GEOCHEMISTRY OF THE CONTINENTAL TRIASSIC IN ARGENTINA USED AS AN ANALOG FOR THE TRIASSIC-JURASSIC SILICICLASTIC DEPOSITS ON THE WESTERN EDGE OF THE GULF OF MEXICO

Continental Triassic sediments crop out in several extensional sedimentary basins in Argentina. They overlay a complex basement consisting of several terrains. These sediments are essential in geological cycles at different scales: large-scale cycles covering various lithostratigraphic formations; and medium-scale cycles that involve the creation of the stratigraphic or parts of them. These medium-scale cycles can also be related to volcanic events. With few exceptions, the elevation pulses in the different terrains occurred independently of each other and were a main controlling factor in the evolution of the basins. The petrological and geochemical analysis has provided a differentiated vision of the development of the sedimentary basins of the Triassic through space and time.

In Mexico, the depositional systems, provenance, and geotectonic positioning of the Triassic and Jurassic outcrops of the western margin of the Gulf of Mexico are still under discussion. In this study, with approx. 1050 Geochemical analysis of Argentina and Mexico, an attempt is made to apply the sections of the Argentine Triassic as an analog for the interpretation of the Triassic and Jurassic strata of the Sierra de Chiapas, the anticlinoria of Huayacocotla and Huizachal-Peregrina, and the highlands of Aramberri and Galeana.