Abstract The base of the stratigraphic and structural frame of the Gulf of Mexico Basin was formed during the late Triassic and into the Jurassic. Additional to this, the configuration of the early Gulf of Mexico is based off of basinal facies of the Jurassic period. The break up Pangea started something we know so close to home – the beach for us here in Southern Mississippi, but so much more than that; a major economical resource. The configuration of the basin margin during much of the Late Jurassic was controlled by what is considered to be a system of rather dense intracrustal masses. Speaking of Mississippi, that is also something rather important. The uplifts, thickening sequences, and fault systems of Mississippi played a bit of a role in the formation of Gulf of Mexico Basin as well. The sediment record is used to help determine the tectonic development and stratigraphy of this specific area of the Basin.

Introduction …show more content…
The basin is said to be aged around 300 million years old. In the beginning, the Gulf of Mexico, was part of the ever-famous supercontinent Pangea (Salvador, 1987). The evidence that first indicated the beginning stages of the Gulf of Mexico formation is the development of extensive grabens around the sideline of the basin during the Late Triassic period (Salvador, 1987). These grabens coincided with the break-up of Pangea on the North American plate. When studied, the grabens were found to be filled with clastics (Pilger), nonmarine redbeds along with basaltic dikes, sills, and hardened volcanic flows (Salvador,