Road Log Geology of Mexico: Mexican State of Chihuahua

The Mexican State of Chihuahua is divided into two regions: the western half consists of the Sierra Madre Occidental referred to as the Sierra Madre Volcanic Plateau. The eastern half belongs to the Northern Mountains and Plains Province. This is the region concerning the development of the Chihuahua Trough.

The Sierra Madre Occidental is a linear volcanic plateau along a broad anticlinal uplift with a gently dipping eastern flank and a more steeply dipping western flank ranging in age between 100 and 27 million years ago (mya). Volcanic structures collapsed into calderas between 34 and 20 mya.

The Aldama Platform region west of the Chihuahua Trough is a stable uplifted block of Mesozoic sedimentary rock in northeastern Chihuahua and eastern Sonora. The platform is associated with fault boundaries and gliding (decollement) of Lower Cretaceous blocks composed of gypsum moving west.

The Chihuahua Trough was a negative feature composed of Jurassic sedimentary rock with basal evaporite sequences. During Mesozoic time, transgressive and regressive marine cycles dominated the trough. Laramide uplift deformed Mesozoic and Paleozoic basement rocks from Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary time inverting the trough into the Chihuahua tectonic belt. Jurassic evaporates acted a a gliding plane as decollement between Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks.

Chapter 1 presents a general overview of the tectonic evolution of Mexico. Chapter 2 summarizes the paleogeography of Mexico. Chapter 3 introduces the provinces and general overview of the State of Chihuahua. Chapter 4 presents a summary of the processes of resurgent caldera collapsing stages. Chapter 5 begins the road log geology of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Chapter 6 summarizes an introduction to the Chihuahua Trough. Chapter 7 begins the road log geology of the Northern Mountains and Plains. Chapter 8 summarizes the geology of Chihuahua with discussions of paleo-environments and paleo-tectonic environments.