The role of Mexico during Supercontinent assemblage and breakup - geochronological approaches in basement inliers

Since the first Pangea reconstructions 60 years ago, there has been controversy over how to deal with most of Mexico that overlaps with northwestern South America. Early exotic terrane theories have been gradually discarded, and Mexico’s Precambrian and Paleozoic history is now considered part of global supercontinent cycles. This talk focuses on discoveries from poorly understood or previously unknown metamorphic basement units in Mexico. Different geochronological and isotopic approaches (U-Pb, Sm-Nd, Lu-Hf, ∂¹⁸O) using both traditional (ID-TIMS) and modern (LA-ICP-MS and SIMS) analytical methods have helped to understand igneous and metamorphic histories, as well as paleogeographic connections and tectonic processes.