Thick deltaic sedimentation and detachment faulting delay the onset of continental rupture in the Northern Gulf of California: Analysis of seismic reflection profiles

• Published in: Tectonics (Washington, D.C.) D.C.), 2013-09, Vol.32 (5), p.1294-1311
• Main Authors: Martín-Barajas, Arturo, González-Escobar, Mario, Fletcher, John M., Pacheco, Martín, Oskin, Michael, Dorsey, Rebecca
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Brackish; Continental crust; continental rupture; deltaic sedimentation; detachment fault; Fault lines; Gulf of California; Lithosphere; Neogene; seismic reflection profiles; Thermal insulation; transtensional basin; Travel time; Unconformity
• ISSN: 0278-7407; 1944-9194
• DOI: 10.1002/tect.20063

The transition from distributed continental extension to the rupture of continental lithosphere is imaged in the northern Gulf of California across the obliquely conjugate Tiburón‐Upper Delfin basin segment. Structural mapping on a 5–20 km grid of seismic reflection lines of Petroleos Mexicanos demonstrates that ~1000% extension is accommodated on a series of NNE striking listric‐normal faults that merge at depth into a detachment fault. The detachment juxtaposes a late‐Neogene marine sequence over thinned continental crust and contains an intrabasinal divide due to footwall uplift. Two northwest striking, dextral‐oblique faults bound both ends of the detachment and shear the continental crust parallel to the tectonic transport. A regional unconformity in the upper 0.5 s (two‐way travel time) and crest erosion of rollover anticlines above the detachment indicates inversion and footwall uplift during the lithospheric rupture in the Upper Delfin and Lower Delfin basins. The maximum length of new crust in both Delfin basins is less than 40 km based on the lack of an acoustic basement and the absence of a lower sedimentary sequence beneath a wedge‐shaped upper sequence that reaches >5 km in thickness. A fundamental difference exists between the Tiburón‐Delfin segment and the Guaymas segment to the south in terms of presence of low‐angle normal faults and amount of new oceanic lithosphere, which we attribute to thermal insulation, diffuse upper‐plate extension, and slip on low‐angle normal faults engendered by a thick sedimentary lid. Key Points Partition of strain occurs along shear zones linked to extensional domains Detachment faults delayed continental rupture Lower crustal flow is required to explain excess of continental crust