Guatemala's Motagua Valley: a neglected piece of the northern Caribbean puzzle

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985 · Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)

OSTI ID:6462103

Johnson, K R; Muller, P D

The arcuate ENE to WNW-trending Motagua Valley (MV) is the physiographic expression of the Motagua Valley Fault Zone (MFZ), part of the broad transform boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates in Nuclear Central America. The MV also marks a suture formed by Late Cretaceous collapse of a small(.) ocean basin by southward subduction beneath a northward migrating volcanic arc. The arc collided with the southern Yucatan Block (YB) in the Campanian-Maastrichtian. Latest Cretaceous thrusting, crustal downwarping, and flysch sedimentation (Sepur Fm) along the southern YB was followed by Paleogene uplift, initiation of strike-slip faulting, and deposition of continental clastics (Subinal Fm) in and south of the MV. Deposition of the Subinal Fm and coarse Neogene clastics within the MV occurred in pull-apart basins which were and continue to be uplift by transpression along the MFZ. Major (>100 km) Cenozoic sinistral displacement on the Caribbean-North American plate boundary required by the opening of the Cayman Trough is not documented by offset of distinct geological markers on land. The maximum demonstrated sinsitral offset on the MFZ is roughly 20 km, based on inferred separations of Plio-Quaternary alluvial fans from their source areas along the southern margin of the MV. However, large lateral offsets on the MFZ are strongly suggested by the presence of Cenozoic pull-apart basins in the valley, flower structures, and contrasting Cenozoic magmatic history of the basement terranes adjacent to the MV.

• Research Organization: Pennzoil International, Houston, TX (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6462103
• Report Number(s): CONF-8510489-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 17
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580201* -- Geophysics-- Seismology & Tectonics-- (1980-1989)
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BASEMENT ROCK
CARIBBEAN SEA
CENTRAL AMERICA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GUATEMALA
LATIN AMERICA
MAGMATISM
MESOZOIC ERA
METAMORPHISM
PLATE TECTONICS
SEAS
SUBDUCTION ZONES
SURFACE WATERS
TECTONICS