8Paleogeographic Constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic Tectonic Reconstruction of the Maya Block of Southern Mexico and Equivalent Strata of Northwestern South AmericaPeter Bartok, Maria Carolina Mejia-Hernandez, and Murad Ismael Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Rd., Houston, Texas 77204, U.S.A. (e-mails: [email protected], [email protected])
ABSTRACT
The early drift-phase paleogeography of middle to late Jurassic northwestern South America with rocks of equivalent age on the Maya Block of southern Mexico remains problematic. Most published work has relied on paleomagnetic data rather than detailed correlations be-tween sedimentary rocks of similar age or the orientations of major Mesozoic rifts. Emphasis is on the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian because of their economic importance. The southern Mexico Maya Block and Guatemala Rubelsanto trough are most likely related to the Trias-sic back-arc spreading of central Mexico and the back-arc basin of the Magdalena rift, which includes the Cocinas trough of the Guajira. The Yucatan rotation during the early Jurassic orients the Akal horst of Reforma and aligns it with the Cocinas trough, causing the two to have similar paleogeographies. Of particular significance is the presence of Kimmeridgian ammonites in the Cocinas Group of the Guajira and the potential relationship of the Cocinas with the Kimmeridgian of southern Mexico. The role played by the Chiapas Block is dis-cussed, and this block is considered to have been a later addition to the Maya Block. It is most likely post-Kimmeridgian and does not appear to have played a role during the late- Jurassic depositional setting. The proposed model allows for Kimmeridgian exploration targets to ex-tend beneath the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform (southern Reforma trend), which may be present under more favorable marine conditions in the projected Cocinas trough of the west-ern part of the Gulf of Venezuela.
Bartok, Peter, Maria Carolina Mejia-Hernandez, and Murad Ismael, 2015, Paleogeographic constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic tectonic reconstruction of the Maya Block of southern Mexico and equivalent strata of northwestern South America, in C. Bartolini and P. Mann, eds., Petroleum Geology and potential of the Colombian Caribbean Margin: AAPG Memoir 108, p. 201–216.
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Maya Block was required. Paleomagnetic studies later confirmed the rotation of the blocks and proposed a general pole of rotation (Pindell and Kennan, 2001) located northeast of Yucatan, along the strait of Florida (Figure 1). Recent studies by Kneller and Johnson (2011) integrated the paleomagnetic data of the region and incorporated Exxon data on crustal composition and thickness to arrive at the conclusion that the Maya Block was rotated by Callovian time and essentially in its present position. There are several options as to
InTRoduCTIon
Several Caribbean tectonic reconstructions have been proposed over the past 50 years (Malfait and Dinkel-man, 1972; Buffler and Sawyer, 1985; Burke, 1988; Pindell and Kennan, 2001). Even the earliest stud-ies concluded that the Maya Block, including the Peninsula of Yucatan, was juxtaposed against north-ern South America during the Pangean suture, and because of space constraints some rotation of the
La Pita 1
Pole ofrotation
Figure 1. The Kimmeridgian reconstruction for the proto-Caribbean region modified from Pindell and Kennan (2001). It is evi-dent from the proposed paleogeography and ammonite assemblages that by Kimmeridgian time the proto-Caribbean seaway was well established connecting the Pacific and Baltic faunal assemblages. The region includes western Cuba. Carbonate reefs and oolite shoals were common. Of particular significance is the oil-bearing Kimmeridgian reef trend of Reforma, Mexico, overlain by Tithonian source beds. Similar carbonates are present in the Cocinas trough of the Guajira, suggesting the potential for Kimmeridgian carbonates exploration opportunities in the western Gulf of Venezuela and south of the existing Reforma trend in Mexico. Cobo-301 and La Pita 1 wells delimit the boundary between Reforma trend and Rubelsanto trough, south of La Pita-1. In this reconstruction, crustal fabric of Mexico described by Centeno-Garcia (2008) is modified by the displacement of Oaxaquia, Oxacan, and Chiapas massif (CM) westward along Mojove–Sonora megashear. The microplates along northern South America outlined by Case et al. (1984) are rotated and indicate the communication between Mexican Kimmeridgian reef trend and proposed southern Guajira reefs. Crustal units defined in the figure are as follows—1: southern Guajira, 2: northern Guajira, 3: Paraguana Block, 5: Santa Marta Block, 6: Dabajuro Block, 7: Cesar–Machiques–Perija trough, 8: Maracaibo Block, 9: central Cordillera, 11: Middle Magdalena trough, 12: Andes–Santander, 13: northern South America, north of Espino Graben Block. 25 km (15.5 mi)
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Paleogeographic Constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic tectonic reconstruction 203
For the restoration of the proto-Caribbean, previously proposed reconstructions are used as a guide, but not as constraints to the model applied in the present study. By reviewing the paleogeography of the Guajira and Maya Blocks during the Kimmeridgian and Titho-nian, the relationship between the blocks becomes more evident and to complete the paleogeographic reconstruction of the western proto-Caribbean, the Cuban Pinar del Rio Kimmeridgian and Tithonian are also incorporated.
Reconstructions suggest that Pinar del Rio was attached to the eastern Quintana Roo region of the Maya Block (Figure 1) during the late Jurassic (Pindell and Kennan, 2001). Early authors (Wright, 1924) described oil seeping from the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian of the Pinar del Rio Jurassic beds, providing the only viable source rock in the region for the hydrocarbons pro-duced in Cuba. The Kimmeridgian San Vicente Member (Figure 2) of the Guasasa Formation has abundant corals mostly associated with ramp carbonates (Cobiella-Reguera and Oloriz, 2009). The Tithonian El Americano Member is also rich in ammonites and is considered to be deposited in outer neritic to bathyal conditions (Cobiella-Reguera and Oloriz, 2009).
The Maya Block and northwestern South America are comprised of several structural elements that com-bine to form a single unit. The core of the Maya Block is comprised of Grenvillian-aged basement of the Oaxaquia terrane (Figure 1; Trainor et al., 2011) and has a Gondwana affinity. Along the eastern margin of the Maya Block, a late Precambrian orogenic event
how the Maya Block can be configured against South America, in both time and space (Figure 1). A signifi-cant problem in the reconstruction of the pre-rift South American Margin is the northern Venezuela Margin of the suture (Bayona et al., 2010). The Caribbean nap-pes, emplaced from late Mesozoic to lower Paleogene, occluded most of the margin. The one exception to the dilemma of the reconstruction of the southern Proto-Caribbean is the Guajira Block (Figure 1). A segment of this block underwent only minor modification associ-ated with the migrating Caribbean plate and thereby allows for an improved reconstruction of the Guajira and Maya Blocks.
The present study focuses on the Kimmeridg-ian and Tithonian stages with special emphasis on a review of the geology of the Guajira and Maya regions to better examine their reconstruction and timing of their tectonic events. The two periods contain proven significant source rocks and reservoirs in the region. As noted by Iturralde-Vinent and Gahagan (2002), the proto-Caribbean development was not an instan-taneous event but rather the consequence of various attempts of connecting with the North Atlantic. The “Hispanic Corridor” located between the Maya Block and the South American craton (Bartok et al., 1985) may have initiated during the Bajocian and Bathonian times but developed as a continuous connection pos-sibly as late as Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian (Iturralde-Vinent, 2003). Therefore, during the Kimmeridgean Laurentia and Gondwana were in close proximity (Pindell and Kennan, 2001; Kneller and Johnson, 2011).
MESOZOIC
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sanicoC .rG
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Olvido
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Guasasa Upp
Guasasa Low
San Cayetano
Moina Fm
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Stratigraphic ColumnsReforma –Cocinas-Cesar-Cuba
Figure 2. The stratigraphic chart of Reforma (Mexico), Cocinas (Guajira), and Pinar del Rio (Cuba) demonstrate that during Kimmeridgian time shallow marine conditions persisted in west Cuba, Cocinas trough, and Reforma where potential carbon-ate source rock deposited, followed by deep marine conditions and deposition of marine shale (modified from Renz, 1960; Bartok, 1993; Mojica and Prinz-Grimm, 2000; Iturralde-Vinent, 2003).
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resulted in the Quintana Roo Range that was later reac-tivated in the Permian to form the Maya Mountains (Bartok, 1993). The relaxation of this last orogeny gave rise to the Cuban Pinar del Rio graben association (Figure 1). The complex block definitions of the south-western proto-Caribbean (Figure 3) closely follow the outlines provided by Case et al. (1984). Of primary interest in the study are the Reforma trend of the Maya Block (Figure 4) and the Cocinas trough of the Guajira (Figure 5). The geologic framework of the Reforma trend is based on Bishop (1980) and Meneses-Rocha (2002) where the trends of the Akal horst, as well as the orientation of the Rubelsanto trough of Guatemala, are described. Their tectonic histories provide the framework for unraveling the early tectonic develop-ment of the southern Maya Block. The Chiapas mas-sif (CM in Figure 1) complicates this process and will be discussed in more detail in a separate section (“The Chiapas Massif Problem”). Although the Rubelsanto trough is not well exposed, its geologic history can be discerned from its sedimentary record.
The Cocinas trough of the Guajira (Figure 5), first described by Renz (1960), is the only preserved sedi-mentary terrane along the southern margin of the proto-Caribbean containing middle Jurassic depos-its. It currently has nearly an east–west trend; how-ever, at the time of formation, its original trend was north–south and thus reflects the clockwise rotation of nearly 90°, first proposed by MacDonald and Opdyke (1972). Even though the northern portion of the Coci-nas trough is truncated by the Cuiza fault (Figure 5), a sufficient portion of the trough is preserved to provide an important link in the reconstruction of the region.
The stratigraphic correlations among the Reforma region, the Cocinas trough, and the Pinar del Rio show great similarities (Figure 2) and differ consid-erably from the remaining Jurassic basins in western Venezuela (Figures 1 and 6). First and foremost the three mentioned areas are the only ones to contain dominantly marine Jurassic sediments. Ammonite zones in all three are well documented (Imlay, 1943; Renz, 1960; Cantu-Chapa, 2003; Iturralde-Vinent, 2003; Villasenor and Oloriz, 2009). Various Perisphinctes spe-cies are common ammonites of the Kimmeridgian to Tithonian sediments of the proto-Caribbean and pre-sent in all three regions. Their age range is from the Oxfordian to the Tithonian.
TRIASSIC-JuRASSIC GRABen SySTeMS
Triassic back-arc basins and grabens from western United States through Eastern Mexico and central Colombia (Figure 6; Heck, 2000) are described at
length. Their structural style differs from their coun-terparts along the eastern United States and northern Gulf of Mexico onshore as well as those of western Venezuela. The early Mexican and Colombian rift basins are the result of back-arc spreading associated with the Farallon plate subduction. Triassic age arc magmatism is well documented in Mexico (Barboza-Gudino et al., 2010) as well as in the central Andes of Colombia (Vinasco and Cordani, 2012). Back-arc spreading differs from intra-cratonic rifting by their geometries and mechanism of formation. Back-arc spreading is more commonly associated with thermal upwelling (McKenzie, 1978), whereas intra-cratonic spreading follows more closely a Wernicke model with asymmetric rifting style represented by a wide rifting zone along Laurentia’s southern and eastern margin and a narrow rifting zone along northern and northwestern Gondwana Margin (Wernicke and Burchfield, 1982). In addition, the back-arc rifts tend to be more localized, have better outlined geometries, and tend to be deeper. In the Wernicke model, the pre-rift horst blocks commonly show higher inclinations and thus are more difficult to discern. If marine con-ditions are introduced into the back-arc basin, they will tend to prevail over time because these grabens tend to be very deep. The back-arc grabens of Mexico (Figures 1 and 6) extend from Huizachal–Peregrino and Tampico Misantla (central Mexico) to Reforma (southern Mexico), and in Colombia they extent to Payande, located in the Upper Magdalena Valley of Colombia (Irving, 1975; Caceres et al., 2005). Triassic to lower and middle Jurassic marine faunas are observed in all of the mentioned areas, and thus their associa-tion with the back-arc spreading is confirmed. Even though the Permo–Triassic Arc ceased being active by late Triassic, the positive arc did not form a complete barrier and allowed Pacific marine sequences to enter the early Gulf of Mexico. The leaky nature of the pre-existing Triassic arc system is evidenced by the pres-ence of the Potosi Fan (Stern and Dickinson, 2010) that spilled over the ancient arc into the proto-Pacific and Pacific faunal assemblages were able to migrate into the Gulf of Mexico Jurassic grabens. Furthermore, where evaporitic conditions were present during the early post-rift depressions, significant volumes of salt were deposited. Therefore the presence of thick salt would suggest that there is a high probability that thick pre-salt sediments are present and have sus-tained significant differential compaction.
Because the Rubelsanto trough has significant Jurassic salt (e.g., Xalbal diapir and others), the basin most likely has deep roots, and although the lower redbeds have not been dated thoroughly they are likely to be as old as Triassic to lowermost Jurassic. The
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Ammonites
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LegendSurface geology
Water
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Pennsylvanian
Carboniferous
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Paleozoic-Mesozoic
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Mesozoic-Cenozoic
Figure 3. Several micro-plates comprise the southern margin of the proto-Caribbean (Case et al., 1984). The Cuiza fault separates southern (1) and northern (2) Guajira and, together with the southern segment (Lagarto fault), defines the limit of the Caribbean plate. Of significance to this study are the following blocks: 1: Southern Guajira including the Cocinas trough; 2: northern Guajira containing no Jurassic sediments and closely associated with Santa Marta; 3: Paraguana Block, similar history as northern Guajira and Santa Marta; 4: Tertiary Tayrona Basin; 5: Santa Marta Block; 6: Dabajuro Block, Cretaceous on basement, no Jurassic sediments, closely related to the Maracaibo Basin; 7: Cesar–Machiques–Perija trough; 8: Maracaibo Block; 9: central Cordillera; 10: lower Magdalena Tertiary Basin; 11: Middle Magdalena trough; 12: Andes–Santander; 13: northern South America north of Espino Graben; 14: South American plate. 50 km (31.1 mi)
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Figure 4. Map of the Reforma trend shows the outline of the north–south Jurassic intra-cratonic rift overlying the NW– SE- trending Rubelsanto trough. The Akal horst focuses the Kimmeridgian reef trend with the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo carbonate platform developing along the southern extension of the Akal High. It is proposed that the Kimmeridgian reef trend extends under the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform. The Tehuantepec fracture (dashed yellow line) defines the western limit of the Maya Block. Callovian salt (transparent red polygon) deposited on attenuated Maya Block but not on the Chiapas massif; salt deposition was controlled by Triassic back-arc and Jurassic intra-cratonic rift systems. 250 km (155.3 mi)
general Rubelsanto trough, south of the La Pita-1 well (Figure 1), can be divided into at least two subbasins: the northern Peten (Paso Caballos Subbasin) contains little salt and is primarily a Cretaceous depocenter that acted as a sympathetic subsidence rim associated with the dominant southern Peten (Chapayal Basin). The Chapayal region is likely related to the Reforma trend of western Yucatan platform because of both of their similar salt distribution.
The stratigraphy of the area east of the Macuspana portion of the Reforma trend shows greater similar-ity to the Paso Caballos section of the northern Peten
of Guatemala as confirmed by the Cobo-301 well in Reforma (Meneses-Rocha, 2002) and La Pita-1 well (Figure 1) of the Paso Caballos section in Guatemala (Bishop, 1980). The Guatemala basins are separated by a poorly defined horst known as the Libertad arch. It is proposed in the present study that the main Rubel-santo trough forms part of the Triassic back-arc sys-tem of grabens and is genetically tied to the remaining central Mexican graben system previously described (Dickinson et al., 2010). The principal difference between the Reforma and Rubelsanto areas is that fol-lowing the rotation of the Maya Block the Reforma
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Paleogeographic Constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic tectonic reconstruction
207
Parsua
Jipohu
Guincua
Ipapure
Ishesut
El Cabo
Juruaipa
Nazareth
San Jose
Maasichi
Guasapatu
Kuisaruhu
Puerto LopezLaresapatuhu
Sukaramahand
Chauuttamahana
Puerto Chimare
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LegendNeoproterozoic, metamorphic
Paleozoic, metamorphic Jurassic, sedimentary
Cretaceous, sedimentary
Cretaceous, igneous
Cretaceous, metamorphic
Cretaceous, metamorphic/sedimentary
Jurassic, rhyolite
Jurassic, red beds
Jurassic, gabbro
Jurassic, metasedimentary
Pre-Jurassic, igneous
Cretaceous, sedimentary
Cretaceous, sedimentary
Fig A: Geological map (O. Renz, 1960)
Alluvium Moina Formation
Palanz Formation, Coral reefs
Cocinas Group
Pre-Cretaceous granite
Miocene
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Mi
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cerro hill
Yuruma hill
Escondido
Moina
Cogollo Group
Yurum Formation
Jurassic ammonitesM
Kim
m. P
otentia
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Fig BFig C
macuira block
Macuira block
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Fig B:
Stratigraphic
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chart
(O. Renz, 1960)
BERRIASIAN
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ALBIAN
APTIAN
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GUAJIRA PLATFORMSOUTH
COGOLLO GR
GUAJIRA TROUGHSOUTHPALANZ FM
MOINA FM.
YURUMA FM.
MARACA
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0 2 Km1
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Figure 5. Guajira general geologic map with detailed field maps A and B from Renz (1960) showing the Kimmeridgian ammonite locations. The Cuiza strike-slip fault is the southern limit of the Caribbean plate. The northern Guajira has been transported from the vicinity of Santa Marta. The southern margin is the autochthonous Cocinas trough. It is likely that Kimmeridgian marine facies extend into the western Gulf of Venezuela and may be prospective. (C) Stratigraphic correlation between Cocinas trough onshore and proposed location of Kimmeridgian reef systems offshore. 1 km (0.6 mi)
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trend underwent a second phase of rifting prior to the formation of oceanic crust in the Gulf of Mexico. This second phase is critical because it enhanced the accu-mulation of salt in the region and focused the develop-ment of the Kimmeridgian carbonate plays of Reforma on the consequent Akal High. The Rubelsanto region underwent minor reactivation during the Jurassic event and provided the setting for the upper Todos Santos redbed deposits.
The Cocinas trough, once rotated to its original posi-tion, aligns with the Cesar–Perija–Machiques trough and continues south connecting with the Magdalena Valley graben system. The geologic map of Colom-bia (Figure 7) prepared by INGEOMINAS (Gomez et al., 2007) serves as template in the restoration of the
greater Magdalena rift system. It is evident from the petrography, age dating, and metamorphic facies that the central Cordillera of Colombia is related to the Santa Marta Block and in turn related to the basement complexes observed in the Guajira (Tschanz et al., 1974; Irving, 1975; Cediel and Caceres, 2003; Bayona et al., 2010). In addition, the Paleozoic sediments of Perija, internal to the Magdalena rift system, con-tain faunal associations more closely related to Lau-rentia than to Gondwana (Bartok, 1993), implying a close link between southern Mexico and northwest-ern South America. The Colombian back-arc rifting occurred in close proximity to the Pangea suture, simi-lar to the extension of the equivalent U.S. east coast suture into the Gulf of Mexico (Bartok, 1993). It is most
Figure 6. Triassic and Jurassic rifts of the proto-Caribbean differ in their tectonic setting and physiography. Triassic grabens are back-arc extensions, long, narrow, and deep. Jurassic grabens are intra-cratonic and more closely resemble the Wernicke and Burchfield (1982) model. The horst blocks appear more tilted and more difficult to discern. 250 km (155.3 mi)
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Paleogeographic Constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic tectonic reconstruction 209
intermix, it is not uncommon for shale to follow similar paths as the original causal salt (Maestro et al., 2003). In Macuspana, once the salt roller is developed and suf-ficient salt has evacuated, subsequent shale deforma-tion can continue along the pre-established zones of weakness. Significant Oligocene shale was deposited in the minibasins that formed from the salt rollover structures. The shales formed diapirs along the paths traced by the salt rollers. Further west, progressive salt pillows and diapirs prevail, as evidenced near the Akal horst (Martinez-Kemp et al., 2005b), and more detached salt diapirs and allochthonous salt sheets persist along Salina del Istmo (Gomez-Cabrera and Jackson, 2009; Escalera-Alcocer, 2010) to the west of the Akal High. In general, this zonation suggests progres-sive increase in water depth to the west as a result of crustal attenuation. Globally allochthonous salt is pre-sent in areas where present-day deeper water suggests crustal attenuation. Vendeville and Jackson’s models (1991) support this observation. The crustal thinning terminates abruptly at the Tehuantepac fracture zone, defining the western limit of the Maya Block (Figure 4). Understanding the crustal behavior of the western Maya Block is crucial to the plate reconstruction and requires further investigation. It is essential in unrave-ling the tectonic history of the CM and is discussed further in a later section. The Chiapas Block shows no evidence of crustal thinning.
The original Rubelsanto trough extended as far west as Salina de Istmo, the westernmost Maya Block (Figure 4). Prior to the rotation of the Maya Block, the trough formed part of the Triassic back-arc basins discussed previously. Once the rotation of the Maya Block took place, the ensuing intra-cratonic Juras-sic rifting of the Gulf of Mexico extended south into the Maya Block and resulted in the rift phase giving rise to the Reforma–Akal High. For this reason sig-nificant salt deposition could take place in both the Rubelsanto trough and the Reforma region. It is note-worthy that salt roller structures in the Macuspana Basin, immediately east of the Akal High (Figure 4), differ significantly from the salt diapirs of Rubelsanto. The best explanation for this apparent dichotomy is to allow higher rates of subsidence in Rubelsanto than in Macuspana during some Jurassic reactivation. This is further evidence that the Rubelsanto trough was origi-nally part of the back-arc spreading.
SAlT PRovInCe oF THe MAGdAlenA GRABen
In the Middle Magdalena graben system, salt is also present (Zipaquira, Nemocon, and Upin salt domes; McLaughlin, 1972). The exact age of the salt
likely that this phase follows a more classic Wernicke and Burchfield (1982) model. In the Perija–Machiques trough (Figure 6), the Triassic to lower Jurassic sedi-ments of the Tinacoa Formation are overlain by the Jurassic volcanics and olive green shales and carbon-ates containing freshwater fish and remains of higher plants (Macoita Formation of the La Ge Group; Gon-zalez de Juana et al., 1981). The present study suggests that the La Ge Group is associated with the middle Jurassic continuation of the back-arc spreading. La Ge sediments are overlain by La Quinta redbeds as an angular unconformity, and the latter is associated with middle to late Jurassic intra-cratonic rifting. The same-aged redbeds are observed in the Merida Andes (Figure 1). This latter event not only reactivated the Cesar–Perija trough but as expected in the Wernicke Model extended the intra- cratonic rifting style east into the Merida Andes (Figure 1). The major difference between the two graben systems is that the Magdalena rift is underlain by Triassic and lower Jurassic marine sediments, whereas the Merida grabens (Uribante and San Lazaro; Bartok et al., 1981) are underlain by Paleo-zoic igneous and metamorphic complexes.
In the case of the Reforma trend it appears that by the time the Jurassic rifting phase was initiated in the Gulf of Mexico region, the Maya Block had undergone significant rotation. Thus following the prevailing intra-cratonic north–south trend of eastern Mexico, the Akal horst approximates the same trend. The event takes place prior to the Callovian salt deposition. As is common in Wernicke models, the Akal High has relatively subtle relief. It is observed that in the Salina de Istmo, the western portion of the Reforma trend, the volume of salt appears to be significantly greater than that in the central Reforma region. This relation-ship appears to be because of the deepening of the basin toward Salina de Istmo resulting from crustal attenuation. The consequence of the attenuation is a general zonation in the observed salt structures of the Reforma trend.
SAlT PRovInCeS oF ReFoRMA TRend
Salt in the Reforma trend follows a classic established zonation pattern of roller and rollover structures in the Macuspana region (between the Akal High and well Cobo-301), dominant pillow and diapir structures near the Akal High and finally a region associated with detached diapirs and allochthonous salt sheets in Salina del Istmo. Along the eastern portion of the basin (Macuspana Subbasin), salt rollover structure, both onshore and offshore, and particularly salt welds are dominant. In basins where thick salt and shale
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more units commonly not associated with these three structural elements of the Guajira, but having simi-lar petrogenesis. Immediately east of the Guajira is the Monjes High with an igneous metamorphic core which includes the giant Perla gas field along its southern plunging nose. The core of the Paraguana Peninsula, east of Los Monjes, consists of the Amparo granite intruding a metamorphic complex dated as Grenvillian with a Permian overprint (Feo Codecido et al., 1974; Baquero et al., 2009). All of these units have undergone the same metamorphic phases as observed in the central Cordillera of Colombia. There are no known Triassic or Jurassic sedimentary out-crops associated with them. Furthermore, all of these blocks have in common a significant translation in the eastern direction associated with the Caribbean plate incursion into the proto-Caribbean. Slates on Paraguana contain ammonites dated as Kimmeridg-ian (MacDonald and Opdyke, 1972), suggesting the potential presence of sedimentary Jurassic altered dur-ing the Cretaceous obduction of the Caribbean plate.
South of the Cuiza fault lies the Cocinas trough where the oldest sediments observed are early to late Jurassic. These marine sediments play a major role in understanding the paleogeography of Kimmeridgian and Tithonian of the region. Renz (1960) described these units in the northern portion of the trough as silty shales with occasional poorly preserved mol-lusks. Along the southern portion of the trough, dark gray limestones inter-bedded with sandstones follow the coarse- to medium-grained clastics of the lower Cuiza Formation. The limestones contain large blocks of reef coral debris, suggesting proximity to a reef as well as ammonite associations. Idoceras and Perisphinc-tes assemblages associated with Virgatites are com-mon both in the Cocinas trough (Renz, 1960) and in central and east Mexico (Villasenor and Oloriz, 2009; Villasenor et al., 2012). The overlying Cuiza shales are mostly barren. They are greenish purple with occa-sional dolomite and limestone stringers. In the region of the Cocinas trough, they were deposited under par-alic conditions. However, in a deeper environment they may develop into oil shales similar to Pimienta shales of Mexico and Haynesville of the Gulf of Mex-ico (Goldhammer, 1999) and El Americano Member of the Pinar del Rio region of Cuba (Cobiella-Reguera, 2009). The Cuiza shales correspond to a transgres-sive system tract and are expected to be followed by a flooding surface in the more marine setting. Goldham-mer (1999) described the carbonates of central Mexico as Oxfordian to Kimmeridgian ramp carbonates for which he coined the term “Zuloaga–Olvido ramp” to describe the facies. The range of facies varies from paralic to outer ramp. The same author compared
is not known, and many authors point to the earliest Cretaceous as a possible age for the salt. The associ-ation of salt with reverse faults in the area does not preclude the possibility of remobilization of salt in the Cretaceous. The same author describes many salt springs in the region, suggesting wide distribution of salt. However, worldwide significant salt deposits are not isolated events in time or in space. In specific regions, they follow a predictable pattern as observed along the Atlantic Margin. They are not a sporadic or spontaneous event. Based on the reconstruction pre-sented in this study, the proximity between Rubel-santo and the Cesar–Magdalena rifts suggests that the Magdalena salt deposits are likely associated with the principal Jurassic salt deposition phase generally asso-ciated with the Callovian, but may have had earlier precursors. In the Rubelsanto region, the Cretaceous Coban Formation is dominated by evaporite but with no significant salt (Bishop, 1980). The thin salt beds in the northern Peten of Guatemala have also been con-sidered Cretaceous by previous authors (Bishop, 1980) but based on the present investigation are most likely to have been remobilized Jurassic salt.
CoCInAS TRouGH And MAGdAlenA GRABen
The Magdalena graben system is bound on the east by the Santander massif and the Guyana shield of the Llanos Basin and to the west by the central Cordil-lera of Colombia. The close association between igne-ous metamorphic provinces of the Santa Marta Block and basement complexes of the Guajira confirms their proximity. The central Cordillera has a unique Laurentian assemblage with a Grenvillian associa-tion overprinted by Permian intrusions (Bayona et al., 2010). The same is true for Santa Marta and the Guajira, allowing for improved correlation among the various terranes of northern South America. With rel-atively minor rotations of the Santa Marta Block and the Guajira blocks, the alignment of the trends in all three can readily be matched (Figure 7) to support a north–south trend for the Cocinas trough and to com-bine it with the Magdalena Graben. The significance of this trend will become apparent in the following para-graphs when the trend is related to the Maya Block. Published paleomagnetic rotation vectors support the geometric relationship proposed.
The Guajira Peninsula is comprised of at least two distinct provinces separated by the Cuiza fault (Figure 5). The northern region is dominated by Grenvillian basement complexes comprised of three distinct units known as Jacura, Simarua, and Macuira (Bayona et al., 2010). To these should be added two
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Paleogeographic Constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic tectonic reconstruction 211
shelf. Exposure of the reef trend resulted in porosity enhancement (Horbury et al., 2003; Martinez-Kemp et al., 2005a). The Tithonian on the Akal High tends to be dark micritic limestone marl, often well banded. TOC values ranging from 2% to 15% are common within this interval (Clara-Valdes et al., 2009).
THe CHIAPAS MASSIF PRoBleM
A fixed link between the CM and the Maya Block pre-sents a potential interference to the outlined model. However, an investigation on the displacement of the block suggests that its present-day position is a relatively young event. Earlier in the chapter, aspects of the Reforma crustal pattern were discussed. The
the Mexican facies with the Cotton Valley, Bossier, to Haynesville interval and demonstrates their simi-larities. Similar features are expected in the Reforma, Pinar del Rio, and the Cocinas trough.
THe KIMMeRIdGIAn And TITHonIAn oF THe ReFoRMA TRend
The Kimmeridgian and Tithonian in the Reforma trend have been the focus of several studies because of the presence of reservoirs and source rocks. Ramp grainstone facies prevail along the Akal High and are inter-bedded with marly shales. They are arranged in several fourth-order cycles in carbonate as the shore-face of the bar complex migrates across the Akal
Figure 7. The Colombia map reconstruction outlines the trend of the Magdalena rift extending from the Cocinas trough through the Cesar Valley into the Magdalena Basin. The map is similar to the one proposed by Cediel et al. (2003). The trend of the Cocinas trough aligns with the Reforma Kimmeridgian trend of Mexico. 50 km (31.1 mi)
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Reforma–Salina del Istmo platform has undergone persistent crustal attenuation from east to west. If the CM was juxtaposed to the Maya Block at the time of the initial breakup, then the same crustal thinning should have affected Chiapas. There is no evidence of such thinning on Chiapas. Rueda-Gaxiola (2003) pointed out the similarity between the geology of the Sierra Juarez, western part of the Veracruz Basin, Oaxaca State, and Chiapas. The author further points out that major controlling faults associated with the block displacement are present in both areas. A review of the topography of the Veracruz and the size of the Chiapas demonstrates the likelihood of an episodic displacement of the CM out of the Veracruz Basin (Rueda-Gaxiola, 2003).
Both the geology of the Veracruz Basin and the Reforma region place constraints on the timing of the displacement of the CM. The lower Cretaceous Cordoba carbonate platform extending east from the Juarez Range (Ortuno-Arzate et al., 2003) implies that by early Cretaceous the CM had migrated away from the Veracruz Basin, allowing for the Cordoba platform to extend into the Veracruz Basin. Further-more, at the same time, the southern portion of the Chiapas Range needed to be aligned with the Akal High of the Reforma trend to allow an age equiva-lent platform to extend north from Chiapas into the Reforma trend. The early Cretaceous Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform built out over Jurassic sediments including salt deposits. Significant reef buildups occurred along its northern margin of Artesa–Mundo Nuevo and deep-water carbonate deposition prevailed in the remaining Reforma Basin. During the late Cretaceous, faulting along the northern mar-gin of Chiapas (Mal Paso fault) was reactivated as a result of displacement of the Chortis Block. The translation separated the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform from its roots on Chiapas, and because of its underlying salt layer the platform floundered and created the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo Island. By late Cretaceous the inclination of the island resulted in slope fans along its southern dipping flank and exposed the reef trend along its northern boundary (Martinez-Kemp et al., 2005b). This resulted in the prolific Iris, Giraldas, Artesa, and Mundo Nuevo oil fields. The CM is currently being displaced along the Mal Paso fault and the Motagua–Polochic fault sys-tem. Figure 8 shows the best estimate of the Chiapas displacement through time. It is proposed that the CM was not a barrier during the Kimmeridgian and permitted the communications between the Coci-nas trough and the Reforma trend. The relationship between the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform and the CM is difficult to unravel. During the Miocene, the
Cocos plate developed a trench south of Chiapas and the resulting compression that formed the Chia-pas fold belt, thus limiting a simple reconstruction of the Cretaceous paleogeography.
It is therefore considered that the Akal High extended south, beneath the Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform, and Kimmeridgian carbonate reef facies extended under the platform. Furthermore, the Tithonian source beds underlying the Cretaceous plat-form acted as the source beds for the reservoirs. The significant burial of these source beds may account for the gas and condensate produced in Iris– Giraldas versus oil in the deeper reservoirs further north (Martinez-Kemp et al., 2005b).
InTeGRATed PAleoGeoGRAPHy oF ReFoRMA And GuAJIRA And exPloRATIon oPPoRTunITIeS
The Kimmeridgian reconstruction provided is based on the works of Pindell and Kennan (2001) and Knel-ler and Johnson (2011) and serves as a template for both the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian paleogeog-raphy interpretation. For the purposes of the study, only the Kimmeridgian paleogeography is provided. The Tithonian is the subsequent transgression and maximum flooding surface that follows the Kim-meridgian carbonate features and simply represents the shale facies covering the underlying carbonates. Several authors have indicated the association of the Kimmeridgian reef trend in Reforma to follow the Akal High (Meneses-Rocha, 2002; Horbury et al., 2003; Martinez-Kemp et al., 2005b). As such, if the palogeog-raphies of Reforma and the Cocinas trough are aligned (Figure 1), then it would be expected that shallow marine carbonates would be present in the Cocinas trough. Kimmeridgian corals were reported by Renz (1960) in the Cocinas trough. The Tithonian Cuiza Shale has a poor faunal assemblage. Its age is deter-mined from the overlying assemblage of shale and carbonates dated as Valanginian (Renz, 1960). Though not a potential source rock in the Cocinas trough, the close relationship with Reforma and the presence of proven source rocks in Reforma and potential source rocks in Cuba give strength to the argument that an investigation of the deep-water equivalent of the Cuiza Shale may provide a new potential source rock in the Guajira.
Because of the close relationship between the Kim-meridgian and Tithonian of the Cocinas trough to the Reforma trend, there are two exploration plays that can be pursued. If the CM is an exotic terrane that prior to the Kimmeridgian was positioned west of the Reforma–Akal High, then there is the potential to
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Paleogeographic Constraints on Middle- to Late-Jurassic tectonic reconstruction
213
Polochic fault
Motagua
Tamaulipas-GoldenLane-Chiapas fault
Oaxaquia -Chiapas fault
GOM
Pacific
Chiapas(163 Ma)
Oaxaquia
Mixteco
Oaxacan
Juarez
Chiapas0 Ma
Yucatan
Yucatan TransitionalCrust
Veracruzbasin
Zihuatanejo Chiapas(120 Ma)
Generalized Geology
Precambrian, metamorphic
Precambrian, undifferentiated
Neoproterozoic-Paleozoic, igneous/metamorphic
Paleozoic, igneous
Paleozoic, metamorphic
Paleozoic, undifferentiated
Triassic, undifferentiated
Jurassic, sedimentary
Jurassic, undifferentiated
Cretaceous, sedimentary
Cretaceous, undifferentiated
Cretaceous, igneous
Mesozoic, sedimentary
Mesozoic, undifferentiated
Mesozoic, igneous
Mesozoic, metamorphic
Cretaceous-Tertiary, sedimentary
Cretaceous-Tertiary, igneous
Figure 8. The Chiapas displacement has been argued by many authors. The best explanation was provided by Rueda-Gaxiola (2003) who considered the Callovian position of Chiapas to be in the Veracruz Basin (blue lines box). Most of Chiapas had to exit the Veracruz Basin by early Cretaceous (light yellow) by displacement along the proposed Oaxaquia–Chiapas strike-slip fault to allow for the Cretaceous Cordoba carbonate platform to develop in Veracruz. The south-ern portion of Chiapas needed to be located sufficiently south to allow for the lower Cretaceous Artesa–Mundo Nuevo carbonate platform to develop into the Reforma trend. By late Cretaceous time, displacement continued south as a result of the Chortis Block displacement. Therefore, Chiapas did not impede com-munication between Guajira and Reforma during the Kimmeridgian. 50 km (31.1 mi)
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ACKnowledGMenTS
The authors wish to express their appreciation for the suggestions made by Oscar Lopez Gamundi, Paul Mann, Tom Venetis, and an anonymous reader as well as for improvements on the final manuscript by Clau-dio Bartolini. We thank the sponsors of the Caribbean Basins, Tectonics, and Hydrocarbons Consortium at the University of Houston for their continuing sup-port. Carlos Manrique aided in the drafting.
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extend the Kimmeridgian shallow water facies along the Akal High and under the present-day Artesa–Mundo Nuevo platform/island. Furthermore, if the trend extends farther south, it may be possible to link the development of similar facies in seaward projection of the Cocinas trough. Because of the rota-tion of the blocks in southern proto-Caribbean region, there is a high probability that Tithonian source rocks are present in the Gulf of Venezuela immediately east of the Cocinas trough. The region has not been explored at all.
ConCluSIonS
1. The Reforma trend has undergone two phases of rifting: (1) a Triassic back-arc rift phase and (2) a second phase of rifting creating the Akal horst and grabens in Macuspana and Salina del Istmo after the Maya Block has rotated to approximately its current position (the best estimate is done by Call-ovian). This second phase of rifting is associated with intra-cratonic rifting related to the opening of the Gulf of Mexico.
2. The Cocinas trough of the Guajira, following the rotation to its pre-Caribbean rift phase position, aligns with the Cesar and Magdalena trends to form the Magdalena rift. During the Triassic and early Jurassic, the Magdalena rift system resulted from back-arc spreading. Subsequently, the rift was affected by intra-cratonic rifting similar to that observed in Reforma.
3. Salt deposition is common to both the Reforma trend and the Magdalena rift system. There is a high probability that the two salt systems are coeval.
4. Ammonite assemblages from the Kimmeridgian of Mexico, the Guajira, and western Cuba suggest similar marine conditions at that time and, based on reconstructions, close proximity between the three areas.
5. The CM did not constitute a barrier to the commu-nication of marine conditions between the Reforma trend and the Cocinas trough because its emplace-ment history suggests a more westerly position for the Chiapas High during the Kimmeridgian and Tithonian, thus providing unimpeded communi-cation between the two.
6. Exploration opportunities exist both along the southern extension of the Akal High (under the documented Artesa–Mundo Nuevo Cretaceous fields) and along the eastern extension of the Coci-nas trough, eastern Gulf of Venezuela. In both cases the potential reservoirs are Kimmeridgian reef facies and overlying Tithonian source rocks.
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