Introduction
Prepared by: James A. Stewart-Moore
The Gulf of California is an active spreading center in the northeast part of Mexico. On the Eastern margin lies the Gulf Extensional Province (GEP) [Gastil et al., 1977], and its western margin is mainly composed of the Comondu Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene calc-alkaline arc [Pollares et al., 2007] (Figure 1). The Gulf of California is one of the few active examples of the transition from continental rifting to seafloor spreading [Oskin et al., 2001]. The tectonics and evolution of the opening Gulf of California, especially the timing of opening, are debated topics in the geoscience world. This page attempts to take a broad look at the evolution of the Gulf of California from the late Paleogene through Neogene time (~29 Ma to 6 Ma). In addition, there is a link at the top of the page that will allow you to investigate a technique, namely magnetic anomaly and bathymetry interpretation, that geologists use today to help them draw conclusions about the kinematics (which seeks to describe the motion of points, bodies, and systems of bodies) of parts of the world such as Baja California. If you care to take a deeper look into the science behind this page, please have a look at the cited papers on the references page. There is a link to the full citations at the top of this page.
Figure 1. The modern day Gulf of California and the surrounding geography. After Stock and Hodges (1989).