Abstract

The 102 Ma El Potrero pluton, in the western foothills of Sierra San Pedro Martir, in north-central Baja California, was emplaced during a long period of contractional deformation bracketed between 132 and 85 Ma that affected this segment of the Peninsular Ranges Batholith. The pluton records regional and emplacement related deformation manifested by: (1) a solid-state fabric developed on its eastern contact, which is produced by eastward lateral pluton expansion; (2) cleavage triple point zones in the host-rock NW and SE of the pluton; (3) subhorizontal ductile shear zones indicative of top-to-the-east transport; (4) magmatic and tectonic foliations parallel to regional structural trends and regional shear zones; (5) variable axial ratios of microgranitoid enclaves close to pluton-wall rock contacts; (6) evidence of brittle-emplacement mechanisms in the western border of the pluton, which contrast with features indicating mainly ductile mechanisms toward the east; and, (7) markedly discordant paleomagnetic directions that suggest emplacement in an active tectonic setting. The overall mean for 9 accepted paleomagnetic sites is Dec=34.6 degrees, I=25.7 degrees (k=88.3, alpha(95)=5.5 degrees), and is deviated similar to 35 degrees with respect to the reference cratonic direction. This magnetization is interpreted to indicate a combination of tilt due to initial drag during vertical diapiric ascent (or westward lateral-oblique expansion) of the adjacent San Pedro Martir pluton and later rotation (similar to 15 degrees) by Rosarito Fault activity in the southwest; this rotation may have occurred as eastward contraction acted to fill the space emptied by the ascending San Pedro Martir pluton. The Rosarito fault may have tilted several plutons in the area (Sierra San Pedro Martir, El Potrero, San Jose, and Encinosa). Magnetic susceptibility fabrics for 13 sites reflect mostly emplacement-related stress and regional stress. Palcomagnetic data and structural observations lead us to interpret the El Potrero pluton as a syntectonic pluton, emplaced within a regional shear zone delimited by the Main Martir Thrust and the younger Rosarito Fault. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.