Caribbean basin framework, 2: Northern Central America

Conference · Fri Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1991 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:7012987

Tyburski, S A; Gordon, M B; Mann, P ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Texas, Austin (United States)

There are four Jurassic to Recent basin-forming periods in northern Central America (honduras, Honduran Borderlands, Belize, Guatemala, northern Nicaragua): (1) Middle Jurassic-Early Cretaceous rifting and subsidence along normal faults in Honduras and Guatemala; rifts are suggested but are not well defined in Honduras by the distribution of clastic sediments and associated volcanic rocks. Rifting is attributed to the separation of Central America from the southern margin of the North American plate; (2) Cretaceous subsidence recorded by the development of a Cretaceous carbonate platform in Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize; subsidence is attributed to thermal subsidence of the rifted margins of the various blocks; (3) Late Cretaceous-Recent development of a volcanic arc along the western margin of Middle America and the northern margin of Honduras; (4) Late Cretaceous large-scale folding in Honduras, ophiolite obduction, and formation of a foredeep basin in Guatemala (Sepur trough); deformation is attributed to the collision between a north-facing arc in northern Honduras and the Nicaraguan Rise and the passive margin of Guatemala and Belize; and (5) Eocene to Recent strike-slip faulting along the present-day North American-Caribbean plate boundary in Guatemala, northern Honduras, and Belize. Strike-slip faults and basins form a California-type borderlands characterized by elongate basins that appear as half-grabens in profile. Counterclockwise rotation of the central honduras plateau, a thicker and topographically higher-than-average block within the plate boundary zone, is accommodated by rifting or strike-slip faults at its edges.

• OSTI ID: 7012987
• Report Number(s): CONF-910403--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Journal Volume: 75:3
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
BELIZE
CENTRAL AMERICA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GUATEMALA
HONDURAS
JURASSIC PERIOD
LATIN AMERICA
MESOZOIC ERA
NICARAGUA
RIFT ZONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
TECTONICS
VOLCANISM