Click to view enlargement.

Figure 1. Plate tectonic reconstruction for the Late Oxfordian (inset at left) showing plate boundaries and hotspot tracks (fixed positions with respect to Africa). A/S= the African/South American Plate; N= the North American Plate; b= the Bahamas Microplate; K= the Kula Plate; m= Mexican block. The Yucatan Rift Valley which evolved in the Jurassic between North America and Yucatan received marine incursions from the south supporting shallow-water Smackover carbonate source-rock deposition. A center of Smackover source-rock deposition active in the eastern Gulf Basin was separate as indicated in the AAPG COSUNA correlation chart for the northern Gulf Basin (inset lower right). Smackover equivalent strata from South Texas (at left) to northern Florida (at right) is bracketed between dashed lines.