Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana Volumen 66, núm. 2, 2014, p. 355-363 http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2014v66n2a10

Análisis de proveniencia de las arenas del complejo de dunas parabólicas El Socorro, Baja California, México, mediante una caracterización mineralógica y granulométrica

Natalia Rodríguez Revelo¹, Gabriel Rendón Márquez², Ileana Espejel^1,*, Oscar Jiménez Orocio¹, María Luisa Martínez Vázquez³

¹ Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), Facultad de Ciencias, carretera Tijuana- Ensenada,km103, C. P.22860, Ensenada, Baja California, México.
² Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior Ensenada (CICESE), Departamento de Geología,carretera Ensenada-Tijuana No. 3918, Zona Playitas, C. P. 22860, Ensenada, Baja California, México.
³ Red de Ecología Funcional, Instituto de Ecología A.C., Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa C. P. 91070, Veracruz, México.

^* This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

In this study, fourteen superficial sandy sediment samples and fifteen core samples, taken at 2 to 30 m in depth, were analyzed in order to determine the granulometry and mineralogical features of the dune system named duna costera El Socorro (DCES), San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico. In addition, we investigated the sediment provenance by analyzing twelve samples collected from three nearby arroyos and sand bars. The main components of the DCES are plagioclase and quartz (35 - 39 % and 36 - 58 % plagioclase, and 50 - 56 % and 38 - 60 % monocrystalline quartz for core samples and superficial samples, respectively). The remaining components include scarce lithic fragments and abundant heavy minerals, mostly hornblende and traces of pyroxene, but also small amounts of magnetite and ilmenite (> 1 % in volume). The samples from arroyo El Socorro (south of the DCES) and arroyo Santo Domingo (~45 km north of the DCES) contain 69 and 52 % monocrystalline quartz, respectively, while arroyo San Simon, located north of the DCES, has 63 % plagioclase. Mineralogical characterization in the study area and modal analysis suggest that the main DCES sediment source is the arroyo Santo Domingo.

Keywords: coastal sand dune, mineralogy, granulometry, provenance, arroyo Santo Domingo, San Quintín, Baja California.