This report presents 40Ar/39Ar sanidine ages and paleomagnetic data for 36 ignimbrites and associated lavas in the Eocene-Oligocene Mogollon-Datil volcanic field of southwestern New Mexico. 40Ar/39Ar age spectra from the ignimbrites yield plateau ages which range from 36.2 to 24.3 Ma and show within-sample and within-unit 1 s precision of ±0.5% or better. These ages agree closely with independently established stratigraphic order and indicate that Mogollon-Datil ignimbrite activity was highly episodic, being confined to four brief (
Papers based on geological mapping completed in the last 30 years and on associated stratigraphic and biostratigraphic studies deal with the contentious subject of correlation of Pennsylvanian units, and serve as an addendum to the work of Harold R. Wanless. Includes b&w photos and diagrams, and a g
Mid-Tertiary strata exposed as tilted homoclines along the flanks of the San Pedro trough and across broad uplands north of the Catalina core complex are assigned to the following formations, each of which includes informal local members and facies: (a) Mineta Formation, mid-Oligocene redbeds including both conglomeratic fluvial and finer-grained lacustrine deposits; (b) Galiuro Volcanics, including lavas and domes, air-fall and ash-flow tuffs, and intercalated volcaniclastic strata of late Oligocene to earliest Miocene age; (c) Cloudburst Formation, also of late Oligocene and earliest Miocene age but including a sedimentary upper member of conglomeratic strata as well as a volcanic lower member correlative with part of the Galiuro Volcanics; and (d) San Manuel Formation, composed of lower Miocene alluvial fan and braidplain deposits that display contrasting clast assemblages in different areas of exposure. Generally correlative Oligocene-Miocene strata exposed south of the Catalina core complex are assigned to the Pantano Formation, which contains similar lithologic components. Less-deformed Neogene strata of post-mid-Miocene basin fill are assigned to the Quiburis Formation along the San Pedro trough, but stratigraphic equivalents elsewhere lack adequate nomenclature. High benchlands mantled by paleosols mark the highest levels of Neogene aggradation. Successive stages of subsequent erosional dissection are recorded by multiple terrace levels incised into basin fill. Key exposures of syntectonic mid-Tertiary sedimentary sequences in several local subareas reveal typical structural and stratigraphic relationships. Multiple fault blocks expose pre-Tertiary bedrock overlain by tilted mid-Tertiary strata confined to intervening half-grabens. Bounding syndepositional faults dip southwest and associated homoclines dip northeast. Fanning dips and buttress unconformities reflect progressive tilt and burial of eroding fault blocks. Dips of block-bounding faults are inversely proportional to the ages of the faults. Steeper dips for younger faults suggest either progressive erosion of successive listric faults or progressive rotation of successive planar faults. Uniformly moderate to steep dihedral angles between fault surfaces and offset homoclinal bedding imply that the faults dipped more steeply near the surface when syntectonic mid-Tertiary strata were subhorizontal. Although the inference of listric faulting best links apparent strands of the Catalina detachment system, the alternate interpretation of rotational normal faulting is compatible with local structural relationships including tilt of porphyry copper orebodies. Within the San Pedro trough, multiple homo clines of mid-Tertiary strata are exposed locally in tilt-blocks exhumed by Neogene erosion from beneath nearly flat-lying basin fill of the Quiburis Formation. Faults bounding the mid-Tertiary exposures include backtilted strands of the Catalina detachment system, somewhat younger listric or rotational normal faults, and steeper basin-range normal faults that display offsets both synthetic and antithetic to the flanks of the San Petro trough. In Cienega Gap, flanking the Tucson Basin, multiple tilt-blocks of the Pantano Formation form part of the upper plate of the Catalina detachment system. Initial construction of alluvial fans by generally westward paleoflow was followed by ponding of lacustrine environments along the foot of secondary breakaway scarps that also generated massive megabreccia deposits. In summary, syntectonic Oligocene to Miocene sedimentation succeeded a prominent pulse of polymodal mid-Tertiary volcanism and was coeval with mylonitic deformation and detachment faulting along the flank of the Catalina core complex. The headwall rupture for the detachment system migrated westward from an initial position along the range front of the Galiuro Mountains. After mid-Miocene time, accumulation and subsequent dissection of essentially undeformed basin fill was accompanied by basin-range block faulting. The most challenging structural issue is whether fault strands of the Catalina detachment system are interconnected or are disconnected rotational segments.
