An examination of the link between subduction and Gulf of Mexico opening

Abstract

For the theory of plate tectonics, the Gulf of Mexico stands arguably as the most enigmatic zone of extension formed during the breakup of Pangaea. The earliest mobilistic model for Gulf of Mexico opening was proposed by Samuel Warren Carey in the decade preceding the plate tectonics revolution. Carey proposed that the Gulf of Mexico opened in a counter-clockwise fashion as the Yucatan Block – pinned to South America at one corner – was pulled rotationally away from southern North America while these continents separated from one another due to an expanding Earth. With the advent of plate tectonics, the theory that lithospheric loss at subduction zones balanced lithospheric gain at rift and sea-floor spreading zones was shown capable of explaining a large number of different geological features across the globe and through earth history in a simple model of mass balance. Despite this, neither a kinematic nor mechanical link between one or more zones of subduction and the inferred opening of the Gulf of Mexico has been established in any model in a compelling fashion to date. This study builds on recent advances on the dynamics of subduction zones and global tectonics to re-examine possible links between neighbouring subduction zones and the formation of the Gulf of Mexcio.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90369 © 2020 AAPG Hedberg Conference, Geology and Hydrocarbon Potential of the Circum-Gulf of Mexico Pre-salt Section, Mexico City, Mexico, February 4-6, 2020