleo
(Bt, K- its relate Pantoja
comple cene
Ar) d -Alor
x
MA
1983
Guerre
I-
ro- Triass
Type
ED
Colima 18° 102° Tonalite, 62±1 ic Undet 51:
Arteag Undete ,
Gro. orogen 21' 17' Granodio (Bt, K- metas ermin 51 Schaaf
a rmined Arc-
ic 25" 31" rite Ar) edime ed 1990
PT
relate
comple nts
d
x
CE
44.29±0
Upper
.19 80:
AC
Cretac
(Hbl, Molina
Cerro 26° 101° eous Undet Unde
Zacate Monzoni Ar-Ar) Undete -Garza
Merca Coah. 49' 29' 12.8 marin ermin termi 80
cas te and rmined et al.,
do 24'' 44'' e ed ned
41.23±0 2008,
sedim
.21 (Bt, RMCG
ents
Ar-Ar)
Monzoni Upper
Candel Coahui 80:
te, Cretac Undet Unde
a- la 26.5 100- 45-35 Undete Molina
Coah. monzodi eous ermin termi 80
Moncl Platfor -27° 102° (Ar-Ar) rmined -Garza
orite, Qz marin ed ned
ova m et al.,
monzonit e
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
171
e sedim
ents
PT
Upper
Qz- Cretac 81:
Coahui
RI
El 24° 100° syenite, eous Undet Unde Velasco
Coah. la 35-40 Undete
Peñuel 35' 47' 60 syenite, marin ermin termi 81 -Tapia
SC
-N.L. Platfor (K-Ar) rmined
o 00'' 24'' monzodi e ed ned et al.,
m
orite sedim 2011
NU
ents
82±4
MA
(Hbl, Cretac
Dinami 24° 103° Undet Unde
Zacate Gabbro K-Ar) Undete eous
ta Dgo. 41' 41' ermin termi
cas Granite 32±1 rmined carbo
pluton 33'' 38'' ed ned
ED
(Bt, K- nates
Ar)
82:
Pico de
Zac.
Zacate
24° 102°
33' 10'
Granitoi PT Undete Meso
Undet Unde
ermin termi 82
Silva-
Romo
CE
Teyra cas d rmined zoic
19'' 38'' ed ned et al.,
2000
AC
83:
Mujica,
Conce Cretac
24° 101° Undet Unde Albarr
pción Zacate 0.5 to 700 to Undete eous
Zac. 36' 25' Syenite 75±6 ermin termi 83 an
del cas 1.5 800 rmined carbo
50'' 11'' ed ned reporte
Oro nates
inédito
IMP
13: Solé
22° 102° Undet Undet Unde
El Zacate Undete et al.,
Zac. 46' 07' 119 Granite 77±3 ermin ermin termi 13
Saucito cas rmined 2007
23'' 23'' ed ed ned
RMCG
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
172
S-
Type
Undete Lower
Gabbro 101.2±2 Cenoz , 56
PT
rmined Cretac 56:
.7 (Hbl, oic anate
eous Stein et
Coman Zacate 21° 101° K-Ar), contin ctic
RI
Gto. 80 (-)2.07 Guerr al.,
ja cas 20' 45' 51±1.3 ental S-
ero 1994
(Bt, K- sedim Type
SC
Granodio Undete terran JSES
Ar) ents ,
rite rmined e
anate
NU
ctic
Lower
52.9±7, Cenoz
MA
Cretac S- 56:
(Bt, K- oic
La eous Type Stein et
Zacate 21° 101° Granodio Ar), Undete contin
Estanci Gto. 62 (-)0.49 Guerr , 56 al.,
cas 06' 28' rite 49.5±1. rmined ental
ED
a ero anate 1994
5 (Bt, sedim
terran ctic JSES
K-Ar) ents
e
PT Upper
I-
CE
Cretac
Type 13: Solé
16° 95° Myloniti 17±1 eous Undet
Tehuan Cuicat Undete , et al,
Oax. 19' 13' zed (Bt, K- marin ermin 13
AC
tepec eca rmined Arc- 2007,

52'' 12'' granite Ar) e ed
relate RMCG
sedim
d
ents
13: Solé
Upper
13.6±0. I- et al,
Granodio Cretac
3 (Bt- Type 2007,
16° 95° rite, 14±1 eous Undet
Benito Cuicat WR) Undete , RMCG;
Oax. 25' 22' tonalite, (Bt, K- marin ermin 13, 74
Juárez eca 14.9±0. rmined Arc- 74:
40'' 33'' Qz Ar) e ed
3 (Bt- relate Solís-
diorite sedim
WR) d Pichard
ents
o tesis
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
173
Dr.
PT
Upper
I-
Cretac
Type 13: Solé
RI
Los 16° 94° 69±4 eous Undet
Cuicat Undete , et al,
Chimal Oax. 56' 46' Granite (Chl, marin ermin 13
SC
eca rmined Arc- 2007,
apa 16'' 25'' K-Ar) e ed
relate RMCG
sedim
d
NU
ents
Lower 84:
MA
Cretac Tacan I- Damon
Granodio 10.8± eous a Type and
Socon 15° 92°
Soconu rite, Qz 0.3, 2-6 (Bt, Undete meta Quate , Montes
Chis. usco 18' 43' 84
ED
sco monzonit 10.2± K-Ar) rmined morph rnary Arc- inos,
Massif 52" 38"
e, 0.2 ic volca relate García-
schist nics d Palomo
Guerre PT s
Neog
et al.
CE
ro- Cretac ene
18° 98°
Xalost Morelo Undete eous contin S-
Mor. 43' 52' Granite
AC
oc s rmined carbo ental Type

24" 19"
Platfor nates depos
m its
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
174
Table 3. Main geologic features characterizing the zoned pattern of the Juárez-San Pedro
Mártir Batholith
Transitional
Geologic Features Western Zone Eastern Zone
Zone
Width (km) 50-75 25-50 10-100
PT
Size of plutons (km2) <500 >1,500 500-1,500
RI
U-Pb emplacement ages (Ma) 105-140 83-125 <83
K-Ar coooling Hbl ages (Ma) 120 75
SC
K-Ar cooling Bt ages (Ma) 115 65
Emplacement depth (km) <6 15-23 ~6
NU
Granodiorite-
Main lithology Gabbro-tonalite Granite
MA tonalite
Metamorphic facies of intruded Lower Upper
Lower amphibolite
rocks Greenschist amphibolite
Delta O18 (%) 8.5-6 9 11
D
Initial 87Sr/86Sr ≤0.703 0.704-0.706 ≥0.708

TE
Initial Epsilon Nd 8 -6.4

Fe/Ti Oxides Magnetite Ilmenite-magnetite Ilmenite
P
Maximum Moho depth (km) 41 37 25

CE
AC
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
175
Table 4. Mean values for pressure/depth and age (Ma) information relevant to the
exhumation process of the Juárez-San Pedro Mártir batholith (data summarized from
Schmidt et al., 2009)
Zone P (kbar) Depth (km) Zr (U-Pb) 40Ar/39Ar (Hbl) 40Ar/39Ar (Bt) Ap (FT)
PT
W 2.2 8 115 na 103.5 75.7
T 5.33 19.5 112.5 94.4 89.3 70.4
RI
E 4.9 17.8 na na 80.1 na
SC
NU
MA
D
P TE
CE
AC
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
176
Table 5. Maximum and minimum cooling ages obtained for intrusive rocks of the Puerto
Vallarta-Manzanillo batholiths
METHOD PHASE DATED APROX. CLOSURE TºC MAX. AGE Ma MIN. AGE Ma
PT
K-Ar Kfs 150 65.3 ± 1.5 57.3 ± 2.1
K-Ar Bt 300 99.8 ± 8 57.5 ± 5
RI
K.Ar Hbl 500 64. 5 ± 11 62.0 ± 2.5
SC
Rb-Sr WR 600 69.0 ± 3.0 58.0 ± 2.0
Rb-Sr Bt 350 69.5 ± 1.4 59.1 ± 1.2
NU
MA
D
P TE
CE
AC
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
177
PT
RI
SC
NU
MA
D
P TE
Graphical abstract
CE
AC
ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
178
Research Highlights
First complete paper on the distribution, geology and tectonics of Mexican granites
Over 130 plutons featured, ranging in age from Mesoproterozoic to late Miocene
I, S and A-type granitoids described as subduction, shear and extension-related
PT
RI
SC
NU
MA
D
P TE
CE
AC

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Fernando Ortega-Gutiérrez, Mariano Elı́as-Herrera, Dante J. Morán-Zenteno,

To appear in: Gondwana Research

Received date: 12 November 2013

Please cite this article as: Ortega-Gutiérrez, Fernando, Elı́as-Herrera, Mariano,

Laura Luna1, Peter Schaaf3

México, D.F., México

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geofísica, Cd. Universitaria, 04510,

México, D.F., México

Corresponding author: Luigi A. Solari, solari@unam.mx

Granitic plutons constitute a major portion of the Phanerozoic continental crust of

shallow) to 1-10ºC/Ma (very deep).

NW-trending Mexican continental edge according to the lithospheric component involved:

western Mexico, and Oaxaquia (Gondwana) in eastern and southern Mexico.

3.1. Baja California batholithic belt (Mexican Peninsular Ranges) p. 8

3.3. Sonora Laramide batholithic complex p. 16

3.4. Sinaloa-Durango-Nayarit batholithic complex p. 20

3.5. Southern Mexico batholithic belts p. 23

3.5.1. Puerto Vallarta batholith p. 23

3.5.2. Manzanillo batholith p. 26

3.5.3. Jilotlán batholith p. 27

3.5.4. La Huacana batholith p. 27

3.5.5. Arteaga batholith p. 28

3.5.6. Sierra Madre del Sur batholiths and smaller plutons p. 28

3.5.7. Coastal Chiapanecan Neogene batholithic belt p. 35

3.6. Pre-Mesozoic arc-related (exposed) batholiths p. 36

3.6.1. Chiapas batholith p. 36

3.6.2. La Mixtequita batholith p. 40

3.6.3. Honduras, Zaniza and Cuanana plutons p. 41

3.7. Eastern Permo-Triassic batholithic belt (mostly buried) p. 43

3.8. Continental interior plutons (rift, shear zone, and arc-related) p. 44

3.8.3. Late Paleozoic and Triassic plutons p. 49

3.9. Alkaline intrusive complexes of NE Mexico p. 57

4. Tectonic evolution of the plutonic intrusives of Mexico p. 61

4.2. Early Paleozoic and Carboniferous-early Permian p. 63

4.5. Early Cretaceous p. 65

4.6. Late Cretaceous-Paleogene p. 66

4.8. Origin of the Late Cretaceous silicic plutonism in NW Mexico p. 69

and major plutonic belts of south Central Asia and Japan p. 72

the Altaids of central Asia (e.g. Wilhem et al., 2012).

tectonostratigraphic architecture (Table 1) dominated by accreted Paleozoic and Mesozoic

Mexico (Wilson, 1990; Jacobo-Albarrán, 1996; Torres-Vargas et al., 1999), as well as by

rocks in the orogens.

exposed in relatively narrow bands hundreds to thousands of kilometers long. Individual

literature for each particular plutonic unit described in this contribution.

comprehensive synthesis on the principal geological attributes including geographic distribution

3. General distribution and geology of the main batholiths

their age, geographic distribution, size, geochemical-petrological composition, intruded rocks,

majority (87%) of the granitoids of Mexico is of Late Cretaceous-Paleogene age (Laramidic).

California Peninsula (Figures 3, 4 and 5).

magnetics (Servicio Geológico Mexicano, 2008), (Figure 4).

3.1.1 Juárez-San Pedro Mártir batholith (JSPMB)

3.1.1.1 Tectonic setting

subduction zones settings.

3.1.1.2. Age and petrological data

granodioritic compositions in the central (transitional) zone and granite-dominated lithologies in

3.1.1.3. Cooling and exhumation

(probably without exhumation) in the short interval 81 to 85 Ma of up to 100ºC/Ma for the

86 Ma) from igneous temperatures of 700-750ºC to 40Ar/39Ar biotite closure temperatures

exhumation from shallow levels in the brittle upper crust.

3.2.1. Tectonic setting

schists and migmatites intruded by gabbroic-dioritic plutons locally characterized by a layered

3.2.2. Age and petrological data