The aim of this work is to constrain the provenance and depositional history of continental slope sediments in the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico (~1089–1785 m water depth). To achieve this, 10 piston sediment cores (~5–5.5 m long) were studied for mineralogy, major, trace and rare earth element geochemistry. Samples were analyzed at three core sections, i.e. upper (0–1 cm), middle (30–31 cm) and lower (~300–391 cm). The textural study reveals that the core sediments are characterized by silt and clay fractions. Radiocarbon dating of sediments for the cores at different levels indicated a maximum of ~28,000 year BP.