GCSSEPM Luncheon: Friday October 25 Noon
Jim Pindell
Jim Pindell (Tectonic Analysis) will discuss “The Geological Evolution of Mexico.”
As part of the American Cordillera, we must examine and try to interpret Mexico’s geology and evolution in terms of continental and oceanic arc processes, or “cordilleran tectonics”, rather than plate tectonics. The “terrane philosophy” has been attempted since the 1980’s, but this has run its course and we now understand enough Mexican geology to return to traditional terms like “block”, “fault”, “thrust belt”, “suture”, etc. A map of pre-Triassic basement shows that much of Mexico did not exist in the Triassic; nevertheless, the reconstruction of western Pangea requires an origin for this crust several hundred km to the NW.
