Abstract
This paper classifies the karst landscapes of the Petén Plateau and defines the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin by illustrating the distribution of its karst hydrologic features. Archaeological and spatial research of the Mirador-Calakmul area of Guatemala and Mexico has shown it to be a karst basin with geopolitical implications. Current research characterizes the karst landscapes of the Petén Plateau, maps the distribution of karst hydrologic features, and delineates the basin in geomorphological terms. To further this aim, multiple forms of remote sensing data including orthophotographs, a satellite Digital Elevation Model, satellite multispectral images, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data have been integrated to interpret the karst features in the study area. Outcrop study and thin section analysis of the upper Buena Vista Formation document that the dominant lithologies are a shallow water algal boundstone interbedded with terrestrial caliche. Karst landforms have been mapped over the Petén Plateau and we identify five karst landscapes, the largest of which is a fluviokarst landscape dominated by karst valleys. We further map karst hydrologic features including seasonal swamps, dolines, intermittent lakes, intermittent streams, solution-enhanced fractures, and springs all of which are characteristic of drainage basins. Boundaries of the karst basin are mapped from multiple lines of evidence including distribution of the karst valleys, a line of springs along the western boundary of the fluviokarst landscape, and a surface drainage analysis. We capture and classify hydrologic data points and develop a regional groundwater map that indicates subsurface flow from east to west within the basin. A drainage map illustrates the extensive system of karst valleys, boundaries, and inferred groundwater flow paths of the Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin. It was within this geomorphological setting that the ancient Maya developed an extensive civilization during the Middle and Late Preclassic periods (1000 BCE-150 CE).
Highlights
The Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin is a unique hydrogeological setting in the southern Yucatan Peninsula that fostered development of the incipient Maya civilization
Karst landforms have been mapped over the Peten Plateau and we identify five karst landscapes, the largest of which is a fluviokarst landscape dominated by karst valleys
We place the BVF on the east side of the plateau at the base of the sharp topographic break that begins near the Mexico-Guatemala border and extends south beyond Paso Caballos
Summary
The Mirador-Calakmul Karst Basin is a unique hydrogeological setting in the southern Yucatan Peninsula that fostered development of the incipient Maya civilization. The central Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and Guatemala is an upland region of low hills recognized by cartographers since early colonial times Heilprin first described this hilly region in geologic terms as an axial fold associated with uplift [1], while Wadell was the first author to consider the hilly backbone a plateau [2]. Outcropping on the plateau in the Peten are Lower Paleogene limestones and evaporites of the Buena Vista Formation, broadly correlative with the Icaiche Formation in Campeche, both heretofore considered deposited in a shallow to restricted marine setting [6,7] Within this geological setting, the rolling hills of the plateau and the flanking lowlands the ancient Maya developed early civilization
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