Stratigraphic relations and facies sequences of an Upper Jurassic ...

Zbl. Geol. Paläont. Teil I 1445 -1466 Stuttgart, Februar 1992
Stratigraphic relations and facies sequences of an Upper Jurassic
evaporitic ramp in the Sierra Madre Griental (Mexico )
By MARTIN GOTTE and DIETER MICHALZIK, Linares, Mexico
With 1 plate and 5 figures in the text
G(jTTE, M. & MlCHALZlK, D. (1992): Stratigraphic relations and facies
sequences of an Upper Jurassic evaporitic ramp in the Sierra Madre Oriental
(Mexico). -Zbl. Geol. Paläont. Teil I, 1991 (6): 1445 -1466; Stuttgart.
Abstract: Carbonate and evaporite facies recognized in the Upper Jurassic
of the Sierra Madre fold belt in northeastern Mexico indicate the deposition
on the inner parts of a gently dipping evaporitic ramp. A very com-
plex lagoon-sabkha system is assumed by the presence of massive, banded,
laminated and nodular sulfates as weIl as by the respective carbonate
facies. Short-term subtidal to supratidal carbonate-evaporite shallowingupward
cycles alternate with longer-term subaqueous gypsum or limestone
units.
Comparison of several measured stratigraphic sections leads to a reinterpretation
of the current lithostratigraphic correlation.
The depositional system is strongly related to the origin of a diverging
plate margin. It is interpreted here in terms of a bordering basin of the
Upper Jurassic Gulf of Mexico spreading system.
ZusammenfassWlg: Die verschiedenartigen Faziestypen karbonatischer und
evaporitischer Gesteine im Ober-jura des Sierra Madre Oriental-Faltengürtels
in Nordost-Mexiko lassen eine Ablagerung im proximalen Bereich
einer flach geneigten evaporitischen Rampe vermuten. Das enge Nebeneinander
von massigen, gebänderten, laminierten und knolligen Sulfaten sowie
entsprechender Karbonat-Faziestfpen charakterisiert ein sehr komplexes
L~gunen-Sabkha-System. Relativ kurzzeitige subtidal-supratidale karbonatisch-evaporitische
Shallowing-upward-Zyklen alternieren mit längeren
Phasen rein subaquatischer Evaporit- bzw. Karbonatsedimentation.
Der Vergleich der verschiedenen untersuchten stratigraphischen Profile
erlaubt eine Revision der bisherigen lithostratigraphischen Korrelationen.
Der gesamte Ablagerungsbereich ist eng mit der Entwicklung eines
divergenten Kontinentalrandes verknüpft. Er wird hier im Sinne eines
Randbeckens des oberjurassischen Golf-von-Mexiko-Spreading-Systems interpretiert.
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Zbl. Geol. Paläont. 1991. I.
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@ 1992 E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, D-7000 Stuttgart I

1446
M. Götte and D. Michalzik
Resurnen: Las facies calcareas y evaporiticas reconocidas en el Jurasico
Superior dei Noreste de la Sierra Madre Oriental de Mexico indican una
sedimentaci6n sobre las partes inferiores de una rampa evaporitica poco
inclinada. Por la presencia de sulfatos macizos, bandeados, laminados y
nodulares asi corno las respectivas facies calcareas se supone que existia
un complejo sistema de lagunas y sabkhas. Ciclos subtidales (calcareo)
hacia supratidales (evaporitico) de tipo "shallowing upward" de corta
duraci6n alternan con periodos mas extensos de pura depositaci6n sub-
acuatica evaporitica o calcarea.
La comparaci6n de los diferentes perfiles estratigraficos estudiados
permite una reinterpretaci6n de la correlaci6n litoest ratigrafica corriente.
EI sistema deposicional es intimamente relacionado con el origen dE
un margen continental divergente. Se 10 interpreta en el sentido de una
cuenca marginal deI sistema de spreading deI Golfo de Mexico durantE
el Jurasico Superior .
lntroduction
Upper Jurassic (Oxfordian to Lowermost Kimmeridgian) carbonates an(
evaporites are exposed in several localities of the Sierra Madre Orienta
(SMO) fold belt in northeastern Mexico (Fig. 1). While the SMO sequencE
is dominated by carbonates and sulfates in variable proportions, wel.
logging confirmed several hundred meters of halite in the ancestral Gull
of Sabinas (WALL et al. 1961 a, LOPEZ-RAMOS 1982) north of Monterrey
Nuevo Le6n. The formation of broad anticlines and local evaporite diapirism
in this area is clearly related with the presence of salt and EarlJ
Tertiary tectonism (WALL 1961, WALL et al. 1961a, 1961b, WEIDIE 8
WOLLEBEN 1969, WEIDIE & MARTINEZ 1970, 1972, LAUDON 1984, MI-
CHALZIK 1988, G(jTTE 1990). The structural style of the SMO fold bell
differs considerably from that of the Sabinas Gulf.
In the Monterrey area the Jurassic carbonate-evaporite sequence i:
commonly subdivided into a lower Minas Viejas Formation (HUMPHRE}
1954, 1956, DE CSERNA 1956) and an upper Zuloaga Limestone (IMLA }
1938). Considerable disagreement exists about the stratigraphic subdivisiol
in the southern parts of the SMO, between Monterrey and the southerl
limit of Jurassic evaporite outcrops at the northern edge of the Miqui.
huana- Valles Platform. Confusion was particularly brought into discussiol
by attempts to correlate the aforementioned lithostratigraphic units witl
the Novillo, Zuloaga and Olvido Formation (HEIM 1940, IMLA Y 1943
1952) of the Citidad Victoria area (State of Tamaulipas). SAL V ADOF
(~987) on the other hand, has correlated the Upper Zuloaga unit witl
Olvido of the south and the Minas Viejas with evaporites younger thaJ
Louann, i. e. Buckner of the Gulf Coast (see also WILSON 1990).
Correlation in former studies mainly has been established on fiel4
work in limited areas with petrographic analysis on a macroscopic scale
This paper deals with the descriptions of the principle types of facie
and microfacies and their succession, based on detailed measurements o
stratigraphic sections in the principal outcrops of the Jurassic carbonate.
evaporite sequence in the northeastern SMO. The results gave rise to :
revision of the current lithostratigraphic correlation (Fig. 2) as weil a
to the development of a complex facies model.