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This zigzag type of fault trace is known as "mole track", which is best developed in hard-packed, brittle surface materials. The Motagua Fault has been responsible for several major earthquakes in Guatemala's history, including the 7.5 M w Guatemala 1976 earthquake, and is also notable for its significant visible fault trace. [4]
A map of Guatemala. Guatemala is mountainous, except for the south coastal area and the vast northern lowlands of Petén department. The country is located in Central America and bounded to the north and west by Mexico, to the east by Belize and by the Gulf of Honduras, to the east by Honduras, to the southeast by El Salvador, and to the south by the Pacific Ocean.
Plate tectonics in the Americas Motagua Fault (green line) and the Middle America Trench (pink line). Earthquakes are relatively frequent occurrences in Guatemala. [1] The country lies in a major fault zone known as the Motagua and Chixoy-Polochic fault complex, which cuts across Guatemala and forms the tectonic boundary between the Caribbean plate and the North American plate.
Between Honduras and Guatemala, the frontier is formed by the Sierra de Merendón. A few of the streams of the Pacific slope actually rise in the highlands pushing through the Sierra Madre at the bottom of deep ravines. A large river, the Chixoy or Salinas River, flows northwards towards the Gulf of Mexico.
San Andreas Fault System (Banning fault, Mission Creek fault, South Pass fault, San Jacinto fault, Elsinore fault) 1300: California, United States: Dextral strike-slip: Active: 1906 San Francisco (M7.7 to 8.25), 1989 Loma Prieta (M6.9) San Ramón Fault: Chile: Thrust fault: Sawtooth Fault: Idaho, United States: Normal fault: Seattle Fault ...
A fault plane is the plane that represents the fracture surface of a fault. A fault trace or fault line is a place where the fault can be seen or mapped on the surface. A fault trace is also the line commonly plotted on geologic maps to represent a fault. [3] [4] A fault zone is a cluster of parallel faults.
The geology of Guatemala encompasses rocks divided into two tectonic blocks. The Maya Block in the north has igneous and metamorphic North American Craton basement rocks , overlain by late Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks, which experienced deformation during the Devonian .
Fault-block mountain of the tilted type. [16] Sierra Nevada Mountains (formed by delamination) as seen from the International Space Station. When a fault block is raised or tilted, a block mountain can result. [17] Higher blocks are called horsts, and troughs are called grabens. A spreading apart of the surface causes tensional forces.