Florida lineament: Key tectonic element of eastern Gulf of Mexico

Conference · Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5836512

Christenson, G ^[1]

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1. British Gas, Houston, TX (USA)

The origin of the Florida lineament, a major basement lineament that strikes northwest-southeast across the West Florida Shelf and southern Florida, is a key to the history of the Gulf of Mexico. Regional magnetic and gravity trends are truncated along the Florida lineament. New geologic data from recent wells on the West Florida Shelf and magnetic anomaly data indicate that pre-Mesozoic basement terranes on opposite sides of the Florida lineament were contiguous prior to Triassic-Jurassic volcanism and exhibit only minimal lateral offset across the Florida lineament at present. The lack of major lateral offset of pre-Mesozoic basement terranes across the Florida lineament and lithologic and geophysical data suggest that the lineament represents a Triassic-Jurassic extensional rift margin. The Florida lineament is interpreted to be the southeastward continuation of the well-documented peripheral fault system, which delineates the rifted continental margin of the northern Gulf basin. The continuation of the peripheral fault system along the Florida lineament suggests that the tectonostratigraphic terranes associated with the Mesozoic producing trends of the northern Gulf basin may extend southeastward along the Florida lineament. The interpretation of the Florida lineament as an extensional rift margin places significant constraints on any tectonic model of the Gulf of Mexico region. A tectonic interpretation consistent with the constraints suggests that the West Florida Shelf and southern Florida region formed as the result of Triassic-Jurassic extension around a pole of rotation in central Florida. The central Florida pole of rotation is intermediate to the poles of rotation counterclockwise of Yucatan out of the northern Gulf basin. This suggests that the region south of the Florida lineament underwent extension synchronous with the rotation of the Yucatan block.

• OSTI ID: 5836512
• Report Number(s): CONF-9010204-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 74:9; Conference: Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies and Gulf Coast Section of SEPM (Society of Economics, Paleontologists, and Mineralogist) meeting, Lafayette, LA (USA), 17-19 Oct 1990; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
GULF OF MEXICO
TECTONICS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
FLORIDA
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
JURASSIC PERIOD
RIFT ZONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
TRIASSIC PERIOD
VOLCANISM
ATLANTIC OCEAN
CARIBBEAN SEA
FEDERAL REGION IV
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
580000* - Geosciences