Abstract

The Miocene Nanchital conglomerate of the western Chiapas Foldbelt is the coarsest terrigenous clastic depositional Cenozoic unit of the region, probably comprising more proximal sections of hydrocarbon-rich slope-fan reservoirs found in the more distal Sureste Basin of the southern Gulf of Mexico fringe. Traditionally, the felsic igneous and metamorphic components of the conglomerate were assumed to derive from the Permian basement of the nearby Chiapas Massif. However, zircon U–Pb dating of five Nanchital conglomerate clasts from the Chiapas Foldbelt as well as several igneous exposures in SW Tehuantepec indicates that the Nanchital conglomerate's catchment area included the western Isthmus of Tehuantepec for late Middle Miocene and possibly early Late Miocene time, after which the more proximal Chiapas Massif and Chiapas Foldbelt likely became dominant. This study suggests that traditional concerns over the limited extent of quartz-rich clastic source areas feeding terrigenous clastic reservoirs in the Sureste Basin might be overly pessimistic. We propose a temporal framework for viewing Neogene and Quaternary clastic supply to the southern Gulf of Mexico.