Let's talk a bit about the geology of the Gulf of Mexico--something vastly bigger than the body of water separating the U.S., Mexico & Cuba.
Its geology goes into Arkansas, much of Florida, & well into Texas & coastal Mexico.
(Figs from Snedden & Galloway's "The Gulf of Mexico Sedimentary Basin")
Its geology goes into Arkansas, much of Florida, & well into Texas & coastal Mexico.
(Figs from Snedden & Galloway's "The Gulf of Mexico Sedimentary Basin")
Comments
In its place was a vast zone of continental collision--perhaps something Central Europe's Alps or the Anatolian Plateau (definitely *not* like Tibet!)--fromed by Laurentia's collision with Gondwana
Earth's continents are really giant combinations of blocks of truly ancient, low density crust called cratons and younger rims. These cratons have had different configurations.
Gondwana is a massive continent in the Triassic that later split to form South America, Africa, + a lot more.
This isn't the formation of the Caribbean--a way more complicated story--but of a now gone extension of the North Atlantic: the Paleo-Caribbean.
See linked for reconstruction that superseded the one your mentioning: