How did the Gulf of Mexico form?
About 300 million years ago Europe, Africa, and South America collided with North America, form the supercontinent of Pangea. As Pangea ripped apart 200 million years ago, South America and the Yucatan Peninsula pulled away from the southern part of North America, opening the Gulf. 2. Why is North America above sea level, the Gulf of Mexico below? Like other continents, North America has thick crust, compared to surrounding ocean basins, like the Gulf of Mexico. Crust is light material that “floats” over the underlying, heavier mantle. Continental crust is thick and buoyant like a beach ball; it therefore sticks up higher than the surface of thin oceanic crust. 3. Why don’t large earth quakes or other tectonic activity occur along margins of the Gulf of Mexico? Tectonic activity commonly occurs along the boundaries of large, moving plates of Earth’s outer shell. The Pacific coast of the United States coincides with plate boundaries and is thus an active continental margin, with earthqu
