new observations demand revisions of currently accepted ... 2020_poster...erin beutel, college of...
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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; [email protected] and Irina Filina, University of Nebraska; [email protected]
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