The metamorphic configuration of the Piaxtla high-pressure suite inferred from geological mapping and its metasedimentary rocks
PDF
HTML

Supplementary Files

Supplementary material / Material suplementario

Keywords

Geological mapping
petrography
high-pressure metamorphism
subduction
Acatlán Complex
Piaxtla suite
Paleozoic
Mexico

How to Cite

Maldonado, R., Elías-Herrera, M., Espejo-Bautista, G., Ramírez-Serdán, I., Gomez-Gomez, D. E., Prado-Ordoñez, A., … Sánchez-Zavala, J. L. (2025). The metamorphic configuration of the Piaxtla high-pressure suite inferred from geological mapping and its metasedimentary rocks. Revista Mexicana De Ciencias Geológicas, 42(1), 17–30. https://doi.org/10.22201/igc.20072902e.2025.1.1844

Citas en Dimensions Service

Share on

Abstract

The Piaxtla high-pressure suite (Acatlán Complex) in southern Mexico represents a part of an ancient subduction zone. This suite consists of slices of oceanic and continental affinity containing blueschist- and eclogite-facies relics. Geological mapping of three key areas showed that rocks and mineral assemblages vary systematically and predictably across the region allowing us to divide the Piaxtla suite into two different low- and medium-temperature units (i.e., blueschist- and eclogite-facies, respectively). Field relationships suggest that rock intercalation within each unit resulted from an early subduction-related deformation stage (D1) subsequently overprinted by two deformation phases (D2 and D3). In the high-pressure–low-temperature unit, metasedimentary rocks are predominant and compositionally heterogeneous and share a common high-pressure history with the enclosed blueschists. The high-pressure–medium-temperature unit is characterized by the abundance of granitic gneisses as well as a relatively homogeneous metasedimentary package that is also co-metamorphic with the hosted eclogites. Together, field relationships and petrography indicate that low- and medium-temperature units within the Piaxtla high-pressure suite might have evolved as independent, relatively coherent tectonic slices.

https://doi.org/10.22201/igc.20072902e.2025.1.1844
PDF
HTML

References

Agard, P., Plunder, A., Angiboust, S., Bonnet, G., & Ruh, J. (2018). The subduction plate interface: rock record and mechanical coupling (from long to short timescales). Lithos, 320-321, 537–566. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2018.09.029

Balestro, G., Nosenzo, F., Cadoppi, P., Fioraso, G., Groppo, C., & Festa, A. (2020). Geology of the southern Dora-Maira Massif: insights from a sector with mixed ophiolitic and continental rocks (Valmala tectonic unit, Western Alps). Journal of Maps, 16(2), 736–744. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2020.1824825

Cheng, N., & Jenkins, D.M. (2021). Experimental study of metamorphic reactions and dehydration processes at the blueschist–eclogite transition during warm subduction. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 39(1), 39–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/jmg.12560

Compagnoni, R., Rolfo, F., Groppo, C., Hirajima, T., & Turello, R. (2012). Geological map of the ultra-high pressure Brossasco-Isasca unit (Western Alps, Italy). Journal of Maps, 8(4), 465–472. https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2012.744367

Estrada-Carmona, J., Weber, B., Scherer, E.E., Martens, U., & Elías-Herrera, M. (2016). Lu- Hf geochronology of Mississippian high-pressure metamorphism in the Acatlán Complex, southern México. Gondwana Research, 34, 174–186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2015.02.016

Galaz, E., G., Keppie, J. D., Lee, J. K. W., & Ortega-Rivera, A. (2013). A high-pressure folded klippe at Tehuitzingo on the western margin of an extrusion zone, Acatlán Complex, southern México. Gondwana Research, 23(2), 641–660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2012.04.011

Hernández-Uribe, D. (2022). A re-evaluation of the peak P–T conditions of eclogite-facies metamorphism of the Paleozoic Acatlán Complex (Mexico) reveals deeper subduction. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 21399. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25992-8

Hernández-Uribe, D., Gutiérrez-Aguilar, F., Mattinson, C. G., Palin, R. M., & Neill, O. K. (2019). A new record of deeper and colder subduction in the Acatlán complex, Mexico: Evidence from phase equilibrium modelling and Zr-in-rutile thermometry. Lithos, 324–325, 551–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2018.10.003

Hinojosa-Prieto, H. R., Nance, R. D., Keppie, J. D., Dostal, J. V., Ortega-Rivera, A., & Lee, J. K. W. (2008). Ordovician and Late Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic tectonothermal history of the La Noria area, northern Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico: Record of convergence in the Rheic and paleo-Pacific Oceans. Tectonophysics, 461(1–4), 324–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2008.06.002

Keppie, J. D., Nance, R. D., Ramos-Arias, M. A., Lee, J. K. W., Dostal, J., Ortega-Rivera, A., & Murphy, J. B. (2010). Late Paleozoic subduction and exhumation of Cambro- Ordovician passive margin and arc rocks in the northern Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico: Geochronological constraints. Tectonophysics, 495(3–4), 213–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2010.09.019

Keppie, J. D., Dostal, J., Murphy, J. B., Galaz-Escanilla, G., Ramos-Arias, M. A., & Nance, R. D. (2012a). High pressure rocks of the Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico: Large- scale subducted Ordovician rifted passive margin extruded into the upper plate during the Devonian–Carboniferous. Tectonophysics, 560–561, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2012.06.015

Keppie, J. D., Nance, R. D., Dostal, J., Lee, J. K. W., & Ortega-Rivera, A. (2012b). Constraints on the subduction erosion/extrusion cycle in the Paleozoic Acatlán Complex of southern Mexico: Geochemistry and geochronology of the type Piaxtla Suite. Gondwana Research, 21(4), 1050–1065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2011.07.020

Maldonado, R., Ortega-Gutiérrez, F., & Hernández-Uribe, D. (2016). Garnet–chloritoid–paragonite metapelite from the Chuacús Complex (Central Guatemala): new evidence for continental subduction in the North America–Caribbean plate boundary. European Journal of Mineralogy, 28(6), 1169–1186. https://doi.org/10.1127/ejm/2016/0028-2578

Meza-Figueroa, D., Ruiz, J., Talavera-Mendoza, O., & Ortega-Gutierrez, F. (2003). Tectonometamorphic evolution of the Acatlan Complex eclogites (southern Mexico). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 40(1), 27–44. https://doi.org/10.1139/e02-093

Middleton, M., Keppie, J. D., Murphy, J. B., Miller, B. V., Nance, R. D., Ortega-Rivera, A., & Lee, J. K. W. (2007). P-T-t constraints on exhumation following subduction in the Rheic Ocean from eclogitic rocks in the Acatlán Complex of southern México. In The Evolution of the Rheic Ocean: From Avalonian-Cadomian Active Margin to Alleghenian-Variscan Collision. Geological Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1130/2007.2423(25)

Middleton, M., Keppie, J. D., Murphy, J. B., Miller, B. V., Nance, R. D., Ortega-Rivera, A., & Lee, J. K. W. (2007). P-T-t constraints on exhumation following subduction in the Rheic Ocean from eclogitic rocks in the Acatlán Complex of southern México. In U. Linnemann, R. D. Nance, P. Kraft, & G. Zulauf (Eds.), The Evolution of the Rheic Ocean: From Avalonian-Cadomian Active Margin to Alleghenian-Variscan Collision. doi:10.1130/2007.2423(25)

Morimoto, N. (1988). Nomenclature of Pyroxenes. Mineralogy and Petrology, 39(1), 55–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01226262

Murphy, J. B., Keppie, J. D., Nance, R. D., Miller, B. V., Dostal, J., Middleton, M., Fernandez-Suárez, J., Jeffries, T. E., & Storey, C. D. (2006). Geochemistry and U–Pb protolith ages of eclogitic rocks of the Asís Lithodeme, Piaxtla Suite, Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico: tectonothermal activity along the southern margin of the Rheic Ocean. Journal of the Geological Society, 163(4), 683–695. https://doi.org/10.1144/0016-764905-108

Nance, R. D., Keppie, J. D., Miller, B. V., Murphy, J. B., & Dostal, J. (2009). Palaeozoic palaeogeography of Mexico: constraints from detrital zircon age data. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 327(1), 239–269. https://doi.org/10.1144/SP327.1

Negulescu, E., Săbău, G., & Massonne, H.-J. (2018). Growth of chloritoid and garnet along a nearly isothermal burial path to 70 km depth: an example from the Bughea Metamorphic Complex, Leaota Massif, South Carpathians. Mineralogy and Petrology, 112(4), 535–553. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-017-0552-9

Ortega-Gutiérrez, F. (1974). Nota preliminar sobre las eclogitas de Acatlán. Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, (35), 1–6.

Ortega-Gutiérrez, F. (1978). Estratigrafía del Complejo Acatlán en la Mixteca baja, estados de Puebla y Oaxaca. Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Geológicas, 2(2), 112–131.

Ortega-Gutiérrez, F., Elías-Herrera, M., Morán-Zenteno, D. J., Solari, L., Weber, B., & Luna- González, L. (2018). The pre-Mesozoic metamorphic basement of Mexico, 1.5 billion years of crustal evolution. Earth-Science Reviews, 183, 2–37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.03.006

Ortega-Gutiérrez, F., Elías-Herrera, M., Reyes-Salas, M., Macías-Romo, C., & López, R. (1999). Late Ordovician–Early Silurian continental collisional orogeny in southern Mexico and its bearing on Gondwana-Laurentia connections. Geology, 27(8), 719–722. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1999)027<0719:LOESCC>2.3.CO;2

Proenza, J. A., Ortega-Gutiérrez, F., Camprubí, A., Tritlla, J., Elías-Herrera, M., & Reyes- Salas, M. (2004). Paleozoic serpentinite-enclosed chromitites from Tehuitzingo (Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico): a petrological and mineralogical study. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 16(8), 649–666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2003.12.003

Ramos-Arias, M. A., & Keppie, J. D. (2011). U–Pb Neoproterozoic–Ordovician protolith age constraints for high- to medium-pressure rocks thrust over low-grade metamorphic rocks in the Ixcamilpa area, Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 48(1), 45–61. https://doi.org/10.1139/E10-082

Ramos-Arias, M. A., Keppie, J. D., Ortega-Rivera, A., & Lee, J. W. K. (2008). Extensional Late Paleozoic deformation on the western margin of Pangea, Patlanoaya area, Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico: Tectonophysics, 448(1–4), 60–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2007.11.023

Ramos-Arias, M. A., Keppie, J. D., Lee, J. K. W., & Ortega-Rivera, A. (2012). A Carboniferous high-pressure klippe in the western Acatlán Complex of southern México: implications for the tectonothermal development and palaeogeography of Pangea: International Geology Review, 54(7), 779–798. https://doi.org/10.1080/00206814.2011.580634

Sánchez-Zavala, J. L., Ortega-Gutiérrez, F., Keppie, J. D., Jenner, G. A., Belousova, E., & Maciás-Romo, C. (2004), Ordovician and Mesoproterozoic Zircons from the Tecomate Formation and Esperanza Granitoids, Acatlán Complex, Southern Mexico: Local Provenance in the Acatlán and Oaxacan Complexes. International Geology Review, 46(11), 1005–1021. https://doi.org/10.2747/0020-6814.46.11.1005

Silva-Romo, G., Mendoza-Rosales, C. C., Campos-Madrigal, E., Hernández-Marmolejo, Y. B., de la Rosa-Mora, O. A., de la Torre-González, A. I., Bonifacio-Serralde, C., López-García, N., & Nápoles-Valenzuela, J. I. (2018). Timing of the Cenozoic basins of Southern Mexico and its relationship with the Pacific truncation process: Subduction erosion or detachment of the Chortís block. Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 83, 178–194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsames.2018.01.007

Talavera-Mendoza, O., Ruiz, J., Gehrels, G. E., Meza-Figueroa, D. M., Vega-Granillo, R., & Campa-Uranga, M. F. (2005). U–Pb geochronology of the Acatlán Complex and implications for the Paleozoic paleogeography and tectonic evolution of southern Mexico. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 235(3), 682–699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.04.013

Vega-Granillo, R., Talavera-Mendoza, O., Meza-Figueroa, D., Ruiz, J., Gehrels, G. E., López-Martínez, M., & De La Cruz-Vargas, J. C. (2007). Pressure-temperature-time evolution of Paleozoic high-pressure rocks of the Acatlán Complex (southern Mexico): Implications for the evolution of the Iapetus and Rheic Oceans. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 119(9–10), 1249–1264. https://doi.org/10.1130/B226031.1

Vuichard, J. P., & Ballèvre, M. (1988). Garnet–chloritoid equilibria in eclogitic pelitic rocks from the Sesia zone (Western Alps): their bearing on phase relations in high pressure metapelites. Journal of Metamorphic Geology, 6(2), 135–157. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1314.1988.tb00413.x

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2025 Roberto Maldonado, Mariano Elías-Herrera, Guillermo Espejo-Bautista, Israel Ramírez-Serdán, Duban Esteban Gomez-Gomez, Angela Prado-Ordoñez, Consuelo Macías-Romo, José Luis Sánchez-Zavala

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.