PREBREAKUP GEOLOGY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO-CARIBBEAN - ITS RELATION TO TRIASSIC AND JURASSIC RIFT SYSTEMS OF THE REGION

A review of the prebreakup geology of west central Pangea, comprising northern South America, the Gulf of Mexico, and West Africa, combined with a study of the Mesozoic rift trends of the region confirms a relation between the rift systems and the underlying older grain of deformation. The prebreakup analysis focuses attention on the Precambrian, early Paleozoic, and late Paleozoic tectonic events affecting the region and assumes a Pindell fit. Two late Precambrian orogenic belts are observed in west central Pangea. Along the northern South American margin and Yucatan a paleo northeast trending Pan-African aged fold belt is documented. A second system is observed along West Africa extending from the High Atlas to the Mauritanides and Rockelides. Similar aged orogenies in the Appalachians are compared. During the late Paleozoic, renewed orogenic activity, associated with the Gondwana-Laurentia suture, affected large segments of west central Pangea. The general trend of the system is northeast-southwest and essentially parallels the Guayana craton and West African and eastern North American cratons. Mesozoic rifting closely followed either the Precambrian trends or the late Paleozoic orogenic belt. The Triassic component focused along the western portions of the Gulf of Mexico continuing into eastern Mexico and western South America. The Jurassic rift trend followed along the separation between Yucatan and northern South America. At Lake Maracaibo the Jurassic rift system eventually overlaps the Triassic rifts. The Jurassic rift resulted in the ''Hispanic Corridor'' that permitted Tethyan and Pacific marine faunas to mix at a time when the Gulf of Mexico underwent continental sedimentation.