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Chortis block
As part of my research project to make mantle-reference framed
plate reconstructions of the (circum-) Caribbean region, I undertook a
fieldtrip to Honduras in central America,
which exhibits the so-called Chortis block. The Chortis block is a large (1000x1000 km) continental block
that was likely derived from the west-ward moving North American plate
(Mexico), but which became caught up in the relatively stationary Caribbean
plate sometime after the Cretaceous. At present it is separated from the
North-American plate by the Motagua-Cayman-Oriente transform
fault system, which forms the plate boundary with the Caribbean plate. Only
days before we went into the field, an M=7.3
earthquake hit Honduras, epicentered at the Swan Island fault, part of
the Motagua-Cayman system. This fieldwork was carried out together with Rob Rogers, from the California
State University at Stanislaus, the world’s leading specialist on Honduran Geology
and Roberto
Molina-Garza, a paleomagnetist from the Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México. Below the usual photo report of my fieldtrips, enjoy! Ow, and
because Bart has been complaining about the small size of the pictures on my
size for about 9 years now, I made them slightly larger. If your browser is
slow because of this, blame Bart J
The crew
Rob ‘Ginger’ Rogers
Roberto Molina-Garza
Me…
And our invaluable field pick-up J
The action
Rob, scouting for drillable rock
Found some…see next picture to read the sign on top of the outcrop…
Rocks for sale J
Ain’t I good ...
Roberto, drilling the upper Atima formation of Cretaceous limestones
Drilling the flanks of a fold for a paleomagnetic fold test (i.e. if we correct for bedding tilt, we should find the same paleomagnetic direction in both fold limbs)
Measuring…
Getting the core out
Big fun,
drilling red beds in the rainy season…
Roberto measuring my cores in a river bed…Rob studying a rock full of Cretaceous Rudist fossils (big bivalves, the light brown spots on the rock are all fossils)...
Rob just found out that sampling rudists works better with hammer & chisel than with a pick-axe J
Drilling somebody’s front yard…
The family watching
Wondering…
And asking
Small firemen J
Drilling in
the jungle
Teenage
mothers watching…Catholicism is a wonderful thing don’t you think?
Me, smackin’ a rock
1 road block
(wet cement), 2 disappointed geologists
Roberto,
drilling Miocene ignimbrites
Roberto, orienting hand samples (we busted both our drills),
being threatened by a major thunderstorm coming his way…
A well-deserved beer in the evening… The scenery
Collapsed bridge near San Pedro Sula, victim of the May 28 2009 earthquake
Another
victim bridge, this time due to Hurricane Mitch, 1998
Tegucigalpa traffic…
Orchids!
Some Wildlife…
Black Widow
…*Sometimes
I feel like I’m eating a dead horse’…J
Vultures in a dead tree J
Some more
Leafcutter ants
BIG (dead)
snake…
Vultures having beef for dinner…
Hummingbird
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