PROBABLE CRETACEOUS-TO-RECENT RIFTING IN THE GULF-OF-MEXICO BASIN .2.AN ANSWER TO CALLOVIAN SALT DEFORMATION AND DISTRIBUTION PROBLEMS

Part I of this paper (Journ. rn. Petrol. Geol. 17, no. 4, pp. 429-444, hereafter referred to as Reed, 1994a) discussed the deformation and d istribution problems presented by the thick Callovian salt found in th e Gulf of Mexico Basin, and the enigma it presents to explorationists studying rite area. Attempted solutions for the problems were discusse d, together with reasons why these solutions have generally not been s uccessful. A radical, new model was presented that would answer most o f the salt problems; this model entails continuous rifting in the Gulf from Late Cretaceous to Recent times. This would imply that the Gulf of Mexico is a tectonically-active basin, in contrast to the more wide ly accepted passive-basin theory. This concluding section of the paper discusses evidence from the Gulf which supports the active-basin theo ry.