Magnetic investigation of the continental-oceanic crustal boundary ; northern Gulf of Mexico.

Current mapping of magnetic intensity data shows that the Gulf Coast magnetic anomaly is not one anomaly but two distinct anomalies, with one portion trending parallel to the margin before curving northward through central Texas, and then northeastward into the Balcones Fault Zone along the eastern trace of the Ouachita Deformation Front, and the other following the coastline into Louisiana. Multiple profiles perpendicular to the geologic strike of the anomalies lead to the interpretation of these anomalies as the superposition of a normal rifting feature and a pre-existing crustal feature remnant of a complex tectonic history in the region. The location of the pre-existing feature and the rift anomaly suggest pre-rifting lithosphere conditions influenced the rifting process as seen in other passive rifting models.