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Currently, two basic models describe the genesis of the Caribbean Plate: (i) a Pacific model that derives the Caribbean Plate off southern Mexico and (ii) an in situ model. The Pacific model requires the 1100–1400 km sinistral displacement recorded across the Cayman Trough to pass through the Gulf of Tehuantepec into the Middle America Trench, but no evidence of such a connection exists. The in situ model is inconsistent with the 1100–1400 km displacement across the Cayman Trough. A way through this impasse is indicated by the northwestward curvature of active oblique reverse to sinistral transcurrent faulting in southeast Mexico. Extending this potential solution back to ca. 80 Ma forms the basis of the new Pirate model, in which the Caribbean Plate and the Chortis and Chiapas blocks are derived from the northwest by anticlockwise rotation during the latest Cretaceous and Cenozoic. Following passage of the Chortis Block, the northern and southern parts of the Yucatan block collided along the intra-Yucatan suture, producing the 11–9 Ma Chiapas fold-and-thrust belt. The Pirate model accounts for the N-trending segment of the Laramide Sierra Madre Oriental–Zongolica foldbelts by anticlockwise drag, Palaeogene palaeocanyons, the second, 66–40 Ma phase of rifting in the western Gulf of Mexico, and post-10 Ma extension in the Chortis Block (Chortis–Sula rift province). Impingement of the East Pacific Rise on the Middle America Trench led to modification of the Pirate model involving subduction erosion of the ∼200 km-wide, Eocene–Oligocene forearc at ca. 25 Ma, opening of the Gulf of California at ca. 6 Ma, and birth and ESE movement of the Southern Mexico block (<5 Ma) followed by its fragmentation. The Pirate mechanism indicates that the North American Plate is relatively weak and so tears and rotates into the trailing edge of the Caribbean Plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding Pangea breakup requires a robust reconstruction, and this article focuses on the Middle America sector of the supercontinent. Although most Pangean reconstructions locate the Yucatan Block along the southern USA, the Chortis Block is generally placed off southern Mexico (Pacific model), undergoing sinistral relative motion during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. However, the Pacific model is inconsistent with the absence of a Cenozoic fault linking the Cayman transforms and the Middle America Trench. We present an alternative Pangean reconstruction, where both the Yucatan and Chortis Blocks are placed in the future Gulf of Mexico, moving Mexico westwards along the Mojave–Sonora megashear to accommodate overlap with South America. Subsequent Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution is inferred to have occurred in two stages: (i) Jurassic clockwise rotation along the Mojave–Sonora and West Florida megashears, followed by (ii) Cenozoic anticlockwise rotation along the Sierra Madre Oriental and East Yucatan megashears. The first stage is linked to the breakup of Pangea where the Gulf of Mexico formed as a pull-apart basin. The second stage is related to the evolution of the Caribbean where the Chortis and Yucatan Blocks rotated into the trailing side of the Caribbean Plate (pirate model). The new reconstruction is consistent with major parameters, such as (i) gravity, magnetic, and palaeomagnetic data; (ii) the westward continuation of the Cayman transform faults through the Chiapas foldbelt and along the N–S front of the Sierra Madre Oriental foldbelt; (iii) the 27–19 Ma removal of the southern Mexican forearc; (iv) offset of the Cretaceous volcanic arc (Guerrero-Suina); (v) the deflection of the Laramide orogen (Sierra Madre Oriental–Zongolica–Colon); and (vi) the continuity of Cretaceous platformal carbonates containing Caribbean fauna across Middle America. In this latter context, the Motagua high-pressure belt is interpreted as a Cretaceous extrusion zone into the upper plate above a subduction zone rather than as an oceanic suture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]