Tectonics of thrust and fold belt of northwestern Chihuahua
— L. L. Corbitt

The Cordilleran thrust and fold belt of northwestern Chihuahua is characterized by flat-lying thrusts and closely compressed folds. These structures are of Laramide age (late Cretaceous-early Tertiary) and are well exposed in northwestern Chihuahua in the Sierras Rica, Palomas (Alta), Boca Grande, Chinos, Santa Rita and Salada. Rocks deposited prior to and during Laramide deformation are exposed as small patches surrounded by younger post-orogenic volcanic rocks of mid-Tertiary age and late Cenozoic elastic sediments and basalt. Yielding on the thrust faults and folds is northeastward toward the foreland with displacements as much as several km. Basin and Range extensional block faulting occurred in late Cenozoic time, and range marginal faults truncate some of the Laramide structures.