Even though exploration, exploitation, and the discovery of new fields continue along the perimeter of the Golden Lane, the origin of this Cretaceous atoll is still a subject of controversy. The most widely accepted hypothesis is that it is a biohermal reef that began to grow during late Neocomian time on a late Kimeridgian (Late Jurassic) positive element called the "Isla de Tuxpan." At some localities within the atoll rim, evaporite, calcarenite, and dolomite are present. Elsewhere, however, the sedimentary rocks are rudistid-bearing limestone or miliolid limestone.

The atoll rim consists of a prominent belt of structural culminations underlain by rudistid and/or miliolid limestone. The Jardin No. 35, drilled in 1930, and Mesita No. 1 and Canas No. 101, drilled in 1968, are the only wells which have penetrated the reef core. Data from these wells, however, can be interpreted in more than one way. Notwithstanding the depositional environment in which rudistids are believed to have lived (rudistids are the principal component of this great reef), its morphology (i.e., is it a bioherm, a biostrome, or a combination of the two?) will continue to be a subject of conjecture.

Through December 1967 the cumulative production from the Golden Lane fields was approximately 1.25 billion bbl of oil.