Luca Ferrari- PhD in Earth Sciences
- Senior Researcher at National Autonomous University of Mexico
Luca Ferrari
- PhD in Earth Sciences
- Senior Researcher at National Autonomous University of Mexico
Co-coordinator of Programa Nacional Estratégico (PRONACES) sobre Energía y Cambio Climático, CONACYT
About
186
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Introduction
Geologist with 30 years experience. Interest in regional geologic and geodynamic evolutionary models.
Teaching at post-graduate and undergraduate level. Ph.D. and M.Sc. supervisor.
Editor of Terra Digitalis, past associated editor of GSA Bulletin.
Consultant for geothermal and mining projects.
Also interested in energy, economy and sustainability with conferences and seminars.
Past administrative experience as Director, Deputy Director, and Head of Department.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
December 1996 - present
Position
- Senior Researcher
Description
- Senior researcher level C (highest) since 2002. National researcher level 3 (highest) since 2008.
January 2002 - present
Position
- Senior Researcher
Description
- Research on Regional Tectonics and Energy
August 2015 - present
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Posgrado en Ciencias de la Tierra
Position
- Professor
Description
- Postgraduate course on "Recursos Energéticos"
Publications
Publications (186)
A new view on the genesis of, and links between, the Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province, the Comondú Group of Baja California, and the Gulf of California rift has been emerging over the past decade. Underpinning this has been a wealth of new data from both margins of the Gulf of California including offshore sampling and marine...
The Los Cabos Block, at the southern end of Baja California, exposes part of the Late Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges Batholith over 2700 km². In the Los Cabos block, the Los Cabos Batholitic Complex is exposed in two massifs, Sierra La Laguna to the west and Sierra La Trinidad to the east. The two sierras are separated by the ~75 km long, N-S strikin...
The structure of the southeastern Gulf of California rifted margin is only partly known because of the thick sedimentary cover of the continental shelf and coastal areas of Sinaloa and Nayarit. Here we report the subsurface structure and probable age of the Mazatlán basin, one of the largest buried basins, based on interpretation of reprocessed by...
En este reporte presentamos cuatro escenarios contrastantes sobre el futuro
del sector energético mexicano para el periodo 2022-2050 con el fin de exa-
minar de forma crítica sus implicaciones. Los escenarios son: 1) business
as usual (bau) —cuya traducción al español sería “negocios como siempre”—,
2) escenario de crecimiento verde (ecv), 3) energ...
The Plomosas deposit is the product of a sequence of overlapping events of Pb-Zn, Ag, and Au low sulfidation mineralization that occurred in Mexico's southwestern Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO). Field observations, detailed petrography, and U-Pb age dating of the entire stratigraphic sequence were used to characterize the magmatic evolution of the d...
Recientemente, la exploración de litio ha tomado gran relevancia en el Estado de Sonora debido a su importancia en el sector energético nacional y global, aunado al interés del gobierno federal por su aprovechamiento soberano. Existen distintas localidades en Sonora en donde se han documentado anomalías de litio en arcillas y el contexto geológico...
Las tres secciones que conforman este libro son producto del esfuerzo
de 46 investigadores que han cedido con generosidad su tiempo y cono-
cimientos a fin de brindarnos un panorama detallado y científicamente
sólido de la ruta a seguir a fin de consolidar en México una tejs. Al
tratarse de una obra colectiva, el libro refleja distintas concepcione...
La energía nuclear se ha planteado como una de las alternativas para descarbonizar el sistema eléctrico y combatir con ello el cambio climático. Aunque en efecto tiene varias ventajas, como la alta densidad energética del uranio, un alto factor de planta y el no emitir gases de efecto invernadero durante su operación, presenta numerosos obstáculos…
Hace dos décadas México tocó el cénit de la producción de
petróleo y hace 15 años el del gas natural. Desde entonces la producción
petrolera ha disminuido a la mitad y la del gas a dos tercios, mientras
que las reservas probadas de crudo equivalen al 26 % de las existentes
en 2004. A pesar del evidente declive geológico persiste la idea de que
el s...
![Figure 1. The cartographic cube, introduced in 1994 by MacEachren [11],...](profile/Stephane-Couturier-2/publication/377850279/figure/fig1/AS:11431281221353698@1706762355671/The-cartographic-cube-introduced-in-1994-by-MacEachren-11-illustrates-uses-and_Q320.jpg)
In multidisciplinary science, massive geospatial data with high discoverability characteristics means that non-domain scientists may easily re-use the data and make discoveries in adjacent fields.
In this work, we first review the discoverability functionalities proposed by current international peer-reviewed media for exploring and re-using geos...
Este capítulo introduce los conceptos de la tasa de retorno energético (TRE) o EROI por sus siglas en inglés y el de energía neta. Posteriormente se revisa la TRE para la extracción de petróleo y gas en México, y se discute las posibles implicaciones que tiene para la economía nacional el hecho de que este indicador se encuentre disminuyendo.
During Cretaceous–Eocene time, North America was involved in a succession of shortening events that produced major orogenic belts. Previous work permitted the characterization of the kinematics and dynamics of some of these orogenic events along various transects. However, the timing of shortening is not well constrained everywhere. This has led to...
Presentamos un modelo de alta resolución de la irradiación total del territorio nacional obtenido por medio del módulo "Solar Radiation toolset" de ArcGIS aplicado a un modelo digital de elevación (MDE) de alta resolución (30 x 30 m) obtenido a partir del Modelo de Elevación Digital Global, Versión 3, del Radiómetro de Reflexión y Emisión Térmica E...
The physicochemical and isotopic characteristics of groundwater and dissolved gas of central Mexico provide valuable information about the geologic and tectonic context of the area. Low–high-enthalpy manifestations (up to 98 °C in springs and more than 100 °C in geothermal wells) are distributed within the San Juan del Río, Querétaro, and Celaya hy...
Estimating how landscapes adjust to tectonic activity has been a major topic in the geomorphological research of tectonically active settings. The formation and propagation of knickpoints through the fluvial network is central to these studies since such features are a mobile boundary between a landscape adjusting to a new erosive regime, controlle...
The boundary between the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) is well exposed along the Santiago River, on the border of the states of Nayarit and Jalisco. This region includes a polydeformed belt produced by the relative motion between the Jalisco Block and the SMO, here defined as the “Rio Santiago Shear Zone”...
In western Mexico, the central part of the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) large igneous province hosts several thermal springs with groundwater temperatures up to 74 oC within late Eocene to Oligocene extensional structures. Given that in this region the last pulse of silicic volcanism ended >30 Ma ago this hydrothermal activity cannot be associated...
A large set of magnetotelluric (MT) surveys has been carried out along the Tepic-Zacoalco Rift (TZR) for geothermal exploration and to determine the deeper electrical conductivity distribution of the subsurface.
Here, we perform a dimensionality analysis of the data using the MT Phase Tensor (PT, Caldwell et al., 2004) and Complex Apparent Resisti...
The western slope of Cerro Domuyo in northern Patagonia is characterized by thermal springs with boiling waters, Quaternary silicic domes, and pyroclastic deposits that suggest the existence of a geothermal reservoir. According to geochemical studies, the reservoir may have a temperature of 220 °C and one of the largest advective heat fluxes report...
This work presents hydrochemical results for groundwater and dissolved gas samples collected from a thermal and cold aquifer in the Juchipila Basin, in southern Sierra Madre Occidental, central Mexico. Thermal springs in the Juchipila Basin reach temperatures of 60 °C, these manifestations are not related to recent or active volcanism as are all th...
We present a study based on new and compiled geochronological and geochemical data to assess the tectonomagmatic evolution of Mexico from the Late Cretaceous and Eocene (~90–40 Ma). review of the literature highlights the striking geological differences observed in southwestern US and Mexico and particularly south of the classical Laramide province...
In central Mexico, remnants of the early volcanic activity in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB) are exposed at Sierra de Guadalupe in the northern part of the Mexico City Basin and to the south in the Tepoztlán, Malinalco, Tenancingo, and Chiltepec areas. A few published studies indicate a general early to middle Miocene age for some of these...
The San Dimas district is a world-class Ag/Au deposit, developed as a telescoped Eocene-Oligocene Ag/Au mineralization located in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) of western Mexico. San Dimas exhibits multiple mineralization events during different magmatic and tectonic episodes from Late Cretaceous to early Oligocene. The well-preserved magmatic-...
The material covered over this six-day field trip explores the regional stratigraphy, tectonic setting, and mineral deposits of the central Sierra Madre Occidental and western part of the Mesa Central in Mexico. The course builds on similar field trips held in 1997, 2003, and 2014, adding updates of the geology based on new studies and opening of n...
We present a geologic map for the Eocene-Oligocene Nanchititla mafic dike swarm consisting of over 140 NNW-SSE trending dike segments; whose emplacement was influenced by the left-lateral transtensional deformation regime prevailing in southern México during the Cenozoic. The hosting rock is a mechanically heterogeneous continental sedimentary sequ...
To elucidate how landscapes respond to either tectonic and climatic changes through time, geomorphologists use the analysis of river and basin morphometry. Many studies have evaluated how rivers, and consequently hillslopes, respond to changes in the rate of rock uplift in compressional settings. The case of extensional settings, however, has recei...
Es bien conocido, aunque a menudo olvidado que, en la explotación de los hidrocarburos como también otras materias primas, se descubren y desarrollan primero los yacimientos de mayores dimensiones, de mas fácil acceso y de mejor calidad dejando para después los recursos mas difíciles o que implican tecnología de recuperación no convencionales. Esta...
Es bien conocido, aunque a menudo olvidado que, en la explotación de los hidrocarburos como también otras materias primas, se descubren y desarrollan primero los yacimientos de mayores dimensiones, de mas fácil acceso y de mejor calidad dejando para después los recursos mas difíciles o que implican tecnología de recuperación no convencionales. Esta...
The San Dimas district is a historical world class Ag/Au epithermal deposit located in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) of western Mexico. San Dimas has been classified as a classic low to intermediate sulfidation Ag/Au epithermal deposit (quartz + adularia + sericite type) developed during a single hydrothermal pulse of ~10 Ma, associated to the...
En un trabajo anterior planteamos la problemática del probable cenit de la producción de petróleo y el consiguiente fin de la energía barata; y bosque- jamos el potencial de las fuentes renovables en la transición energética ha- cia un mundo pospetrolero (Ferrari y Estrada-Gasca, 2012). En el momento de escribir ese texto, el precio del petróleo se...
Free download here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1YMxXcTGx~Jzo
The San Dimas district is a world-class silver-gold low-sulfidation epithermal deposit located in the central part of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Mexico, within the eastern part of the Gulf of California extensional province. Previous works assumed a single period of mineralizatio...
Despite of its relevance as a tool for scientific communication in Geo-sciences, maps are generally regarded as a secondary product in peer reviewed journals. This limitation may be due to format and cost limitations of printed publications. Advances in cybercartography and geoinformatics extends the online capabilities of cartography, allowing 1)...
We present a first interactive digital geological map of the southeastern part of the Sierra Madre Occidental at its borders with the Mesa Central. The area of the geological cartography covers approximately 120,000 km2 that includes part of the states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, Aguascalientes and Durango. The geology has been compiled in ArcGIS throug...
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec (IT) is a tectonically active and complex physiographic province in southern Mexico marked by an anomalous volcanism with unusual location and geochemical signature, an extensional stress regime and a well- imaged high seismic-velocity anomaly in form of a slab-like structure whose origin remains still not well understood...
The recent evolution of information technologies has radically transformed various aspects of cartographic practice. However, the peer-reviewed publication of scientific maps has changed little. Despite their scientific relevance, a wide range of GIS-based maps are outside the scope of publishable products. Among others, interactive maps, dynamic m...
The San Dimas district is a world reference Ag-Au epithermal low sulfidation deposit located in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) of western Mexico. Despite being a world class deposit under production for over a century, the genesis of its vein system with variable Ag/Au content is still not well understood. In the current model the vein system ha...
We present the first interactive digital geologic map of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). The area covered by the cartography span 10° of Longitude (106°- 96° W) and 2°45’ of Latitude (19°-21°45’ N). The geology has been compiled in ArcGIS through an interpretation of all the information available in the literature and integrated with our ow...
The San Dimas district is a reference world-class silver-gold epithermal low sulfidation deposit. We present a re-evaluation of this district based on new U/Pb ages and field observation of mineralization styles. We identify a Late Cretaceous volcanic succession of the Lower Volcanic Complex correlative with the Tarahumara formation of southern of...
The largest-magnitude slow slip events (SSEs) in the world are found to invade the seismogenic zone in the Guerrero seismic gap in Mexico. The Guerrero SSEs repeat within the same region every 4 yr. Here we examine the geological and geophysical evidence for the mechanism that allows for transient slip in the gap and at no other point along the > 1...
In the present work, information concerning 1,110 oil and gas fields compiled by integrating different databases is presented through different maps. This new database contains an additional 42% of data with respect to the oil land registry of the National Hydrocar- bons Commission. With the information of database and the data of reserves certifie...
En el presente trabajo se presenta, a través de diferentes mapas, la información concerniente a 1,110 campos de petróleo y gas quese ha podido recopilar integrando diferentes bases de datos institucionales. La información recopilada contiene un 42 % adicionalde pozos con respecto al catastro petrolero de la Comisión Nacional de Hidrocarburos. Con l...
Subduction zones are among the most dynamic tectonic environments on Earth. Deformation mechanisms of various scales produce networks of oriented structures and faulting systems that result in a highly anisotropic medium for seismic wave propagation. In this study, we combine shear wave splitting inferred from receiver functions and the results fro...
Rivers are known to respond to changes in the rate of rock uplift by propagating knickpoints through the fluvial network. Downstream of knickpoints, river incision increases local relief producing also the steepening of hillslopes. Thus, knickpoints convey information about the amount of rock uplift to which the fluvial system must respond. Because...
We present the results of a apatite fission-track (AFT) study on intrusive rocks in the southern Gulf of California, sampled along the eastern margin of Baja California Sur (western rift margin), as well as from islands and submerged rifted blocks within the Gulf of California, and from the conjugate Mexican margin (Nayarit state). For most of the...
We present a Geographic Information System (GIS) database that synthesizes information on the geometry, the sense of movement and the last displacement on known Quaternary faults in Mexico. Faults are classified according to the age of the last known geo- logic displacement and the quantity and quality of the information available. Class A faults h...
We present a Geographic Information System (GIS) database that synthesizes information on the geometry, the sense of movement and the last displacement on known Quaternary faults in Mexico. Faults are classified according to the age of the last known geologic displacement and the quantity and quality of the information available. Class A faults hav...
Subducting plates around the globe display a large variability in terms of slab geometry, including regions where smooth and little variation in subduction parameters is observed. While the vast majority of subduction slabs plunge into the mantle at different, but positive dip angles, the end-member case of flat-slab subduction seems to strongly de...
A new view on the genesis of, and links between, the Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province, the Comondú Group of Baja California, and the Gulf of California rift has been emerging over the past decade. Underpinning this has been a wealth of new data from both margins of the Gulf of California including offshore sampling and marine...
La nueva autopista Durango-Mazatlán ha abierto una gran cantidad de nuevos afloramientos que permiten mejorar el conocimiento de la geología en esta sección clásica de la parte central de la Sierra Madre Occidental. En este trabajo presentamos un estudio geológico-estructural y geocronológico a lo largo de la sección comprendida entre el puente El...
Monte Amiata is a small volcano composed by trachytic to olivine latitic lava flows and domes emplaced in a very short time between 305 and 231 ka. The main petrographic features are represented by the occurrence of i) abundant rounded magmatic enclaves increasing in dimension and quantity passing from early to late erupted Monte Amiata volcanic ro...
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The Gulf of California is a young example of crustal stretching and transtensional shearing leading to the birth of a new oceanic basin at a formerly convergent margin. Previous studies focused along the southwest...
Crustal stretching affecting western Mexico during the Neogene, and its relationship with the opening of the Gulf of California, has been widely studied and discussed for several decades. Nevertheless, the timing and kinematics of the opening is a matter of debate. Most authors essentially agree in considering the rupture of the lithosphere around...
Continental magmatism in southern Mexico is expected to record the eastward displacement of the Farallon-North America-Caribbean triple junction. However, a trench-transversal belt of magmatism in the central-western Guerrero State does not fit into a regular pattern of arc migration and reorientation following the formation of the WSW-trending Aca...
In the western Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt voluminous silicic volcanism has been associated with the rifting of the Jalisco block from mainland Mexico. Rhyolitic volcanism started at 7.5 Ma after a major pulse of basaltic volcanism aged 11–8.5 Ma associated with slab detachment. This was followed by a second period, between 4.9 and 2.9 Ma, associat...
http://geosphere.gsapubs.org/content/9/5/1161.abstract
Although Basin and Range–style extension affected large areas of western Mexico after the Late Eocene, most consider that extension in the Gulf of California region began as subduction waned and ended ca. 14–12.5 Ma. A general consensus also exists in considering Early and Middle Miocene volca...
The timing and spatial extent of mid-Cenozoic ignimbrite flare-up volcanism of the Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province of Mexico in relation to crustal extension is relatively unknown. Extension in the Sierra Madre Occidental has been variably interpreted to have preceded, postdated, or begun during Early Oligocene flare-up volca...
El sistema econo ́mico global construido despue ́s de la segunda guerra mundial se basa en energ ́ıa barata disponible en cantidades continua- mentecrecientes.Estaenerg ́ıahasidoproporcionadaensugranmayor ́ıa(∼80%)porloscombustiblesfo ́siles,quefinalmenterepresentan una fraccio ́n de la energ ́ıa solar recibida por el planeta durante el pasado geol...
Large igneous provinces are exceptional intraplate igneous events throughout Earth’s history. Their significance and potential global impact are related to the total volume of magma intruded and released during these geologically brief events (peak eruptions are often within 1–5 m.y. in duration) where mil- lions to tens of millions of cubic kilome...
The Middle America subduction zone (MASZ) is one of the world’ most complex convergent margins as it involves the subduction of the Rivera and Cocos young oceanic plates beneath the North American and Caribbean plates and is bounded by the Gulf of California rift and the Panama slab window. Characterized by contorted and unusual slab geometry, irre...
The Late Eocene Nanchititla mafic dyke swarm consists of over one hundred vertical and parallel dyke segments emplaced in southern Mexico. Here, we present a geological and physical description of the dyke swarm, and discuss the emplacement mechanism at the regional and local scale. The host-rock is a continental sedimentary sequence interbedded wi...
The Late Eocene Nanchititla mafic dyke swarm consists of over one hundred vertical and parallel dyke segments emplaced in southern Mexico. Here, we present a geological and physical description of the dyke swarm, and discuss the emplacement mechanism at the regional and local scale. The host-rock is a continental sedimentary sequence interbedded wi...
Silicic volcanism in the western Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (WTMVB) was
defined a Pliocene ignimbrite flare-up associated with the rifting of
the Jalisco block from mainland Mexico (Frey et al., 2007; GSAB). With
the integration of new and published geochronologic, geochemical, and
isotope data we revise this interpretation and propose a new
petro...
Terrane accretion, variations of the convergence rate, and interaction with the Caribbean plate have been proposed as the causes of the Mexican Laramide orogeny. However, the mechanism that triggered this regional deformation event remains unknown. Based on available data, some authors supported the notion that the Laramide shortening migrated from...
New field mapping, geochemical, and combined U-Th/Pb-He, 40 Ar/ 39 Ar, and Rb-Sr geochronological studies provide insights into the timing and evolution of silicic magmatism and mineralization in the central N-S trending Bolaños graben, in the southern sector of the world's premier epithermal Ag province of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. The...
The genesis of the Caribbean Large Igneous Province (CLIP) has been associated to the melting of the Galapagos plume head at ~90Ma or to the interaction between the plume and the Caribbean slab window. Gorgona Island, offshore western Colombia, is an accreted fragment of the CLIP and its highly heterogeneous igneous suite, ranging from enriched bas...
The Mesozoic volcanosedimentary successions exposed in southwestern Mexico have been traditionally grouped into the Guerrero terrane, and interpreted to represent an allochthonous longlived island arc or a complex multiarc system accreted to the continental margin of North America. However, the nature of these arcs (intraoceanic versus continent...
Although many phylogeographic studies have been conducted to analyze the genetic and phylogeographic structure of Mexican species, such studies are nearly absent for plants of dry seasonal forest, precincts with high level of endemism. To better understand this areas, we undertook a phylogeographic study and dating were carried out on the Caesalpin...
The Mesozoic volcano-sedimentary successions exposed in southwestern Mexico have been traditionally grouped into the Guerrero terrane, and interpreted to represent an allochthonous long-lived island arc or a complex multi-arc system accreted to the continental margin of North America. However, the nature of these arcs (intraoceanic versus continent...
Although many phylogeographic studies have been conducted to analyze the genetic and phylogeographic structure of Mexican species, such studies are nearly absent for plants of dry seasonal forest, precincts with high level of endemism. To better understand this areas, we undertook a phylogeographic study and dating were carried out on the Caesalpin...
Recent studies have realised potential differences in the rates of eruption of large-volume (>102 km3) silicic magmas that bear on connections and relationships between silicic plutonic systems and their volcanic counterparts. Large-volume rhyolite eruptions may represent either: 1) the end product of prolonged steady-state or episodic growth of a...
The Sierra Madre Occidental silicic large igneous province (SLIP) of western México (SMO) is one of the largest SLIPs known. Here we present new field, U-Pb zircon and 40Ar/39Ar geochronologic and chemical data from the central Bolaños graben (southern SMO); together with previous work (Bryan et al, 2008; J Petrol) on the SMO that sheds light on th...
The spatial clustering of basaltic vents in monogenetic volcanic fields has been used as a proxy for crustal thickness in extensional and back-arc tectonic settings. The basaltic vents have a fractal clustered distribution (self-similar clustering) described by a power-law. The power-law is defined over a range, the size range of the distribution,...
The Laramide fold-and-thrust belt in southern Mexico is characterized by N-S-trending structures in its central and eastern part and by NW-SE-trending structures in its western part. Here, we investigate, experimentally, the possibility that the Laramide structures of southern Mexico may be the result of inversion of previously thinned lithosphere...
We present analogue models that illustrate the tectonic evolution of the continental margin of southwestern Mexico and the Early Cenozoic deformation of the Xolapa complex. Together with geological data they suggest that oblique convergence caused distributed deformation and mountain building near the present-day margin of southern Mexico in a gene...
In southwestern Mexico, Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary deformation has been generally associated with the Laramide orogeny of the Cordillera. Several alternative models consider the deformation to result from the accretion of the Guerrero terrane, formed by the Zihuatanejo, Arcelia, and Teloloapan intraoceanic island arcs, to the continental mar...
A spatial and temporal association between adakitic rocks and Nb-enriched basalts (NEB) is recognised for the first time in
the western sector of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt in the San Pedro–Cerro Grande Volcanic Complex (SCVC). The SCVC is composed
of subalkalic intermediate to felsic rocks, spanning in composition from high-silica andesites t...
The Mesozoic volcano-sedimentary successions of southwestern Mexico have been often interpreted to represent the record of a single or multi-arc system (Guerrero Terrane), built on oceanic crust far away from the continent, which was subsequently accreted to the continental margin of the North American plate in Late Cretaceous time after a prolonge...
The Sierra de Nanchititla Volcanic Center (SNVC) is located at the borders of the States of Mexico, Michoacán and Guerrero, in the northern sector of Sierra Madre del Sur magmatic province (SMS) of México. Previous studies in the areas of Taxco and Tilzapotla recognized an Early Tertiary brittle deformation along WNW-ESE to NW-SE trending strike sl...
Voluminous (≥3·9 × 105 km3), prolonged (∼18 Myr) explosive silicic volcanism makes the mid-Tertiary Sierra Madre Occidental province of Mexico one of the largest intact silicic volcanic provinces known. Previous models have proposed an assimilation–fractional crystallization origin for the rhyolites involving closed-system fractional crystallizatio...
The Sierra Madre Occidental is the result of Cretaceous-Cenozoic magmatic and tectonic episodes related to the subduction of the Farallon plate beneath North America and to the opening of the Gulf of California. The stratigraphy of the Sierra Madre Occidental consists of five main igneous complexes: (1) Late Cretaceous to Paleocene plutonic and vol...
A wide region in the central part of the Sierra Madre del Sur (SMS), southern Mexico, records two deformational phases between the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary. The first is a progressive approximately E-W shortening phase that spans from the Coniacian to earliest Paleocene and involves deformation of Cretaceous marine sedimentary units. The...
