Late Triassic-Jurassic paleogeography and origin of Gulf of Mexico basin.

Abstract

The basic structural and stratigraphic framework of the Gulf of Mexico Basin was established during the Late Triassic and the Jurassic. As the North American plate started to separate from the South American and African plates, the area of the future basin was part of an extensive landmass broken by tensional grabens that were filled by red beds and volcanics. Marine deposition was restricted to embayments of the Pacific Ocean in northwestern and central Mexico which persisted during the early Middle Jurassic. Seawater, which caused widespread salt deposits, did not reach the future Gulf of Mexico Basin until the Callovian. The basin was not connected to the Atlantic Ocean until late in the Jurassic. This article suggests that the Gulf of Mexico Basin formed as a result of the southward drift of the Yucatan continental block away from the remainder of the North American plate. The separation began in the Late Triassic, continued slowly and sporadically during the Early and Middle Jurassic, and quickened after the Middle Jurassic salt formed. As a result, the salt deposits were split into the two segments known today, and oceanic crust formed in the center of the basin. Early in the Late Jurassic, the Yucatan platform reached its present position and the Gulf of Mexico was born.