Part 1 of this work (Sedlock, Ortega-Gutiérrez, and Speed) is a synthesis of geoscientific data pertaining to México and northern Central America using the framework of a new division of these regions into tectonostratigraphic terranes. First, we review the morphotectonic provinces and the modern plate tectonic framework of the region. Next, we present data for 17 terranes that, except for North America, are named after indigenous cultures. Terrane descriptions are based on published and unpublished geophysical and geologic data of all types, utilizing a much more extensive data base than that used in previous terrane divisions. Each terrane description includes, if possible, an interpretive geologic and tectonic history focusing on distinctive features; a description of constituent rock units, with extended descriptions of especially significant or controversial units; a schematic tectonostratigraphic column, which in many cases shows geographic variation in the form of a structure section; and a compilation of radiometric data, including dates, system used, errors, and sources. Finally, we discuss the rationale for distinguishing individual terranes and summarize data concerning the orientation, nature, and kinematic history of terrane boundaries. An extended reference list is included.Part 2 of this work (Sedlock, Speed, and Ortega-Gutiérrez) is a speculative model of the Late Precambrian to Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the terranes that comprise México and northern Central America. First, we discuss numerous formal premises on which the model is predicated, including Late Jurassic sinistral slip on the Mojave-Sonora Megashear and Late Cretaceous-Paleogene northward displacement of Baja California. Next, we review constraints imposed by plate motion models on the tectonic evolution of the region. Finally, we present a reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of the region that, while certainly not a unique solution, is an internally consistent solution that is testable in many respects.The following are a few of the salient features of the reconstruction. (1) Grenville basement in eastern and southern México is regarded to be far-traveled with respect to the southern termination of the Grenville belt in North America. (2) The late Paleozoic Ouachitan suture that marks the collision of North America and Gondwana does not and did not extend into central México. (3) The Permo-Triassic continental arc on the western margin of Pangea affected only the far eastern edge and far northwestern corner of México; most of what is now México was a complex assemblage of arcs, continental blocks, and basins in the oceanic region west and south of the Pangean continental arc. (4) Continental México grew most markedly toward its present form during the Late Triassic and Jurassic as terranes were episodically accreted to its southern and western flanks. (5) Mesozoic southward and westward continental growth was accompanied by a southward and westward shift of the locus of arc magmatism. (6) The technically active southern and ...
