Mesozoic

The geological history of the American Cordillera is complex due to its extensive geological history. We have investigated a section of this Pacific-Panthalassa region: the remarkable curved sector of the Mexican Fold and Thrust Belt in northeastern Mexico. This winding area, known as the Sierra Madre Oriental, potentially holds important clues about the evolution of the North American crust. To contribute to a better understanding of this area and to complement the scarce geophysical and geological studies, we used the magnetic properties of rocks and reviewed existing published research to investigate. We’ve uncovered a complex history of rock magnetizations with at least two main events dating back to the Late Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. Our findings also reveal that these mountain ranges were rotated from their original position on vertical axes, suggesting they were originally linear and were bent or buckled during the period from approximately 120 to 50 million years ago.