New observations demand revisions of currently accepted tectonic models of the Gulf of Mexico

Introduction

• While most tectonic models agree that the initiation of the Gulf of

Mexico began in the late Triassic with continental rifting and

progressed to oceanic rifting around 160 Ma (e.g. Eddy et al., 2014;

Snedden et al., 2014; Nquyen and Mann, 2016; Pindell et al., 2016), the

original position of the Yucatan block and its subsequent journey are

incredibly varied.

• The majority of published models restore the Western Yucatan margin

to Texas-Louisiana as this provides a tight fit

• We use potential fields and seismic data to identify geologic structures

on the Yucatan and North America plate that were likely formed as

conjugate margins to reconstruct the original position and motion of the

Yucatan (from 200 to 137 Ma) to open the Gulf of Mexico.

Tectonic features

Erin Beutel, College of Charleston; beutele@cofc.edu and Irina Filina, University of Nebraska; ifilina2@unl.edu

We applied a Bouguer correction to the original Free-Air Gravity grid from

Sandwell et al. (2014), removed the regional trend and applied a high-pass

filter to highlight shallow crustal structures. See Filina et al. (2020) for details

on gravity reduction and filtering.

We have outlined the pre-salt basins and the regions of Seaward Dipping

Reflectors (SDR) based on integration of potential fields and seismic data

(Liu et al., 2019; Filina and Hartford, 2019)

New observations demand revisions of currently accepted tectonic models of the Gulf of Mexico

Observation Interpretation Timing Implication Constraint Reconstruction

SDRs

Evidence of magmatic

activity during

continental rifting stage

(Eddy et al., 2014; Liu et

al., 2019; Filina and

Hartford, 2019)

SDRs ~ 190 Ma (per

DSDP well 535A, Buffler

et al., 1984)

Magmatic burst during the

last stage of the continental

rifting and marks the end of

extensive magmatism

The SDRs on the Yucatan

block and on the North

American margin should be

near each other once

reconstructed

Presalt

sedimentary

basins (marginal

rifts)

The syn-rift sediments

before the deposition of

salt at ~ 169 Ma (Pindell

et al., 2019)

From ~ 190 to ~ 169 Ma,

most likely deposited in

the sag formed due to

cooling at the end of the

SDR magmatism

Local subsidence and

accumulation of up to 5 km

thick sediments (Williams-

Rojas et al., 2012; Miranda

et al., 2014) indicate lack of

magmatic activity

Known to be in the eastern

GOM (Sounders et al.,

2017; Liu et al., 2019) and

in the southern GOM (e.g.

O'Reilly et al., 2017), so

should be aligned once

restored

Outer Trough

Zone of significant

thickening of

Jurassic strata in

the Northern

Yucatan

Evidence of uncontrolled

flow of salt with the

Jurassic overburden

(Hudec and Norton,

2019)

~ 169 – ~160 Ma

Post-salt continental

stretching (Hudec et al.,

2013)

Interpreted as exhumation

of lower continental crust

(Filina and Hartford, 2019)

suggesting no magmatism

immediately before oceanic

spreading

May not have a conjugate

structure as was developed

in amagmatic settings and

may be asymmetric;

Initial oceanic spreading

likely to be ultra-slow

Phase 1 of

oceanic spreading

Ultra-slow (0.9 cm/yr,

Filina et al., 2020)

spreading producing thin

and uniform oceanic

crust (~ 5 km; Christeson

et al., 2014)

~ 160 – ~ 150 Ma (ages

from Snedden et al.,

2014)

Ridge reorganization at

~ 150 Ma (Filina et al.,

2020)

Rotation of the Yucatan

around the nearby pole

produces E-W spreading

centers, low availability of

magmatic material

The E-W ridges from

Yucatan and North America

should be adjacent during

reconstruction

Phase 2 of

oceanic spreading

Slow (1.1 cm/yr, Filina

et al., 2020 ) spreading

resulting in thicker (up to

9 km) and layered crust

(Eddy et al., 2018)

~ 150 – ~ 137 Ma (end of

spreading is from

Snedden et al., 2014)

Final separation of Yucatan

from North America allows

southward migration of the

Yucatan block;

Increase in magma supply

All oceanic crust should be

formed by ~ 137 Ma

130 Ma

160 Ma

187 Ma FL

Yu

175 Ma FL

Yu

FL

Yu

FL

Yu

TX

GoM

LA

FL

Yu

TX LA

150 Ma

New observations demand revisions of currently accepted tectonic models of the Gulf of Mexico

References

Additional Observations

1. GUMBO experiment images thinned and intruded continental crust with

multiple magmatic additions (Christeson et al, 2014, Eddy et al., 2014 and

2018; Van Avendonk et al., 2015). This contradicts to tectonic models that

propose the oceanic crust underlies all offshore of the basin (Lundin and

Dore, 2017) and the ones proposing the presence of exhumed mantle

(Kneller and Johnson, 2011; Pindell et al., 2016; Minguez et al., 2020)

2. The OCB for line GUMBO 2 is near the Sigsbee escarpment (Eddy et al.,

2018; Filina, 2019) – this contradicts to many models reconstructing Yucatan

to Texas-Louisiana margin (Eddy et al., 2014; Pindell et al., 2016; Nguyen

and Mann, 2016) as they will end up with a wide overlap of continental

crust.

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Model Comparison

• Temporal variability of magmatic regime during basin formation:

- CAMP (~200 Ma) presumably responsible for the observed SDRs

- Ultra-slow amagmatic spreading during the initial stage of the GOM opening

~160 Ma

- Major ridge reorganization (~150 Ma) associated with increased magmatic

supply.

• These variations in magmatic regime combined with apparent mismatches in

geological structures on “conjugate” margins call for some revisions of the

currently accepted tectonic models for the GOM.

• We propose new locations of the Yucatan crustal block at 190 through 150 Ma

that take into account geological observations listed in the Table on page 2.

Conclusions

A. Model of Eddy et al., 2014

Figures A and B show tectonic reconstruction at 190 Ma; see

symbology on page 1. Figure A reconstructed using the model from

Eddy et al., 2014. resulting in significant overlap of continental crust.

Figure B is our reconstruction with both SDRs and pre-salt conjugate.

B. This study