The Mezcalera Ocean is an inferred ancient ocean preserved in rocks in western Mexico. The Mezcalera oceanic plate was likely subducted and consumed into the mantle allowing the Guerrero Terrane to be accreted to western Mexico in the
Early Cretaceous
The Early Cretaceous ( geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphic name), is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 145 Ma to 100.5 Ma.
Geology
Pro ...
.
Speculative reconstructions suggest that Mezcalera plate experienced
slab rollback
Oceanic trenches are prominent long, narrow topographic depressions of the ocean floor. They are typically wide and below the level of the surrounding oceanic floor, but can be thousands of kilometers in length. There are about of oceanic tren ...
in the east along the Mexican Craton and simultaneously subducted in the west beneath the Guerrero Terrane.
See also
*
List of ancient oceans
This is a list of former oceans that disappeared due to tectonic movements and other geographical and climatic changes. In alphabetic order:
List
* Bridge River Ocean, the ocean between the ancient Insular Islands (that is, Stikinia) and North A ...
References
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Historical oceans
Oceanography
Jurassic Mexico