Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Tectonics of Northeast Mexico

RI0267. Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Tectonics of Northeast Mexico, by W. E. Humphrey and Teodoro Diaz, edited by J. L. Wilson and Clif Jordan. 152 p., 5 figs., 2 tables, 1 CD-ROM in back pocket, 2003. Print.


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FOREWORD
From 1952 to 1956, Pemex conducted a considerable amount of stratigraphic field work in the eastern Sierra Madre and in Laramide folds to the north across the Sabinas Basin. Special thanks and consideration are extended to Pemex for releasing this classic work, in which 76 stratigraphic sections  were measured and described, resulting in this significant internal company report by William E. Humphrey and Teodoro Diaz. The former was initially employed by the consulting firm of DeGolyer and MacNaughton; the latter was employed by Pemex. When Humphrey joined Pemex as well, they worked on this project together.

The amount of section they studied totaled about 6500 feet (2150 meters). The area they covered extends across seven states of northeastern Mexico, from Chihuahua in the west to Veracruz in the east, and north to the U.S. border. This compilation is particularly valuable because the extensive paleontology done on the measured sections permits widespread correlation of the total Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous with the western Tethyan province in Europe. The complexity caused by intermittent clastic influx into carbonate-producing intrashelf basins is manifest.

We took great care to preserve the authors' original text and not to rewrite it; certainly, minor errors of grammar or syntax were corrected to improve the readability of the manuscript. For ease of use by the reader, all of the 76 measured sections have been numbered in the text as follows: MS-1 for Measured Section No. 1, and so forth, as listed in our table. This same  system is used to label measured sections that are on the accompanying CD-ROM, containing jpeg file images of all 76 sections.

As a partial release of their work, Humphrey published a brief paper with an outline of their interpretations regarding regional stratigraphy and tectonics in the 1956 Transactions of the Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies. Just as Humphrey and Diaz updated the earlier studies of Burckhardt and Imlay, who worked in the 1930's and 1940’s, this 1956 report at the time furnished several additional stratigraphic sections and an updated understanding of both carbonate and sandstone reservoirs, as well as hydrocarbon source beds in northeastern Mexico.

--James Lee Wilson and Clif Jordan, Editors

Keywords: Cretaceous, Jurassic, Mexico, stratigraphy

CONTENTS (Excerpted)

Foreword (includes location map and list of 76 measured sections)

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Physiographic provinces

Previous investigations

Correlations and terminology

Acknowledgments

Regional geological setting

General

    Early Upper Jurassic paleogeographic elements

    Coahuila Peninsula

    Tamaulipas Peninsula

    Sabinas Gulf

    Mesozoic Mexican geosyncline

    Gulf of Mexico geosyncline

Stratigraphy [extensive]

References

Additional References

Figures

I. Map of northeast Mexico showing relations between Early Upper Jurassic paleogeographic and tectono-geomorphologic provinces

II. Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rock units in northeast Mexico

III. Correlation chart of the Mesozoic strata of northeast Mexico showing the Sabinas Gulf 3

IV Correlation chart of the Mesozoic strata of northeast Mexico showing the Mexican geosyncline

V. Correlation chart of the Mesozoic strata of northeast Mexico showing the Coahuila Peninsula, Tamaulipas Peninsula, and Gulf of Mexico geosyncline

Tables

1. Upper Jurassic ammonite faunules in Mexico

2. Lower Cretaceous ammonite faunules in Mexico

CD-ROM (in pocket of printed book):

Location map of 76 measured sections described in report

Individual computer-drafted measured sections

Table listing detailed locations, stratigraphic units, and thicknesses of measured sections


Citation
Humphrey, W. E., and Diaz, Teodoro, edited by Wilson, J. L., and Jordan, Clif, 2003, Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Stratigraphy and Tectonics of Northeast Mexico: The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology, Report of Investigations No. 267, 152 p.