Southward migration of continental volcanic activity in the Sierra de Las Cruces, Mexico: palaeomagnetic and radiometric evidence

Abstract

New Palaeomagnetic data for 30 sites (271 samples) and K–Ar data from five units in the Sierra de Las Cruces, western Basin of Mexico, provide constraints on the spatial-temporal evolution of arc magmatism in the central Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The normal and reversed directions show a polarity pattern with a consistent spatial zonation perpendicular to the NNW–SSE trend of the range. The magnetostratigraphy and K–Ar dates indicate that volcanic activity in the Sierra de Las Cruces migrated southeastward at a mean rate of 1.6 cm/a, between 3.6 and 1.8 Ma, and that the rate of migration may have been higher, up to 4 cm/a, during the Gauss Chron. Normal and reversed directions pass the reversal test at a 95% confidence level. The mean Plio-Quaternary palaeomagnetic direction for Sierra de Las Cruces is D=350.7°, I=30.6° (N=25, k=30.7, α95=5.3°). The declination deviates to the west of the expected direction, which suggests that small counterclockwise rotations could take place during formation of the Sierra de Las Cruces volcanics.