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THE SIERRA MADRE ORIENTAL OROCLINE. PALEOMAGNETISM OF THE NAZAS SYSTEM IN NORTH-CENTRAL MÉXICO
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  • Rafael Guerra Roel,
  • Daniel Pastor-Galán,
  • Gabriel Chávez-Cabello,
  • César Francisco Ramírez-Peña,
  • José Jorge Aranda Gómez,
  • Gerardo Patiño-Mendez,
  • Giovanny Nova R,
  • Alejandro Rodríguez-Parra,
  • Roberto Stanley Molina-Garza
Rafael Guerra Roel
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
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Daniel Pastor-Galán
Universidad de Granada
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Gabriel Chávez-Cabello
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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César Francisco Ramírez-Peña
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra
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José Jorge Aranda Gómez
Centro de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
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Gerardo Patiño-Mendez
Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León
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Giovanny Nova R
Instituto de Geociências, Universida de de São Paulo
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Alejandro Rodríguez-Parra
Ministerio de Minas y Energía, Colombia
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Roberto Stanley Molina-Garza
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
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Abstract

Curved mountain belts are spectacular natural features, which contain crucial 3D information about the tectonic evolution of orogenic systems. The Mesozoic units exposed at the Cordilleran Mexican Fold and Thrust belt in NE Mexico show a striking curvature that has not been explained nor included in the existent tectonic models of the region. We have investigated with paleomagnetism and rock magnetism the kinematic history of that curvature, which is observed in the rocks of the Jurassic Nazas igneous province and its overlying red beds. Our results show a complex history of remagnetizations that occurred during the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous, as well as clockwise and counterclockwise vertical axis rotations of up to 50˚ respectively in each limb of the curvature. Although our data cannot provide precise timing for such rotations yet, our results confirm that the Mexican Fold and Thrust Belt underwent post-Late Jurassic orocline bending or bucking in NE Mexico.
10 Aug 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
12 Aug 2023Published in ESS Open Archive