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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
Houston Geological Society Bulletin
Abstract
Abstract: A Two-Pole Model for the Origin of the
Gulf of Mexico Basin: Implications for Oceanic Crust
Architecture and Louann Salt Distribution
By
Conoco Inc, Houston
Magnetic and gravity data are used to refine regional depth to basement interpretations to derive oceanic crust and microplate boundaries, and to constrain crustal restorations of the Gulf of Mexico Basin (GOMB). These data are the basis for a GOMR reconstruction that requires two poles of rotation.
During the initial rift phase of GOMB Triassic deformation, the
combined Yucatan and South Florida blocks rotated 26 degrees
counterclockwise about a pole at 28.8° N., -82.7° W. This
departure produced up to 565 km of crustal extension in the
western GOMB, and a 450 km southeasterly translation of the
Yucatan/South Florida block
along the Florida Elbow fault.
Nonrigid reconstructions using this pole produce a +/-30 km
misfit on the restored northern and southern GOMB margins.
The drift phase of GOMB origin involved departure of the
Yucatan block
from the South Florida
block
and a 36 degree
counterclockwise rotation about a pole at 22.75° N, -83.72° W.
The tight predrift fit between the Yucatan and Florida margins is
constrained by a series of gravity and magnetic anomalies of
similar frequency and amplitude on the opposing margins.
Therefore no shear is required near the Florida Escarpment.
Magnetic data in the central GOMB show symmetric patterns that are interpreted as oceanic transform and ridge architecture. This architecture is kinematically consistent with the drift phase pole. Seismic interpretations of basement structure support the transform and ridge interpretations. This oceanic fabric influences autochthonous salt limits and thickness, which in turn have a major influence on GOMB deepwater structure and accommodation space.
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