AAPG Memoir 75, Chapter 3: Middle Jurassic-Upper Cretaceous Paleogeographic Evolution and Sequence-stratigraphic Framework of the Northwest Gulf of Mexico Rim, by R. K. Goldhammer and C. A. Johnson, Pages 45 - 81
from:
AAPG Memoir 75: The Western Gulf of Mexico Basin: Tectonics, Sedimentary Basins, and Petroleum Systems, Edited by Claudio Bartolini, Richard T. Buffler, and Abelardo Cant-Chapa
Copyright 2001 by The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

Middle Jurassic-Upper Cretaceous Paleogeographic Evolution and Sequence-stratigraphic Framework of the Northwest Gulf of Mexico Rim

R. K. Goldhammer
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

C. A. Johnson
ExxonMobil Exploration Company, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

The area of northern Mexico and Texas combines elements from two different tectonostratigraphic provinces--(a) the Gulf of Mexico province (GOM province), located along the northwest rim of the present-day Gulf of Mexico in northeast Mexico and south Texas, and (b) the western Pacific Mexico province (WPM province), located in northwest Mexico and west Texas--and thereby enables one to compare and contrast Gulf of Mexico-driven versus Pacific-driven tectonostratigraphic processes. The area addressed in this paper (that is, the northwest rim of the Gulf of Mexico) contains elements related to both Gulf of Mexico passive-margin development (principally the stratigraphy) and to the Pacific-related convergent margin (arc) tectonism (chiefly the structure). The emphasis in the paper is on the GOM province, with particular reference made to the Sierra Madre Oriental region in the vicinity of the cities of Monterrey and Saltillo, in northeast Mexico.