Palaeoenvironmental significance of diatom and vertebrate fossils from Late Cenozoic tectonic basins in west-central México: A review

Pronounced lacustrine sedimentation developed in west-central México during the late Miocene, between approximately 11 and 7 Ma. This was in response to tectonic extension associated with the initial emplacement of the late Miocene substrata of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Climatic conditions in west-central México during this interval were relatively warm and humid based on the widespread distribution of interpreted lacustrine beds.

Following a latest Miocene (8.0–5.4 Ma) stage of arid conditions and greatly reduced deposition of fine-grained lacustrine sediments, extensive, east–west oriented, relatively deep, perennial lakes ensued. They mark the early Pliocene (5.3–4.0 Ma). Lower Pliocene diatomites contain the same diatom species (e.g., Stephanodiscus carconensis and Tertiarius aff. baikalensis) found in rocks of this age in the western United States. The relatively warm and humid conditions that characterized this interval in central México coincide with a period of high-latitude warming, higher global sea level, and a reduction in size of the Antarctic Ice sheets. Because the Central American Seaway persisted until at least the latest Miocene, it might have acted to increase precipitation in central Mexico. This could have continued into the earliest Pliocene. Mexican Pliocene mammalian faunas also support a savanna setting with moist and warm conditions prevailing at the time.

Shallow lakes and fluvial conditions dominate after 4.0 Ma, until the end of Pleistocene. A combination of reduced precipitation, due to general global cooling and drying, as well as volcanic and tectonic processes, are presumed to have been the cause for this mid-Pliocene reduction in lake size and extent in central México.