RUI: Field Study in Northeastern Mexico of the Southern Edge of North America During the Late Paleozoic

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Geological field studies will be undertaken in northeastern Mexico in order to learn the history of the southern margin of the North American continent during the latter part of the Paleozoic Era. This history is now very poorly known because there are only a few places where rocks of the appropriate age are exposed and there have been no studies which include both collection and integration of field data from all of these localities. This project is a broad, systematic study of some of the remaining relatively unknown areas; knowledge thus gained will be integrated with that derived from our previous work in northern Mexico. That two or more lithospheric plates converged in northern Mexico in the latter part of the Paleozoic Era is proven by the presence of calcalkaline volcanic rocks and associated basinal sediments in southern Coahuila. A principal objective of this study is to seek the kinds of information in other Mexican states which will help determine the orientation, geographic setting, and timing of convergence. There is also indirect evidence that rocks formed along the boundary may have been disrupted by lateral movement along one or more large, NNW- trending faults during the Mesozoic Era. Therefore, a second objective is to compare rocks along the zone of postulated faulting to learn about the nature of the disruptions. The principal contributions of this project will be knowledge, interpretations, and data which are necessary to those geologists who have been trying to fit one of the last pieces into the Pangaea puzzle. Further, it is in the national interests of both the U.S. and Mexico to understand the geology of rocks which may have substantial potential as bearers of both petroleum and metallic mineral resources.