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Rates and directions of crustal extension in a continental rift vary in time and space as the rift evolves, and these geologic records are often preserved along fault planes. Some fault-kinematic studies have been undertaken in the central to northern segments of the Rio Grande rift, but similar studies from the southern part of the Rio Grande rift of western Texas, USA, and northern Mexico are fewer. We present new fault-kinematic data from six locations in the southern Rio Grande rift of Trans-Pecos Texas, combined with U-Pb dating of calcite slickenlines, to constrain the directions and time scales of extension. All locations preserve NE-SW−oriented extension, and locations within the Sunken Block graben preserve a more complex kinematic history of multiple extension directions. Four U-Pb ages range from 30.1 ± 3.1 Ma to 13.7 ± 0.9 Ma. Combined with fault-kinematic data and assuming a constant stress regime between 30 Ma and 14 Ma, these data support the interpretation that earliest extension in the southern rift was oriented NE-SW, and extension rotated clockwise to E-W and NW-SE after 13.7 ± 0.9 Ma. Based on available data, this rotation was broadly coincident with rotation in the extension direction in the southern Española basin and in the Basin and Range Province. These differences suggest that extension in the Rio Grande rift responded to the evolving western boundary of the North American plate but included initial underlying driving forces that were supplanted by lateral forces as the transform margin lengthened. Additionally, geochronologic and kinematic data across the Sunken Block graben of the southern Rio Grande rift indicate that the locus of rifting concentrated with time toward the center of this basin; such structural narrowing has previously been demonstrated in the northern segment of the rift. This study provides a much-needed comparison between the southern and northern segments of the rift but highlights the need for more collection of combined kinematic and geochronologic data.
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Rethinking the Huatabampo Archaeological Tradition of Northwest Mexico
The Huatabampo tradition was first defined by Gordon Ekholm, in 1938, and refers to those sites in the coastal plain in northern Sinaloa and southern Sonora lacking architecture but containing well-manufactured plain ceramics with complex shapes. Recent investigations in the region are helping to refine the chronology, geographical extension, cultural attributes, and ethnicity. With 20 radiocarbon dates, we can place this tradition as spanning from 200 BC to AD 1450. The maximum geographical extension ranges from the Middle Rio Yaqui in the north to the Rio San Lorenzo in Sinaloa. The associated sites of this complex are represented by dispersed houses, indicative of ranchería-type settlements, funerary mounds, shell middens, and petroglyph sites. At about AD 1150, Aztatlán pottery and other commodities from southern Sinaloa were incorporated mostly as mortuary offerings. We also provide evidence that the Huatabampo archaeological tradition is a local culture representing the occupation of the Cahitan-speaking groups, Yoremem/Mayos and Yoemem/Yaquis, of the coastal plain.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1724445
- PAR ID:
- 10470250
- Publisher / Repository:
- Taylor and Francis
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- KIVA
- ISSN:
- 0023-1940
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 27
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00231940.2023.2230694
