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Skylab photography applied to geologic mapping in northwestern Central AmericaTwo photolineation maps of southwestern Guatemala and Chiapas were made from S190 photographs along a ground track from Acajutla, El Salvador to San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. The maps document a structural complexity spanning the presumed triple junction of the Cocos, Americas, and Caribbean plates. The Polochic fault zone, supposedly the Americas-Caribbean plate boundary, is a sharply delineated feature across western Guatemala. Westward of the Mexican border it splays into a large number of faults with NW to SW trends. The structural pattern is quite different to the north (Americas plate) and to the south (Caribbean plate) of the Polochic fault, though both areas are dominated by NW-trending lineations. Within the Central American volcanic chain, the lineation patterns support the segmented model of the Benioff Zone, by showing a concentration of transverse lineations in the predicted locations, most notably NE-trending elements near Quezaltenango, Guatemala. The structural pattern obtained from the maps are compared to patterns described on recently published maps of more southerly parts of Central America, to begin a synthesis of the structure of the convergent plate boundary.
Document ID
19760010427
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Rose, W. I., Jr.
(Michigan Technological Univ. Houghton, MI, United States)
Johnson, D. J.
(Michigan Technological Univ. Houghton, MI, United States)
Hahn, G. A.
(Michigan Technological Univ. Houghton, MI, United States)
Johns, G. W.
(Michigan Technological Univ. Houghton, MI, United States)
Date Acquired
August 8, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 1975
Publication Information
Publication: NASA. Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center NASA Earth Resources Surv. Symp., Vol. 1-B
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
G-17
Accession Number
76N17515
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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