36 Cordilleran Mineral Systems: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Critical Metal Ore Deposits (Posters)

Explore the processes responsible for selective transport and accumulation of critical metals in the Earth’s crust: mineral systems science, economic geology, mineral exploration, geochemistry and isotopes, fluid inclusions, and mineral chemistry (bilingual session (English/Spanish)).

Friday, 24 April 2026
8:00 AM - 5:30 PM
LMH, 5th Floor Chapel

Eocene structural controls on spatial distribution of hydrothermal ores at the tectonic southern limit of Mesa Central of Mexico

Paper number: 36-8
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 8:00 AM

Authors

Abstract

Outcrops of Eocene rocks at the tectonic boundary of the southern part of the Mesa Central are scattered and scarce partly because they are covered by Oligocene, Miocene, and Plio-Quaternary rocks. Eocene outcrops occur in structural uplift, such as the Sierra de Guanajuato, and in structural basins within the Mexican Fold and Thrust Belt (MFTB) in eastern Guanajuato. This work presents advances in the understanding of the stratigraphy and structural geology of Eocene rocks in these regions. The results show that these Eocene rocks represented continental sedimentary basins bounded by various types of faults, with evidence of sedimentation, magmatism, volcanism, and mineralization events. The associated Eocene volcanism was andesitic, dacitic, and rhyolitic. The structural record shows that there were several faulting events with lateral, oblique, and extensional kinematics, associated with the exhumation of magmatic rocks, mineralization events, sedimentation, and volcanism. These Eocene geological structures exerted structural control over the generation of Oligocene geological structures and the location of Au-Ag epithermal mineralization during the Oligocene in the southern boundary of Mesa Central.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 3

doi: 10.1130/abs/2026CD-411027

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