Salvador, Amos (1987) Late Triassic-Jurassic Paleogeography and Origin of Gulf of Mexico Basin. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 71 (4). pp. 419-451.

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Abstract

The basic structural and stratigraphic framework of the
Gulf of Mexico Basin was established during the Late Triassic
and tbe Jurassic. During the Late Triassic and Early
Jurassic, as the North American plate started to separate
from the South American and African plates, the area of
the future basin was part of an extensive landmass broken
by tensional grabens that were filled by red beds and volcanics.
Marine deposition was restricted to embayments
of the Pacific Ocean in northwestern and central Mexico.
These marine embayments persisted during the early Middle
Jurassic, but seawater did not reach the future Gulf of
Mexico Basin until the Callovian. Widespread salt
deposits known today from two separate areas of the basin
resulted from this initial flooding. During the Late Jurassic
marine conditions progressively extended over
increasingly larger parts of the Gulf of Mexico Basin.
However, the basin was not connected to the Atlantic Ocean until late in the Jurassic. This paleogeographic
reconstruction suggests that the Gulf of Mexico Basin
formed as a result of the southward drift of the Yucatan
continental block away from the remainder of the North
American plate. The separation began in the Late Triassic,
continued slowly and sporadically during the Early and
Middle Jurassic, and quickened after the Middle Jurassic
salt formed. As a result, the salt deposits were split into the
two segments known today, and oceanic crust formed in
the center of the basin. Early in the Late Jurassic, the
Yucatan platform reached its present position and the
Gulf of Mexico Basin was born.

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