J. Urrutia Fucugauchi

Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México | UNAM · Department of Geomagnetism and Geophysical Exploration

We present a 3D high-resolution modeling methodology based on the interpretation of gravity gradient data and its joint inversion with the simulated annealing (SA) global optimization method. The geometry of the model, used as computational domain in the solution of the forward and inverse problems, is defined with an irregular ensemble of cubic pr...

One of the principal tasks of volcanology is to infer the eruptive history of volcanoes. However, the processes culminating in volcanic events include many occurring under the surface; thus, a complete understanding of magmatic activity requires information on the subsurface magmatic bodies. Such information is crucial in the case of large active v...

The Chicxulub impact caused a crash in productivity in the world's oceans which contributed to the extinction of ∼75% of marine species. In the immediate aftermath of the extinction, export productivity was locally highly variable, with some sites, including the Chicxulub crater, recording elevated export production. The long-term transition back t...

Fifty-four 2D seismic profiles and 13 boreholes were used to describe pre-impact and post-impact deposits in the Yucatán Shelf. Previous work has identified a pre-impact basin in the northwest portion of the Chicxulub structure. The geometry of seismic reflectors associated with the Mesozoic period shows that this pre-impact depression, here named...

The Chicxulub science museum is special, in that it is built around an event in geological time representing a turning point in the planet's history and which brings together the Earth system components. Studies on the Chicxulub impact, mass extinction and Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary provide an engaging context for effective geoscience communicat...

We report a detailed aeromagnetic, field magnetometry and paleomagnetic survey from the most recent volcano on the American continent that emerged in February of 1943. Paleomagnetic measurements were performed to determine the characteristic remanent magnetization directions, considering that the Geomagnetic Field observed in nearby existing observ...

Results of a rock magnetic study of a marine sediment core from La Paz Basin are used to investigate the Holocene paleoclimate in the Gulf of California. Chronological control based on AMS radiocarbon dating shows that the sequence covers the past ∼7650 cal yr BP. The coercivity, magnetization intensity, susceptibility and magnetic hysteresis loops...

Large impact structures are characterized by peak ring and central uplifts with lateral/vertical mass transport during late formation stages. Here we investigate the Chicxulub crater, which has been surveyed by an array of marine, aerial and land-borne geophysical methods. Seismic reflection surveys in its central sector have shown lack of resoluti...

The mineral apatite, Ca 5 (PO 4) 3 (F,Cl,OH), is a ubiquitous accessory mineral, with its volatile content and isotopic compositions used to interpret the evolution of H 2 O on planetary bodies. During hypervelocity impact, extreme pressures shock target rocks resulting in deformation of minerals; however, relatively few microstructural studies of...

The Late Paleozoic tectono-magmatic history and basement of the Maya block are poorly understood due to the lack of exposures of coeval magmatic rocks in the region. Recently, IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 recovered drill core samples at borehole M0077A from the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater, offshore of the Yucatán peninsula in the Gulf of M...

The ~180-km-diameter Chicxulub peak-ring crater and ~240-km multiring basin, produced by the impact that terminated the Cretaceous, is the largest remaining intact impact basin on Earth. International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Expedition 364 drilled to a depth of 1335 m below the...

The environmental severity of large impacts on Earth is influenced by their impact trajectory. Impact direction and angle to the target plane affect the volume and depth of origin of vaporized target, as well as the trajectories of ejected material. The asteroid impact that formed the 66 Ma Chicxulub crater had a profound and catastrophic effect on...

Chicxulub crater formed ~ 66 Ma ago by an asteroid impact on the Yucatan platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The crater has a ~ 200 km rim diameter and has been covered by carbonate sediments up to ~ 1.1 km thick in the central zone. Previous studies have identified the structure and major crater units through geophysical models from seismic r...

Abstract. What is the role of site museums and geological sites in geosciences communication, education and outreach? Natural history and site museums contribute to learning, outreach and educational programs, with geological sites in National Parks, GeoParks and UNESCO heritage sites attracting large numbers of visitors, as well as scholars and st...

A plume of vaporized sediments and basement rocks was ejected to the top of atmosphere when a 10–15 km asteroid impacted on Yucatan in the Southern Gulf of Mexico about 66 million years ago. The Chicxulub impact-vapor plume emitted a flash of light that had clues on the chemistry and degree of vaporization of the target surface material. Here we si...

The Late Paleozoic tectono-magmatic history and basement of the Maya block are poorly understood due to the lack of exposures of coeval magmatic rocks in the region. Recently, IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 recovered drill core samples at borehole M0077A from the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater, offshore of the Yucatán peninsula in the Gulf of M...

Las Truchas deposits formed by contact metasomatism in a Mesozoic volcano-sedimentary sequence intruded by a batholith. Later, post-mineralization hydrothermal alteration affected minerals and magnetic properties. For this study, we sampled the host rocks and iron ores. The mineralogy and magnetic domain states of oxide minerals were characterized...

The study of volcanic inner density distributions using cosmic muons is an innovative method, which is still in a stage of development. This technique can be used to determine the average density along the muon track, as well as the density distribution within a given volume, by measuring the attenuation of the cosmic muon flux going through it. Th...

The Xitle volcano is part of the Quaternary Chichinautzin volcanic field, located in the southern portion of the Valley of Mexico. The Xitle lavas were emplaced on the archaeological site of Cuicuilco, one of the first urban settlements of the Preclassic period in Mexico. This eruption had a great impact, since it caused great economic and social c...

Despite the immense cultural heritage of Mesoamerica, there is still no reference archaeomagnetic curve available for Central Mexico and adjacent areas. The present research has two simultaneous objectives: to obtain finer characteristics of the geomagnetic field elements over archaeological past, and to build up a reliable regional archaeomagnetic...

In this paper we present the magnetic dating results of five independent lava flows belonging to the Ceboruco volcanic field in Jalisco, western Mexico, using the SHADIF14K geomagnetic field prediction model. Five lava flows corresponding to well-documented eruptive events were studied. The ages of these flows have already been established by radio...

The IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 drilled into the Chicxulub crater, peering inside its well-preserved peak ring. The borehole penetrated a sequence of post-impact carbonates and a unit of suevites and clast-poor impact melt rock at the top of the peak ring. Beneath this sequence, basement rocks cut by pre-impact and impact dykes, with breccias and melt...

Oceanic impact structures and their exploration via scientific drilling.

The IODP‐ICDP Expedition 364 drilled into the Chicxulub crater, peering inside its well‐preserved peak ring. The borehole penetrated a sequence of post‐impact carbonates and a unit of suevites and clast‐poor impact melt rock at the top of the peak ring. Beneath this sequence, basement rocks cut by pre‐impact and impact dykes, with breccias and melt...

El 8 de febrero de 1969 el cielo sobre el Pueblito de Allende, en el estado norteño de Chihuahua (México), se iluminó con luz de día a la 1:05 de la mañana, cuando un cuerpo rocoso ingresó a la atmosfera terrestre que, luego de una explosión, dispersó gran cantidad de fragmentos en una superficie de más de 250 km2. De inmediato y en los 50 años sig...

Evidence for acoustic fluidization in the peak ring rocks of the Chicxulub impact structure.

IODP-Expedition 364 Chicxulub Peak Ring Drilling

Teotihuacan, the most important city of the Americas during the Classic period, developed a deep and complex civilization without any written histories. This millennial culture mostly used pictorial forms of visual communication expressed in numerous mural paintings. Thus, the knowledge of the absolute chronology of some of the most important mural...

Joint International Ocean Discovery Program and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program Expedition 364 drilled into the peak ring of the Chicxulub impact crater. We present P-wave velocity, density, and porosity measurements from Hole M0077A that reveal unusual physical properties of the peak-ring rocks. Across the boundary between po...

The Cretaceous/Palaeogene mass extinction eradicated 76% of species on Earth1,2. It was caused by the impact of an asteroid3,4 on the Yucatán carbonate platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico 66 million years ago 5 , forming the Chicxulub impact crater6,7. After the mass extinction, the recovery of the global marine ecosystem-measured as primary pr...

Earth’s Magnetic Field variation strength may provide crucial information to understand the geodynamo mechanism and elucidate the conditions on the physics of the Earth’s deep interiors. Aimed to reveal the fine characteristics of the geomagnetic field during the last three millennia in Mesoamerica, we analyzed the available absolute geomagnetic in...

We report a detailed rock-magnetic and absolute geomagnetic intensity analysis performed on forty eight samples belonging to eight pre-Columbian potteries from the Ichikaantijo area, near Merida city in the Yucatan Peninsula. Twenty six samples out of 48 analyzed, yielded reliable archaeointensity determinations which allowed estimating the geomagn...

The IODP-ICDP Expedition 364 drilled the peak ring of Chicxulub crater at Site M0077, recovering a continuous sequence from 505.7 to 1334.7 mbsf (meters below sea floor). For this study, we analyzed ~112 m of sedimentary rocks from 505.7 to 617.67 mbsf, to reconstruct the Paleogene paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic conditions. We report the prel...

Potentially hazardous asteroids and comets have hit Earth throughout its history, with catastrophic consequences in the case of the Chicxulub impact. Here we reexamine one of the mechanisms that allow an impact to have a global effect—the release of climate-active gases from sedimentary rocks. We use the SOVA hydrocode and model ejected materials f...

The Sierra Madre Occidental is a thick continental arc related to the subduction of the Farallon plate beneath North America resulting in a very intense and widespread Cretaceous to Cenozoic magmatic and tectonic activity. The 28 My old Atengo ignimbrite outcrops in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental, northwestern Mexico. From 12 sites that belon...

The Tancitaro volcano (TV) is part of the Michoacan-Guanajuato monogenetic volcanic field (MGVF) in the central-western sector of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Results of a paleomagnetic study of radiometrically dated lava flows from Tancitaro volcano were used to investigate the paleosecular variation (PSV) and time averaged field (TAF)...

We present magnetic properties, obtained from 220 ceramic specimens of the Maya zone (Yucatan, Chiapas and Quintana Roo, Mexico). The samples belong to different materials from the Pre-Classic, Classic and Post-Classic periods, from 1000 aC to 1600 dC, which have 17 periods of occupation during the las 2600 years in the different areas. Magnetic pr...

Diagenetic effects on the magnetic mineralogy in marine sediments have long been investigated, including oxidation/reduction reactions, magnetic dilution, formation of iron sulfides and oxides, magnetization acquisition mechanisms and reliability of the paleomagnetic record. This study investigates diagenetic effects in low-oxygen depositional envi...

The Olmec culture arose and flourished on Mexico's southern Gulf Coast between1800 and 400 BC, and developed extensive trade relationships for procurement of exotic materials from distant regions. The early capital of Mesoamerica's first civilization, the archaeological site of San Lorenzo, flourished between 1400 and 1000 BC, in the humid tropical...

A rock magnetic and paleomagnetic investigation was performed on some selected, radiometrically dated lava flows from the Mascota Volcanic Field (MVF), western Trans- Mexican Volcanic Belt. A set of rock-magnetic experiments and standard paleomagnetic analysis were carried out on 19 sites spanning the time interval from 2268 to 72 kyr. The paleomag...

Submarine landslides occurring along the margins of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) represent a low-likelihood, but potentially damaging source of tsunamis. New multibeam bathymetry coverage reveals that mass wasting is pervasive along the Yucatán Shelf edge with several large composite landslides possibly removing as much as 70 km3 of the Cenozoic sedime...

Drilling into Chicxulub's formation The Chicxulub impact crater, known for its link to the demise of the dinosaurs, also provides an opportunity to study rocks from a large impact structure. Large impact craters have “peak rings” that define a complex crater morphology. Morgan et al. looked at rocks from a drilling expedition through the peak rings...

The Yolomécatl-Tlaxiaco Area, lies in the rugged Sierra Madre del Sur (SMS) of northwestern Oaxaca (YOTLA), southeastern Mexico. Within the area Cenozoic units unconformably overlie metamorphic, clastic and carbonate rock units of Late Paleozoic to Cretaceous ages as well as the Mixteco/Oaxaca Terrane boundary. The Cenozoic sequence, emphasized her...

Sediments deposited on the southeastern continental shelf of the Gulf of California, near the Fuerte River mouth, have been investigated using sediment XRF elemental composition, magnetic parameter and radiogenic element activities, and imply lithogenic elements as a promising proxy for terrigenous input and river discharge. Clastic mud beds are ob...

Submarine landslides occurring along the margins of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) represent a low-likelihood, but potentially damaging source of tsunamis. New multibeam bathymetry coverage reveals that mass wasting is pervasive along the Yucatán Shelf edge with several large composite landslides possibly removing as much as 70 km3 of the Cenozoic sedime...