Cambrian rift magmatism recorded in subvolcanic sills of the Ediacaran-Cambrian La Cienega Formation, NW Mexico

Mafic-ultramafic subvolcanic metabasalt sills intrude Ediacaran and Cambrian strata of the La Cienega Formation of Sonora, Mexico. Sills are typically 1-7.5 m thick, with minor associated thin (-10 cm thick) intrusions. Sills are typically bed parallel with upper and/or lower tempered (quenched) borders and porphyritic textures characterized by abundant olivine and pyroxene pseudomorphs that have been transformed to clay and carbonate minerals. Metamorphic halos in adjacent dolostones and quartzites occur at the bottom and top contacts, and metabasalt sills contain carbonate veins typical of hydrothermal alteration and mobilization. Unlike surface flows of the overlying Cerro Rajon Formation, all sills in the La Cienega Formation lack evidence of crystal settling, yet evidence for assimilation of country rocks is present. Assimilation is more typical of sills rather than flows and is diagnostic of sills in the El Arpa Formation, a stratigraphically lower unit in the succession. Actinolite-chlorite-albite metamorphic mineral paragenesis suggests low-grade greenschist facies metamorphism for these metabasaltic rocks. Although their primary mineralogy is obscured due to alteration, olivine and clinopyroxene pseudomorphs are present and their major and trace element geochemistry suggest they were derived from alkaline basaltic magmas with low (normalized) SiO2N (22.7-43.1 wt%), high MgON (7.25-16.6 wt %), and high TiO2N (4.04-6.27 wt%). Immobile trace elements suggest these sills were originally alkaline riftrelated basalts with OIB-type signatures. Tectonic discrimination diagrams suggest continental rift magmatism with low geochemical evolution ratios and relatively low mantle melting rates when compared to contemporaneous rift related magmatism. Sr-Hf-Nd-Pb isotopes suggest the metabasalts originated from an Enriched Mantle I (EMI) reservoir and melting occurred during adiabatic decompression. These geochemical characteristics are remarkably similar to volcanic rocks of the Cerro Rajon Formation. The inferred magmatic composition, mantle melting rates, petrography and field relations of the La Cienega Formation metabasalt are consistent with a low viscosity feeder system like that envisaged to have sourced volcanic rocks of the overlying Cambrian (Terreneuvian) Cerro Rajon Formation. Together, evidence from these two volcanic units is consistent with a Cambrian continental rift event close to the onset of the Sauk transgression.

Automated summary

Mafic-ultramafic subvolcanic metabasalt sills in the La Cienega Formation of Sonora, Mexico, display low-grade greenschist facies metamorphism, hydrothermal alteration, and similarities to volcanic rocks of the Cerro Rajon Formation. The geological and geochemical characteristics suggest a Cambrian continental rift event and a low viscosity feeder system for the volcanic rocks.