EESB15H3 Lecture 10: Lecture 10 - Mesozoic
15 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
During the early mesozoic, the supercontinent pangea began to break apart. Along the rift zones created by the breakup, magma rose though faults and fractures, forming multiple basaltic lava flows. During the triassic period along the eastern margin of north america, non-marine red beds, arkosic sandstones, and lake shales filled basins that had formed by down faulted crustal blocks during the initial stages of rifting. As the fragmentation of pangea progressed, rift zones lengthened to form narrow ocean tracts. The gulf of mexico began to form in the. Late triassic and jurassic as north america separated from south america. Restricted circulation and warm climates resulted in evaporite deposition. Salt domes, which formed due to confining pressure on deep salt beds, have provided traps for oil and gas. During the cretaceous, epicontinental seas spread widely across north america and. Chalk was a particularly common sediment type deposited in these seas.
