A major resurgent caldera in southern Mexico: the source of the late Eocene Tilzapotla ignimbrite

The Tilzapotla caldera constitutes the first discovery of a major Tertiary collapse volcanic structure south of the Mexican Volcanic Belt. Although it is spatially associated with silicic ignimbrites in a region relatively distant from the extensive ignimbritic province of the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO), it is among the largest collapse calderas documented in Mexico. The caldera is defined by a 3324 km semi-elliptical structure that encircles the largest exposures of the Tilzapotla ignimbrite and corresponds to the structural margin rather than the topographic rim. A central uplifted block limited by NW-trending faults is the main indication of a resurgent stage. The caldera structural margin is surrounded by extensive exposures of Cretaceous marine sequences that structurally define a broad elliptical dome (4535 km) originated in the first stage of the caldera evolution. There is evidence showing that the 34 Ma Tilzapotla ignimbrite represents the climatic event of the caldera collapse. It is constituted by a massive sequence of crystal vitric tuff with conspicuous euhedral biotite and abundant quartz. The intra-caldera facies isintercalated withmega-andmeso-breccias oflimestoneandanhydrite fragments derivedfromthe slumpingofthe caldera wall during the caldera collapse. The overlying sequence includes post-collapse ignimbrites as well as amphibole and pyroxene bearing dacitic to andesitic lava flows. The age (33 to 32 Ma) and isotopic signatures of these lava flows indicate a resurgent event related with the input of more primitive magmas into the magma chamber. The rectilinear northeastern and southwestern segments of the structural margin of the caldera correspond to NW-trending tectonic lineaments that are part of a regional strike-slip system, active at the time of the caldera formation. We interpret that the NW tectonic structures defined zones of weakness that accommodated the caldera collapse in the northeastern and southwestern segments of the caldera structural margin. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.