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T H O M A S H. A N D E R S O N Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas

78712
B U R K E B U R K A R T Department of Geology, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
R U S S E L L E. C L E M O N S Department of Earth Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New
Mexico 88001
O T T O H. B O H N E N B E R G E R Instituto Centroamericano de Investigación y Tecnología Industrial,
Guatemala City, Guatemala
D O N N. BLOUNT1 Research Department, Union Oil Company of California, Brea, California 92621

Geology of the Western Altos Cuchumatanes,

Northwestern Guatemala
ABSTRACT
The western Altos Cuchumatanes is a deeply
dissected, northwest-trending, fault-bounded
uplift in northwestern Guatemala. About 7,500
m of sedimentary rocks, which is perhaps the
thickest exposed section of sedimentary rocks
in Central America, lie upon basement rocks
consisting of slate, schist, quartzite, gneiss,
amphibolite, and intrusive and volcanic rocks
of unknown age and thickness. The lowermost
overlying strata, consisting predominantly of
clastic rocks, are included within the Santa
Rosa Group which is composed of the Chicol
(800 to 1,200 m), Tactic (800 m), Esperanza
(300 to 500 m), and Ch6chal (300 to 1,000 m)
Formations. The Tactic and Esperanza are
probably of Late Pennsylvanian(?) to Permian
age, whereas the age of the Chicol, which is
probably lithostratigraphically equivalent to
the Sacapulas Formation to the east, can only
be said to lie within the Ordovician-Permian
interval. The Chochal Formation, composed of
fossiliferous limestone and dolomite, locally in-
cludes an upper sequence of fine-grained
siliciclastic beds intercalated with abundantly
fossiliferous carbonate layers, informally known
as the Tuilan member. The age of the Chochal
ranges from Leonardian to early Guadalupian.
The unconformably overlying Todos Santos
Formation is comprised of conglomerate, sand-
stone, siltstone, shale, and locally contains
limestone lenses near the top. Its thickness
1
Don N. Blount was killed on May 6, 1968, while on a
field trip in Mexico and during the early stages of
compilation of this paper.
ranges from a few meters to about 1,200 m, and
its age is considered to be Late Jurassic-Early
Cretaceous. The Ixcoy Formation, of Cretace-
ous age, consists of about 2,500 m of carbonate
rocks with a few interbeds of fine siliceous
clastic material. The Sepur Formation is com-
posed of 245 m of fine-grained red beds, marl,
and calcarenite of Campanian to Maestrichtian
age. The Colotenango beds (an informal name
applied to a lithologic unit confined to the
Selegua and Cuilco Valleys) consist of about
500 m of conglomerate, sandstone, mudstone,
and volcanic rocks. These beds are probably of
late Tertiary and Quaternary age. The young-
est sediments in the western Altos Cuchuma-
tanes are Quaternary deposits of till, volcanic
ash, and alluvium. Plutonic rocks range in age
from early Paleozoic (or older) to Late Cre-
taceous-early Tertiary.
In western Guatemala, and within the west-
ern Altos Cuchumatanes, the Chixoy-Polochic
fault zone separates pre-Permian crystalline
rocks to the south from younger sedimentary
rocks to the north. The regional tectonic grain,
which is parallel to the Chixoy-Polochic and
Motagua fault zones to the east, swings north-
westward near Huehuetenango and continues
into Mexico where it coincides with regional
trends in Chiapas, Mexico. Several probably
strike-slip faults splay to the west-northwest,
away from the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone.
This divergent regional grain is also char-
acterized by broad folds and high-angle normal
and reverse faults. Structural relief on the
Todos Santos-Ixcoy contact is more than 1,500
m. The age of the latest folding is early Eocene
or younger. Two, and possibly more, older

Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 84, p. 805-826, 12 figs., March 1973

805
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ANDERSON 3, 2015
OTHERS
Figure 1. Sketch map of Guatemala showing
physiographic provinces, some important tectonic
episodes of tectonism are evident in the western
Altos Cuchumatanes. Intensely folded rocks
belonging to the Santa Rosa Group, intruded
by late Paleozoic plutons, represent a late
Paleozoic mountain structure that lies buried
beneath Mesozoic rocks. This buried erosioral
high, the Poxlac uplift, was apparently com-
pletely covered by the Todos Santos Forma-
tion.
INTRODUCTION
T h e Altos Cuchumatanes is the highest and
northwesternmost elongate range in the Cer.-
features, location of areas where previous work was
done, and quadrangles mentioned in the text.
tral Cordillera of northern Central America
(Fig. 1). T h e western Altos Cuchumatanes,
called the Cordillera de los Cuchumatanes on
the recently published topographic quadrangle
maps of Guatemala, is located in the Depart-
ment of Huehueterango. The southern flank of
the western Altos Cuchumatanes is essentially a
fault-line scarp more than 1,000 m in height
which is associated with Chixoy-Polochic fault
zone.
This report is the first published systematic
geologic study of the western Altos Cuchuma-
tanes. Dollfus and Mont-Serrat (1868) made a
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WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA
generalized geologic map of Guatemala in-
cluding the Altos Cuchumatanes. T h e first
significant geological investigations of north-
western Guatemala were made by Sapper
(1894, 1899, 1937) and Termer (1932), whose
work has remained the basic reference for the
western Altos Cuchumatanes. Roberts and
Irving (1957) studied the mining districts and
published the first detailed geologic maps in
the region. Kling (1960), Mullerried (1942a,
1942b), Richards (1963), Thompson and
Miller (1944), Vinson (1962), and Stehli and
Grant (1970) published papers on various
aspects of paleontology and stratigraphy of the
region. Lattimore (1962) described two mea-
sured sections of Mesozoic rocks. Lopez Ramos
(1969) discussed some of the stratigraphic
problems in southeastern Mexico and northern
Guatemala. Detailed geologic mapping of
northwestern Guatemala was initiated by
Anderson (1967, 1969), Blount (1967), Boyd
(1966), and Davis (1966). Graduate students
from Louisiana State University have mapped
areas to the east and south of the area included
in this report, and some of their work was
summarized by Kesler and others (1970), and
Kesler (1971).
M E T A M O R P H I C ROCKS
Metamorphic rocks form extensive ex-
posures south of the Chixoy-Polochic fault
zone in the southwestern part of the mapped
area and in the core of the Cuchumatanes up-
lift east of Soloma (Fig. 2). Smaller exposures
are located in valleys and near intrusive rocks
east, north, and west of San Miguel Acatan.
Metamorphic rocks west of Huehuetenango
consist chiefly of gneiss, schist, amphibolite, and
metavolcanic and metaplutonic rocks. T h e
cataclastic nature of many of these rocks and
some similar rocks east of Huehuetenango is
due to their position along the Chixoy-
Polochic fault zone. Disequilibrium assem-
blages in blastomylonite gneiss and uralitiza-
tion of pyroxene in the plutonic rocks indicate
that retrograde metamorphism has occurred
and that previously these rocks were probably
of upper greenschist or lower almandine-
amphibolite facies.
A sequence of interbedded blastomylonitic
gneiss and schist crops out southwest of
Colotenango (Figs. 2, 3). These rocks resemble
normal gneiss and schist; however, many out-
crops show a strong smear lineation, lenses, and
augen. In thin section the rocks are fine
grained and have parallel thin layers of neo-
807
minerals which commonly show fluxion struc-
ture. Chlorite, sphene, calcite, and anastomotic
flattened laminae of mica, epidote, and quartz
are also common constituents of these rocks
which probably lie within the quartz-albite-
muscovite-chlorite and quartz-albite-epidote-
biotite subfacies of the greenschist facies.
Rocks exposed northeast of Santa Bárbara
consist predominantly of mylonitic gneiss de-
rived from hornblende granodiorite and
tonalité, cut by numerous dikes of epidote and
quartzo-feldspathic aplitic rock. T o the south,
these rocks are transitional into bedded
amphibolite and fine-grained metatuff(?). This
transition and the position of these rocks at the
southeastern end of a band composed of
bedded and massive amphibolite suggest that
these mylonitic rocks were probably derived
from volcanic and related intrusive rocks. This
sequence of metamorphic rocks continues
southeastward of the mapped area where they
have been described as "Undivided Meta-
morphic Rocks" and "metaigneous Rocks" by
Kesler and others (1970).
Intense saussuritization and alteration of
mafic minerals to chlorite and epidote have
given a distinctive greenish-gray to light
bluish-gray color to the metamorphic rocks
south of Rio Selegua, between the Pan-Ameri-
can Highway and Huehuetenango. In thin
section these rocks show igneous textures, but
in the field they are associated with quartz-
feldspar gneiss, metaquartzite, amphibolite, and
mica schist. At some places, migmitization of
layered rocks, numerous dikes, and sporadic
pegmatites suggest an intrusive origin. T o the
east, strongly altered and intensely weathered
noncataclastic metamorphic rocks predominate.
Three general types of metamorphic rocks
form an exposure of approximately 40 sq km
southwest of San Sebastián (Fig. 2). A 5-km-
wide belt along Arroyo T o j n i m (6 k m south-
southeast of Colotenango) is mostly sheared
quartzo-feldspathic gneiss with intercalations
of biotite and hornblende schist. N o r t h of this
belt, a synorogenic concordant pluton consists
mainly of granodiorite, similar to that along the
Santa Bárbara road, but ranges in composition
from adamellite to tonalité. These rocks are
foliated locally but for the most part show a
textured grain parallel to the regional trend
rather than a true foliation. T o the north,
massive intrusive rocks ranging from granodi-
orite to gabbro and layered hornblende
amphibolite with common biotite-rich units
crop out with the amphibolite being dominant
 GEOLOGIC MAP of the WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, GUATEMALA
15° 50' 91°15'
15° 50'

15° 30'

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Formational contact
Fault
Probable fault
15° 20'
Concealed fault
91° 15'
Photo lineation
Sources of Information
Anticlinal axis.showing plunge
1. Bohnenberger : 1967
Synclinal axis,showing plunge
A 6 1
2. Bohnenberger: 1 9 6 7
Landslide 8 5 2 3. Blount: 1967
4. Anderson: 1969
4 3 5.Burkart and Clemons: This report
Compilation by B. Burkart,
6.Clemons and Burkart: This report
R. Clemons and T. Anderson
7. Clemons and Burkart: This report
1969
f Anderson: 1967
8A Boyd: 1966
Location of Mapped Area
Davis: 1 9 6 6

STRUCTURE SECTIONS across the WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, GUATEMALA

Hooo

o Vertical Exaggeration 1.7

Figure 2. Géologie map and structure sections of the western Altos Cuchumatanes.

ANDERSON A N D OTHERS, FIGURE 2

Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 84, no. 3
Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
808 ANDERSON AND OTHERS
Figure 3. Sketch map showing important rivers, towns, and villager, mentioned in text.
at the northern edge near Rio Selegua. T o the
southeast and northwest along this trend,
rocks are less mafic, and fewer amphibolite
masses are interbedded with biotite gneiss,
quartzo-feldspathic gneiss, and biotite schist.
An area of intensely fractured but little-
altered metamorphic rocks is exposed along
CA 1, 6 k m southeast of San Sebastian Hue-
huetenango. For the most part these rocks are
of the staurolite-almandine subfacies of the
almandine-amphibolite facies. T h e y consist
chiefly of quartz-feldspar-biotite gneiss and
amphibolite, with some adamellite, granodi-
orite, tonalite, and diorite.
Intrusive bodies and abundant granitic
dikes have cut the gneissic units. Few of the
intrusive rocks are foliated. T h e amphibolitic
rocks show little foliation, and in many places
they crop out as lenses, pods, or brecciated
masses which suggest that they were less
competent than the intercalated gneiss.
Anderson (1969) mapped and described an
intensely deformed sequence of conglomeratic
and volcanic rocks (Chicol Formation) about
2 to 5 k m southeast of San Sebastián Hue-
huetenango. Low-grade regional and disloca-
tion metamorphism and probably to a lesser
degree contact metamorphism altered these
rocks to the quart:?-albite-muscovite-chlorite
subfacies of the greenschist facies.
Metamorphic rock; exposed within the Altos
Cuchumatanes, in tlie northern part of the
mapped area, are ch.efly low-grade regionally
metamorphosed equivalents of the lower part
of the Santa F.osa Group. T h e y have the ap-
pearance of slate and phyllite. Locally, such as
at the outcrops 2.5 km east of San Miguel
Acatán and along Río Ocho, slate, chlorite
schist, and metaquartzite are exposed. It is
thought that these locks also are part of the
lower Santa Rosa beds.
In the north-centrd part of the mapped area,
quartz-feldspar-biotite gneiss is present next to
granite in Ríos Pet, Ixpajau, San Sebastián, and
Nubilá (Fig. 3). Amphibolite crops out near
tonalite 11.5 k m northwest of San Miguel
Acatán. Chiastolite schist is exposed along Rio
Azul 2 km ncrthwest of Jacaltenango. T h e
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WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA
presence of chiastolite indicates a probably
nearby contact of plutonic and shaly rocks. This
whole region may be underlain by plutonic
rocks because granitic rocks are exposed in Rio
Catarina 6 km northeast of Jacaltenango and
Río Rancho Viejo 6 km southwest of Jacalten-
ango at slightly lower elevations.
In the core of the Cuchumatanes, east of
Soloma and Santa Eulalia, the predominant
metamorphic rocks are light-colored, feldspar-
biotite gneiss and mica schist. Amphibolite,
metachert, metaquartzite, and metaconglom-
erate are exposed locally in some of the valleys
in the northeastern part of the mapped area.
These rocks are probably equivalent to rocks
with similar lithology and stratigraphic posi-
tion south and west of Huehuetenango, along
the southwestern border of the mapped area.
INTRUSIVE ROCKS
Silicic Rocks
Plutonic rocks underlie large areas in foot-
hills south and southwest of the Altos Cuchu-
matanes (Anderson, 1969; Blount, 1967). T h e
most common rock types are adamellite,
granodiorite, and tonalite. Granite, diorite, and
orthoclase gabbro are less common.
Intrusive rocks along Ríos Chicol and
Selegua show a general east to west transition
from adamellite to diorite. Contacts, where
exposed, are sharp, and no cross-cutting rela-
tions were noted. All these rocks are considered
to be of approximately equal age (not older
than Paleozoic) and genetically related. A dis-
tinctive pink and green adamellite intrudes the
Chicol Formation about 2 km east of R i o
Chicol, south of Rio Selegua. It contains pink
to red potassium feldspar phenocrysts in a
medium-grained matrix of altered green pla-
gioclase and chlorite. This rock is more altered
than the other intrusive rocks and may be
older. A concordant, unfoliated, adamellite plu-
ton, distinguished by its medium- to coarse-
grained texture, crops out 5 km southeast of
Colotenango. Although sheathed in augen
gneiss, the pluton lacks the penetrative defor-
mation characteristic of the concordant grano-
diorite mass to the northeast.
T h e largest exposure of intrusive rocks within
the core of the Cuchumatanes is located along
Río Catarina and its tributaries west of San
Miguel Acatan. A continuous outcrop about 14
km long and 1 k m wide occurs on the valley
bottom. Smaller outcrops of 1 to 4 sq k m are
809
located nearby (see Fig. 2). All the rocks are
rich in quartz, and biotite is the chief mafic
mineral. Potassium feldspar in the granitic
rocks is chiefly perthite and microcline.
Plagioclase composition is impossible to deter-
mine because of pervasive alteration. Mafic
minerals are generally altered to chlorite, but
fresh biotite and recognizable hornblende and
pyroxene are present in tonalite along Rio
Catarina.
Plutonic rocks intrude strata as young as the
Santa Rosa Group. Todos Santos beds rest non-
conformably on granite 2 km northwest of San
Miguel Acatan. Basal conglomerate of the
Todos Santos Formation near Jacaltenango
contains cobbles and boulders of granitic rocks.
For these reasons, some, if not all, of the plu-
tonic rocks are considered to be post-Santa
Rosa (Early Permian) and pre-Todos Santos
(Late Jurassic?) age. Bohnenberger (1967, un-
pub. rept.) mapped small exposures of plutonic
rocks east of Santa Eulalia and Soloma, some
of which he considered to be post-Neocomian
in age. Mineralization in lower Ixocy Forma-
tion strata south and east of San Miguel Acatan
also suggests the possibility of post-Early Cre-
taceous igneous intrusive activity in this region.
Peridotite and Serpentinite
Ultramafic rocks along both major fault
zones which cross Guatemala have been de-
scribed by Bonis (1967a; 1967b), Blount
(1967), Clemons (1966), McBirney (1963),
Roberts and Irving (1957), and Sapper (1937).
These rocks underlie more than 25 sq km north
of the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone in the south-
eastern corner of the mapped area.
T h e central part of the largest body consists
of little-altered peridotite (lherzolite with ac-
cessory chrome-spinel, picotite). Commonly
this rock is intensely fractured and margins of
the bodies are intensely sheared, highly slicken-
sided, and in places appear to be foliated.
T h e age of the serpentinite is unknown.
Erosion of ultramafic rocks is suggested by the
occurrence of serpentinite cobbles in basal
Todos Santos conglomerate (McRee, 1969) and
heavy minerals (chromite) derived from
serpentinite, in the Sepur Formation, of
Campanian-Maestrichtian age (Blount, 1967).
Some conglomerate beds of probable Tertiary
age or younger consist almost exclusively of
serpentinite cobbles. They crop out near a
recent fault trace near Colotenango and attest
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810 ANDERSON AND OTHERS

Anderson Ooiifus a Roberts 8

Sapper Walper
et al. ^ ont - S e r r a t Irving
( 1897 - 189S) (1960)
(this poper) (1669) (1957)

Lower Cretoceous
Todos Sontos Todos Santos Todos Santos Todos Santos
Upper Triossic{?) Formation Formation Formation Formation
?
Í\'/V\AAA/WVWW\ f —
Chóchol
Leonordion Karbonkalk«
Chóchol Limestone
Chóchol
Limestone
? Formation
Esperonzo
Wolfcompion
Formotion

Permian Tactic
Tactic
or o l d e r Formation
Group Formation
•f- Formation
Lower
Chicol
Sonta Rosa
Formation Formation
(oldest unit)
Pre- Permion •f-
Western
B a s e not exposed
Chuocús . Crystalline Crystalline
Group Basement Basement
^^Crystalline
Rocks
Figure 4. Correlation chart for Todos Santos Formation and older units in northern Guatemala.

to rapid erosion of serpentinite exposures dur-
ing post-Cretaceous time.
STRATIGRAPHY
T h e Altos Cuchumatanes contain about
7,500 m of sedimentary rocks. More than half
of these rocks are Mesozoic or younger, and
include 2,500 to 3,000 m of Cretaceous car-
bonate rocks. Figures 4 and 5 are generalized
stratigraphie sections of units mapped during
this study. Hoffstetter and others (1960) com-
piled a stratigraphie lexicon which provides a
good summary of the names used in north-
western Guatemala previous to this study.
Santa Rosa Group
Chicol Formation. T h e Chicol Formation
crops out on both sides of the Chixoy-Polochic
fault zone east and southeast of San Sebastián
Huehuetenango. Anderson (1969) proposed
the name for a distinctive sequence of inter-
bedded greenish-gray and light bluish-gray
conglomerate and sandstone with grayish-
green, gray, and maroon tuff and volcaniclastic
beds and less common andésite breccia which
crop out along Ríos Chicol and Selegua.
Conglomerate beds, which in places are in-
truded by leucocratic dikes and sills, contain
distinctive pastel-colored clasts of carbonate
and quartzite for which no source area is
known. Several measured incomplete sections
indicate that total thickness is probably about
1,000 m. T h e base of the Chicol Formation is
not exposed because of faults and intrusive
contacts. T h e upper contact appears to be
everywhere withir. the western Altos Cuchu-
matanes coinciden': with faults. Accumulation
of the Chicol Formation may have been en-
hanced by uplift along this part of the Chixoy-
Polochic fault, perhaps at the same time that
vents for interbedded volcanic rocks were
active along the fault {compare Colotenango
beds).
T h e Chicol Formation texturally resembles
the Sacapulas Formation (Bohnenberger,
1966a, 1966 a) which crops out along the
Chixoy-Polochic fault 35 k m to the east. T h e
Sacapulas consists af 600 m of conglomerate
rock transitional into slate and sandstone.
Locally, volcanic and metavolcanic interbeds
have been reported (Forth, 1971). Bohnen-
berger (1967, unpuD. rept.) did not distinguish
formations within the Santa Rosa Group, al-
though he noted lkhologic similarities between
the lowest part of the Santa Rosa and the
Sacapulas Formation to the south as well as the
Macal Sandstone (Dixon, 1956) in Belice. Per-
haps the Chicol most closely resembles the
lithologies o:: the Bladen Volcanic Member
(Bateson and Hall, 1971), although Chicol may
not be coeval, and its stratigraphic position in
the Santa Rosa sequence of Guatemala appears
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WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA 811

Blount (1967) van den Boom

Boyd (1966) Boteson 8 MuMer
Bohnenberger Anderson
Hall Nicolaus
Dovis (1966)
(1966) [1969) Paulsen
Anderson ( 1 9 6 7 ) (1971)
(1971)

Todos S o n t o s Todos S a n t o s Todos S o n t o s

Formation Formotion Formation
VWWWWVWWW»
•^Tuilán mbr.
Chochal
Chochol
Formotion Chóchol Formation
( Limestone ) Llmestone

Sonto Upper
- Esperanzo Esperanza
Tactic
o o Member Forma t ion
Q. Formotion
3 To c l i c
o fc ^ Bio den
Formation c o mbr.
O Lower
e ü. Libertod Toctic
Tactic
in
o Member Formotion
Formotion

o ? ? Rosa
c Socopulos
o Chicol Socopulos
Formotion Formotion Formation
Group
Base not exposed v w w w w w v w w
Western
Chuacús Chuacus
Chuacús
Group Group
Group

Figure 4. Continued.
to be lower than that of the correlative British
Honduras's Santa Rosa.
T h e age of the Chicol is within the Ordovi-
cian-Permian interval. This is based upon the
presence of crinoid plates in carbonate clasts
included in conglomerate beds as well as upon
the structural position of the formation.
Lithologically similar strata of British Hon-
duras probably range from late Carboniferous
to Early Permian (Bateson and Hall, 1971).
Tactic Formation. T h e Tactic Formation
(Fig. 1; Walper, 1960) is widespread, extending
north almost to San Mateo Ixtatan, south at
least to the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone, and
across northern Guatemala from Chiapas,
Mexico to the Caribbean.
T h e Tactic consists of brown to black shale
and mudstone with thin quartzite beds locally,
and rare limestone and dolomite layers. T h e
shale is locally phyllitic, and in the deepest
ravines of the high mountains, slate and meta-
quartzite crop out. More than 800 m of Tactic
is exposed in the Chiantla quadrangle, but the
base is not exposed. T h e contact with overlying
Esperanza Formation is gradational with in-
creasing amount of limestone beds.
T h e only evidence for the age of this un-
fossiliferous unit comes from Belice, where the
lower Macal series, which is thought to be a
lithologic equivalent, is Late Pennsylvanian-
Permian(?) in age.
Esperanza Formation. T h e Esperanza
Formation has been mapped only along the
southern part of the mountain range, between
the Chixoy-Polochic and Rio Ocho fault
zones. Along the northern border of Santa Rosa
exposures, in the San Miguel Acatan quad-
rangle, thin Wolfcampian limestone is inter-
bedded with shale and is probably correlative
with the Esperanza.
Brown to black fossiliferous shale, mudstone,
and siltstone with limestone and dolomite in-
terbeds characterize the Esperanza. Weathered
surfaces are red, brown, yellow, or gray. T h e
Esperanza shale sequence is virtually indis-
tinguishable from the Tactic. T h e arbitrary
criterion for distinguishing between the two is
the occurrence of limestone interbeds 5 m or
more in thickness in the Esperanza. This
criterion is not workable in the northern part
of the mountains because limestone beds are
scarce in the shale sequence biostratigraphically
equivalent to the Esperanza Formation. T h e
upper contact is gradationally conformable
with massive Chochal Limestone. Thickness of
the Esperanza along the southern flank of the
Altos Cuchumatanes is more than 470 m.
Fusulinids of the genus Schwagerina cf. S.
campensis Thompson 1954 of Wolfcampian age
have been identified by Thomas E . Williams of
Southern Methodist University from samples
taken from the upper part of the Santa Rosa
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812 ANDERSON AND OTHERS

shale sequence (Esperanza Formation? equiv-

alent) 12 k m northwest of San Miguel
Acatan. Blount collected fossils of Wolfcampiai
age from strata cropping out north of Chiantk.
T h e Esperanza Formation is probably equiv-
alent to the Grupera Formation of Chiapas,
Mexico which is Wolfcampian in age (Thomp-
son and Miller, 1944).
Chochal Limestone. T h e Chochal Lime-
stone (Roberts and Irving, 1957) is widespread
along the southern slope of the Cuchumatanes
and in a wide area bounded by Rio Ocho and
Chixoy-Polochic fault zones. T h e C.'iochal
crops out eastward to the Coban-Purulha area
(Walper, 1960) and Senahu area in Alta
Verapaz (Bonis, 1967a). Immediately north of
the Rio Ocho fault zone, the Chochal is mostly
missing from a northwest-trending band about
50 k m wide because of pre-Late Jurassic uplift
and erosion. Well data indicates that it is
absent in the subsurface of the northern and
central parts of the Peten Lowland of Guate-
mala (G. Escalante, 1972, written commun.).
There are several erosional remnants 20C m or
more in thickness near Barillas on the northern
flank of the Cuchumatanes. There is no
Chochal Limestone equivalent unit in Belice
(Dixon, 1956). T h e La Vainilla and Paso Hondo
Formations of Chiapas, Mexico are lithologi-
cally equivalent. Both are Leonardian in age
(Thompson and Miller, 1944; Thompson,
1956).
T h e Chochal Limestone is massive-bedded,
cliff-forming dolomite and limestone, ranging
from grayish-black to brownish-medium dark
gray in color. It has fossiliferous zones which
contain abundant fusulinids, corals, brachio-
pods, gastropods, crinoids, sponges, echinoid
spines, bryozoa, and algae. Intercalated shale
beds scattered through the section are most
abundant near the base and near the contact
with the Tuilan Member, the uppermos: unit
of the Chochal. Although the type section of
the Chochal is lithologically similar to the Ccnozoic rocks north of the Chixoy-Polochic fault.
Esperanza, fusulinids and brachiopods are char-
acteristic of the Chochal, whereas the Esper- a regionally mappable unit and is probably cor-
anza has abundant crinoids. Kling (1960) sug- relative with carbonate beds of the upper
gested a shallow-water, back-reef environment Chochal Limestone in other parts of the
of deposition for the Chochal Limestone. Cuchumatanes. It is exposed in a small valley 9
k m southeast of Todos Santos.
Tuilan Member Brachiopods of the Tuilan M e m b e r have
T h e fossiliferous Tuilan Member (Anderson, been identified by Stelili and Grant (1970), and
1969) consists of 180 m of siltstone and fine ammonoids by W. M. Furnish and Brian F.
sandstone with interbedded limestone and Glenister. Their identifications indicate that
dolomite in the lower part. T h e member is not the Tuilan consists of the youngest known
 Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA 813

•1
9
S
o
o•
IXCOY FORMATION
fy
Rotano S» >

siltstone
San Ricardo Fm.

BS Ventoso Ls. ' ( R i c h a r d s , 1963)

z shale.
' mudstone,
h-
<
(A and
3 C>
O sandstone
• 2 ri
O <r cí
o o
• li- Figure 7. Isopach map of the Todos Santos Forma-
tion.
ÍO
•
o is at least 500 m thick and locally along the
*
o 7. southern flank of the Cuchumatanes may be as
< •• • « <» thick as 1,000 m. It is separated from the over-
</> •'«.«=VOi
o' o * : 6 \
conglomerate
lying Todos Santos Formation by an angular
o in and
unconformity.
(A F OV » O 0 sandstone
o '«. 'o c D Todos Santos Formation
o O
K m OVa.o:
o O.-o
N o r t h of the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone,
^ o*, o'.* Todos Santos Formation (Sapper, 1894) ap-
o- <1'0 .O pears where Cretaceous limestone has been re-
ÍÍOÍS O
moved by faulting or erosion. N o outcrops of
c CHOCHAL LIMESTONE
o the Todos Santos are known in western
E
w Guatemala south of this fault zone. Todos
£ Santos rocks crop out along the mountain front
east of the Cuchumatanes at least as far as Baja
Figure 6. Generalized stratigraphic section of the Verapaz (Fig. 1; Walper, 1960), where excel-
Todos Santos Formation, northwest Guatemala. lent outcrops in the "Santa Rosa" section of
Permian rocks in northwestern Guatemala. T h e Dollfus and Mont-Serrat (1868) occur. T h e y
following ammonoid fauna is believed (by are also exposed at the southwestern end of the
Glenister and Furnish, 1968, written commun.) Maya Mountains near the Guatemala-Belice
to have closest faunal affinities with the border (Bonis and others, 1970).
Cathedral Mountain of Texas which is late T h e Todos Santos consists of red terrigenous
Leonardian or Baigenzhinian: Perrinites cf. P. conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and shale
hilli, Neocrimites, Neocrimites catoensis, Almites with a lenticular body of thin marine limestone
dunbari, and Paragastrioceratid indet. T h e fol- beds present in places in the upper part of the
lowing brachiopods identified by Grant are sequence. A generalized stratigraphic section is
compatible with a Leonardian age but rule out shown in Figure 6.
Late Permian age: Rugatia, Meekella, and T h e Todos Santos ranges in thickness from a
Echina uris. few meters to at least 1,240 m near La Ventosa
O n the basis of faunal description of Thomp- (Fig. 3). Lloyd and Dengo (1960) stated that
son and Miller (1944) and Stehli and Grant the Todos Santos thins northward and eastward
(1970), the Tuilan Member is biostratigraphi- to about 100 m near the Maya Mountains. T h e
cally correlative to the uppermost member of isopach map (Fig. 7) shows a northwest-trend-
the Paso Hondo Formation in Chiapas, Mexico. ing area, where the unit is just a few meters
It is likewise correlative with the upper shale thick, consisting of only the upper ortho-
of the Macai series of Belice, described by Kling quartzite unit, on the crest of the Poxlac uplift
(1960). (Bohnenberger, 1967, unpub. rept.).
T h e Chóchal (including the Tuilan Member) T h e angular nature of the unconformity
Downloaded
814 from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3,AND
ANDERSON 2015OTHERS
marking the lower contact of the Todos Santos
is apparent to the north where Chochal rocks
were removed by erosion, exposing intensely-
folded Santa Rosa Group. Very little if any
angularity is seen at the contact a ong the
southern mountain front. T h e conformable
upper contact is between the orthoquartzite
and light-colored shale and shaly limestone.
This is followed by dolomite beds, which are
common in the lower part of the Ixcoy Forma-
tion. This transgressive sequence was noted
everywhere the contact was visible but locally,
near Santa Ana Huista, it is only a few meters
thick.
Several distinct facies within the Todos
Santos are indicative of local provenance
(Clemons and Burkart, 1971). At several
places, basal conglomerate beds contain cobbles
and boulders of Chochal or Esperanza rocks.
Five kilometers northwest of La Derr.ocracia
the Todos Santos is composed of massive-
bedded breccia made u p of Tactic(?) frag-
ments. An arkosic facies overlies granitic out-
crops west and north of San Miguel Acatan.
Conglomerate near Jacaltenango contains boul-
ders of granitic rocks. Phyllite, metaquartzite,
and schist fragments are abundant in the
conglomerate that crops out in valleys near
Jacaltenango, west of Todos Santos and east of
San Miguel Acatan.
A Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age for
the limestone beds (Ventosa Member) was sug-
gested by Richards (1963). As suggested by
Mullerried (1942a), the lower Todos Santos
strata are probably Jurassic but may be as old
as Late Triassic.
T h e Todos Santos Formation is lithologi-
cally, and probably in part stratigraphically
equivalent to continental clastic rocks of the
Metapan Series of Sapper (1937) in E l Salva-
dor. T h e Todos Santos may be also correlative
with the Salina Formation, a red-bed evaporite
sequence in southern Mexico (Richards, 1963).
Mills and others (1967) described the occur-
rence of the Todos Santos Formation in western
Honduras.
Paleogeographic Setting. In northwestern
Guatemala, lower conglomerate beds of the
Todos Santos accumulated as alluvial fan de-
posits in river valleys more than 1,200 m deep.
T h e Poxlac uplift separated two known de-
positional basins (Fig. 7). Stratigraphically high
in the thicker sections, the Ventosa Limestone
Member, that we believe to be estuarine, ac-
cumulated in drowned river valleys. This lime-
stone crops out both north and south of the
Poxlac uplift, but no closer than about 3 or 4
k m from t h t crest of the ancient ridge. T h e
Poxlac uplift was j:robably exposed as an elon-
gate headland or series of islands during dep-
osition of the limestone. Transitional beds of
fine clastic rocks between the micritic lime-
stone and overlying orthoquartzite presaged
the final marine transgression which distributed
orthoquartzite across a region of low relief. We
found only one locality, near the axis of the
buried mountains, 10 km north-northeast of
San Miguel Acatar.,, where the orthoquartzite
layer was not present at the top of the Todos
Santos.
Ixcoy Formation
T h e Ixcoy Formation (Fig. 5) is the most
extensively exposed unit in the western Altos
Cuchumatanes. N o r t h of San Mateo Ixtatan
and Barillas, surface rocks are part of the Ixcoy
Formation, which is exposed continuously
down the north flank of the Cuchumatanes
into the Peten Lowland.
T h e lower 1,000 m of Ixcoy is dominantly un-
fossiliferous, dark-gray, medium-crystalline do-
lomite, limestone, and dolomite interbedded
with massive-bedded limestone breccia. T h e
breccia is clearly depositional, made u p of an-
gular pebble- to boulder-size fragments of light-
gray limestone, darli-gray limestone, black
cherty limestone, gray dolomite, black do-
lomite, and an occasional shale and siltstone
clast. T h e matrix is typically poorly sorted
calcareous mudr.tone which weathers yellowish
brown. Blount and Moore (1969) described
several other types of breccias included in the
Ixcoy.
T h e middle part of the Ixcoy contains more
fine-grained clastic rocks. Near the head of Rio
Azul, 100 to 150 m of unfossiliferous, brown,
thin- to medium-bedded, friable, porous, cal-
careous siltstone and very fine sandstone are
predominant with few interbeds of shale and
thin- to medium-bedded, dark-gray limestone
and dolomite. Limestone and dolomite increase
in abundance upward for another 100 to 150 m,
and the finer crystalline beds contain abundant
microfossils and algae.
T h e upper Ixcoy is approximately 1,000 m of
chiefly gray-brown and tan, sublithographic,
medium- to thick-bedded limestone interbed-
ded with massive, intr;.formational, limestone
breccia and conglomerate. T h e limestone con-
tains many zones rich in microfossils, especially
 Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA
miliolids. Rudists are abundant at some lo-
calities. T h e breccia and conglomerate contain
pebble- to boulder-size fragments of dark-gray
to black, angular to subangular limestone in a
matrix of yellowish, calcareous mud. Bedding
is indistinct. Breccia and conglomerate decrease
upward and there is an increase in light-gray
to tan, argillaceous limestone interbedded with
light- to medium-gray, lithographic limestone
and thin shale beds. T h e upper 200 to 300 m,
in addition to being distinctly thinner and
smoother bedded than the lower 800 m, is also
finer grained and contains zones of chert nod-
ules.
T h e Ixcoy is estimated to be about 2,500 m
thick north of the southern flank of the Cu-
chumatanes. T h e upper contact of the Ixcoy
with the overlying Sepur is gradational and
conformable in the Chemal and nearby valleys
atop the Cuchumatanes plateau.
T h e Ixcoy Formation (sensu lato) probably
represents most of Cretaceous time. Blount
(1967) assigned Ixcoy along the Chixoy-Polo-
chic fault zone to the Turonian-Senonian age
interval. T o the north, fossils have only been
found in the uppermost beds of Ixcoy, and
B. F. Perkins (1969, written commun.) con-
siders the rudist fauna to be Campanian-Mae-
strichtian age.
Ixcoy Formation (sensu lato) is lithologically
equivalent to the Coban and Campur Forma-
tions (Vinson, 1962); to the Ixcoy (sensu
stricto) and Coban Formations (Walper, 1960);
and to the Sierra Madre G r o u p (Lopez Ramos,
1969, Fig. 4). Probably part of the upper
Ixcoy Formation (sensu lato) is biostratigraphi-
cally equivalent to the San Cristobal Lime-
stone of Mexico, the Campur Formation of the
Coban region, and the Yojoa G r o u p and lower
part of the Valle de Angeles G r o u p (Mills and
others, 1967) of Honduras.
Sepur Formation
T h e Sepur Formation (Sapper, 1899) com-
prises a sequence of red beds, marl, and cal-
carenite found in northwestern Guatemala and
the southeastern Peten Lowland. Vinson (1962)
applied the name "Chemal Formation" to the
red beds of the Altos Cuchumatanes which were
mapped by Sapper (1937) as Sepur Formation.
T h e Sepur Formation is found as small,
isolated erosional remnants on top of the Ixcoy
Formation in valleys, preserved because it has
been downfolded or downfaulted. A minimum
thickness of 245 m was measured by Blount
815
(1967), the upper part of which includes 25 m
of lithoclastic limestone.
T h e Sepur of the Altos Cuchumatanes is
primarily a red sandstone and shale with fos-
siliferous limestone in the upper part of the
section. Blount's measured section began in
rudistid-bearing red to orange shale, apparently
in conformable contact with the Ixcoy Forma-
tion. T h e Sepur is thought to be a nearshore,
marine deposit on the basis of abundant bur-
rows in the red mudstone of the Chemal
Valley as well as the fossiliferous lithoclastic
limestone.
Vinson (1962), Lattimore (1962), and Blount
(1967) agree upon a Campanian to Maestri-
chtian age for the Sepur Formation, which is
lithologically like the Sepur of the type locality
in Alta Verapaz. It is probably biostratigraphi-
cally equivalent to the Lacandón Formation in
the Peten Lowland and the Ocozocuautla
Formation (Gutierrez, 1956) in Chiapas.
Colotenango Beds
Siesser (1967) discussed a dark-green to gray
sequence of interbedded conglomerate with
rare intercalated basalt, sandstone, mudstone,
volcanic arenite, and lahar as well as rhyo-
dacitic crystal, and vitric and lithic ash-flow
tuff that crop out south of Ixtahuacán in the
Cuilco quadrangle. He called these strata
"green beds," measuring about a 263 m thick-
ness beneath 100 m of tuff. In places these beds
may be as thick as 500 m. Because no strati-
graphic break marks the upper contact of the
"green beds" and because we were unable to
map any other distinctive unit of the highly
variable, heterogeneous sequence, we mapped
the sequence as the Colotenango beds, after
the village of Colotenango.
This unit only crops out in the valleys of
Ríos Selegua and Cuilco and on an abandoned
stream trace between the two rivers, dis-
tributed in a band 1 to 4 k m wide, from west
of San Sebastián Huehuetenango to the village
of Cuilco, about 35 k m to the west. Accumula-
tion appears to be directly related to uplift and
volcanism along the Chixoy-Polochic fault
zone.
This sequence is post-Miocene (?) because it
contains boulders of Miocene (?) volcanic rocks
derived from the south. T h e uppermost units
of Colotenango beds grade imperceptibly into
recent stream deposits consisting of alluvium,
landslide debris, and fans of conglomerate built
by tributaries of Ríos Selegua and Cuilco. In
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816 ANDERSON AND OTHERS
places Colotenango beds are easily distinguished
from recent deposits because they are tilted and
well indurated.
Quaternary Deposits
Till. Glacial deposits are present on the
high Cuchumatanes plateau at elevations be-
tween 3,500 and 3,837 m. Anderson (1968a,
1969) discussed these deposits, attributing them
to a small ice cap which covered about 50 sq
km. T h e deposits are composed of unsorted,
unstratified, limestone debris. Solution has re-
moved all evidence of glacial striations within
the till as well as along the valley floor and
walls. Extremely flat valley bottoms are at-
tributed to glacial scouring, and filling with
outwash material.
Conspicuous till deposits are draped in a
band over two major northwest-trending
ridges and two valleys just west of Llancs de
San Miguel. These deposits traverse an area
with a relief of more than 120 m and are not
related to any important drainage system. At
N i m j u l a terminal moraine dammed the valley
to form a small intermittent lake. Enjalbert
(1967) first suggested glaciation atop the
Cuchumatanes; however, his main argument
was based upon interpretation of the Ixcoy
breccias as glacial tillite.
Ash and Alluvium. Water-deposited vol-
canic ash is found in patches in many of the
deep canyons. A small air-fall tuff deposit com-
posed of spherules of devitrified glass, euhedral
quartz, K-feldspar, plagioclase, and lithic frag-
ments crops out at the northwest end of
Chemal Valley.
T o the south along Rio Selegua and its major
tributaries, terrace levels are defined by white-
to-brown water-laid lapilli and ash pumice.
These deposits are transitional into alluvium
which is restricted to the actual river bottoms.
Virtually no modern floodplains nor Quat-
ernary flood-plain deposits exist in the high
mountains.
S T R U C T U R A L GEOLOGY
Introduction
T h e predominant east-west tectonic grain of
Guatemala is marked by faults, outcrop pat-
terns, and parallel orientation of ridges and
valleys of the folded and faulted mountains of
the northern Sierras. T w o great east-trending
fault zones, Chixoy-Polochic and Motagua,
traverse Guatemala as arcs gently convex to
the south (Fig. 1). These fault zones appear to
be landward extensions of ocean floor structures
that define the southern flank of the Bartlett
trough (Banks and Richards, 1969). T h e
northern (Chixoy-Polochic) fault zone extends
from the Caribbean coast to slightly west of the
Mexican border. T h e southern (Motagua)
fault zone has been traced as far as western
Guatemala where it is covered by Cenozoic
volcanic rocks.
T h e Chixoy-Polochic and Motagua fault
zones divide the northern Sierras into three
geologic provinces (Fig. 1). Generally north of
the Chixoy-Polochic zone, rocks of late
Paleozoic and Mesozoic age are less deformed
than rocks in the crystalline terrane to the
south. Deformation in Mesozoic rocks de-
creases northward unt:A it is characterized by
gentle anticlines at the edge of the Chapayal
Basin.
T h e age and relation of the Bartlett trough
to other tectonic features are the subject of
continuing controversy (Taber, 1922; Hess and
Maxwell, 1953; Barr, 1958; Meyerhoff, 1966).
Meyeihoff (1966) concluded that the present
form of the trough dates from at least Miocene
or Pliocene time, although he believed that the
trough originated as a zone of structural weak-
ness related to a Paleozoic orthogeosyncline
and was affected by faults after middle Cre-
taceous time. Anderson (1968b) and Bonis
(1968) similarly concluded that the present
Chixoy-Polochic: fault zone coincides with a
zone of pre-Permian deformation.
About 20 km east of the town of Huehueten-
ango, the regional tectonic grain, which to the
east parallels the fault trend, swings abruptly
northwestward (Fig. 8). This divergent regional
grain is characterized by folds and high-angle
normal and reverse fs.ults.
T h e western .Altos Cuchumatanes are located
on the nose of a north west-trending faulted up-
lift. T h e axis plunges about 10° N . 60° W.
beneath the N e n t o n lowland along the Mexican
border from its culmination 20 km east of
Soloma. T h e Cuchumatanes are bounded to the
south by the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone, to
the southwest by the Rio Ocho fault zone, and
to the north and northeast by northwest-
trending step faults ¿own to the north. Struc-
tural relief on the Tedos Santos-Ixcoy contact
is more than 1,500 in (Fig. 9). This relief is the
result of both regional folds and uplift. Pre-
Permian metamorphic and igneous rocks crop
out near the center of the range. This crystal-
 EXPLANATION
— Axis of regional anticline, showing
plunge direction.

^ Axis of regional syncline.

»^ Axis of local anticline, showing

* plunge direction.

Axis of local syncline.

Thrust fault. Barbs on upthrown side.

t ^ y Inferred thrust fault.

Transcurrent fault. Arrows show

strike-slip displacement.

Fault. 0 on downthrown side.

Serpen tinite.

- -v. (6AJ)- Pan Americon Highwoy.

Figure 8. Tectonic map showing distribution of faults, folds, and serpentinite in the western Altos Cuchumatanes.
Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
818 ANDERSON AND OTHERS

line terrane, called the Poxlac uplift, has

probably acted as a stable block since late
Paleozoic time.
Structure of Metamorphic Rocks
South of Chixoy-Polochic Fault Zone
Foliation in the metamorphosed layered
sequence and a concordant pluton has a con-
sistent trend of about N . 40° W. with moderate
southwesterly dips (Fig. 10A). Lineationon the
foliation planes usually plunges about 30°
southwest (Fig. 10B). Near the Chixoy-
Polochic fault zone, smeared mineral grains
and aligned mineral trains plunge gently north-
west and approximately parallel the strike of
foliation as well as the local trend of the
Chixoy-Polochic fault zone.
T o the south, Kesler and others (1970) noted
that axial plane foliation consistently trends N.
50° W. Equal-area plot summaries from :wo
subareas show consonant northeast-dipping
planes in the southernmost subarea. Toward
the north, although a strong maxima indicates
northerly dips, a significant number of south-
dipping foliations also were recorded. O n the
basis of this data as well as that cited above
(Anderson, 1969), Kesler and others (1970)
have interpreted the structure to be a nearly
isoclinal antiform. T h e y also noted a subordi-
nate fold system which was restricted to out-
crop-scale folds with axial planes striking N .
10° W. to N . 20° W.
Structure of Chicol Formation
A lower hemisphere plot of 198 poles to
bedding planes shows the general trend of
Chicol strata to be N . 15° W. dipping mod-
erately southwestward (Fig. 10C). The
primary maxima, which indicates the general
trend, and secondary concentrations delineate a
girdle that defines an axis that trends about N.
40° W. and plunges 20° N W . Most of the data
used in this plot were gathered from beds that
crop out south of the Chixoy-Polochic zone.
Rare individual outcrop-scale folds were ob-
served.
Lineation on the basis of few measurements
of aligned mafic minerals, stretched pebbles,
smears, and crinkles trends northeast without zone near C h i a n t k bound a graben, in which
a consistent plunge direction.
Chixoy-Polochic Fault Zone
T h e trace of the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone Huehuetenango.
is marked by a wide variety of smashed rock
types. In the easternmost part of the map area, astride the present trace of the Chixoy-
Figure 9. Structure contour map on the Todos
Santos-Ixcoy contact in the western Altos Cuchu-
matanes.
a zone of breccias and cataclasite at least 1 km
wide characterizes the fault trace. In the brec-
cia zone of the active break, rare, individual
east-trending shear surfaces dip moderately to
steeply north. Along this section of the fault,
bounding the breccia zone to the north,
resistant, crushed, slickensided, commonly
silicified, carbonate breccia masses, as thick as
50 m, crop out in a ir.ore or less continuous
band. Adjacent to the crush zone on its south
side, cataclastic schists and gneisses derived
from the Chicol Formation and older meta-
morphic rocks crop out.
Continuing west, the fault trace for the most
part passes through Esperanza and Tactic
shaly beds which provide easy passage and show
minimal effects. However, its presence is
marked by ubiquitous fracturing in overlying
adjacent tuff units of tne Colotenango beds.
Well-developed fracture cleavage and bedding
thrusts in limestone, shear zones in gravel
deposits, and tilted gravel beds also attest to
the presence of the fault zone. Where the Pan-
American Highway turns northwestward and
crosses the fault zone (Fig. 8), the fault is
obscured, marked only by intensely sheared
black shale. West of this area the main fault
separates Permian rocks from Colotenango
beds.
A series of large faults north of the main
serpentinite underlies the Ixcoy Formation.
T o the west, fault blocks of Ixcoy suggest that
the graben extended as far as San Sebastian
T h e enigmatic position of Chicol rocks
 Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA
Figure 10. (A) Lower hemisphere plot of 421 poles
to foliation in metamorphic rocks, San Sebastian Hue-
huetenango quadrangle. Contours 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7
percent per 1 percent area. (B) Lower hemisphere plot
of 64 lineations (smeared grains and aligned aggrega-
tions) in metamorphic rocks, San Sebastian Huehue-
tenango quadrangle. Contours 6, 8,10, and 12 percent
per 1 percent area. (C) Lower hemisphere plot of 198
poles to bedding planes in Chicol formation. Contours:
1, 3, 5, and 7 percent per 1 percent area. (D) Lower
Polochic zone is problematic if great displace-
ments have occurred along the zone after
deposition of Chicol rocks. Perhaps the present
juxtaposition is fortuitous. If displacements are
limited to what is obvious now, that is about 1
km vertical and 1 km horizontal, Chicol's
present position is possible. T h e present dis-
tribution of lithologies along the Chixoy-
Polochic zone would permit considerably
greater horizontal displacement, and great
vertical displacement could be accommodated
if throw were distributed across several breaks.
T h e long axis of a serpentinite mass lies a few
kilometers north of the Chixoy-Polochic zone
(Fig. 8). Other masses to the east crop out
consistently south of the fault zone. Ubiquitous
819
Contours: 0.3,1, 2, 3, and 4 percent per 1 percent area.
(E) Lower hemisphere plot of 316 poles to bedding
planes in Todos Santos Formation. Contours: 0.3,1, 3,
5, and 7 percent per 1 percent area. (F) Lower hemi-
sphere plot of 559 poles to bedding planes in Ixcoy
Formation. Contours: 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 7 percent per 1
percent area.
shearing along the serpentinite-country rock
contacts (which commonly appear to coincide
with fault lineaments) lack a significant re-
crystallization of adjacent limestone or included
blocks of wall rocks, and discordant relations
with structural trends indicate that the ser-
pentinized periodotite was emplaced largely as
a cold intrusive mass along shear zones that
parallel but do not coincide with the present
trace of the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone (Mc-
Birney, 1963; Blount, 1967; Anderson, 1969).
Walper (1960) postulated about 1,500 m of
down-to-the-north vertical displacement along
the Chixoy-Polochic fault in central Guate-
mala, Blount (1967) indicated an apparent
minimum throw separation (down to the
Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
820 ANDERSON AND OTHERS
Figure II. Sketch map of drainage patterns along
the Chixoy-Polochic fault near San Sebastian Huehue-
north) of 2,500 m in western Guatemala. How-
ever, distribution of Ixcoy Formation along the
present scarp, as well as infolded remnants of
Sepur red beds which contain detritus derived
f r o m serpentinite, indicate that actual, most
recent vertical movement is about 1,000 m of
uplift on the north side of the fault.
Blount's (1967) interpretation of the litho-
clastic southern facies of the Ixcoy limestone
requires initiation of vertical displacements
along the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone during
Late Cretaceous time. Lithoclastic beds in
Sepur Formation as well as serpentinite
detritus suggest continuing activity through
the end of the Cretaceous Period. Post-Cre-
taceous fanglomerates, derived solely from
north of the fault zone, attest to younger
activity along the fault.
Walper (1960), McBirney (1963), and other
workers have not demonstrated horizontal off-
sets along the Chixoy-Polochic or Motagua
zones, but the probability of important trans-
current displacements has been emphasized.
Kupfer and Godoy (1967) noted physiographic
evidences that were suggestive of "Holocene"
left-lateral displacement of at least 100 m. In
the south-central part of the map area, seven
streams show left-lateral offsets along the fault
trace (Fig. 11). T h e greatest displacement
shown is about 1 km.
T h e Paraiso-San Pedro Necta fault (Fig. 2),
which trends slightly northwest of the main
zone, can be traced for about 30 k m before its
trace is lost in the easily deformed Tactic
shale. At its apparent eastern end the trace may
tenango. Most recent movements have been along line
A-A', which is marked by a wide crushed zone.
be obscured by younger northeast-trending
faults. Davis (1966) suggested apparent right-
lateral offset of about 1 km near the western
end of the fault. Horizontal and oblique
slickensides in this region support the prob-
ability of strike-slip movements. Horizontal
displacements also appear to have occurred on
scattered faults near the west-central border of
the m a p area, but these: faults are not as promi-
nent as the Paraiso-San Pedro Necta fault.
Structure of Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic
Rocks North of the Chixoy-Polochic Fault
Zone
Northwest-Trending Faults. T w o trends,
N . 55°-65° W. and N. 30°-40° E . (Fig. 12),
are interpreted from rose diagrams based on
inferred and observed faults as well as photo
lineations. T h e northwesterly trend is promi-
n e n t i n all sedimentary units north of the fault
and is particularly distinct in Paleozoic beds
along the southern flank of the Cuchumatanes.
In the east-central pari of the mapped area,
high-angle faults striking N . 50°-70° W.
border synclinal valleys that preserve outcrops
of Sepur Formation. M a j o r faults in the north-
eastern part of the map area also fall into this
set of northwest-trending faults. A secondary
mode of fault trends N . 10° W. (Fig. 12E).
Rio Ocho Fault System. In northwestern
Guatemala, Sapper (1899), Schuchert (1935),
Roberts and Irving (195/), Blount (1967), and
Siesser (1967) either suggested the presence of,
or mapped, high-angle reverse faults. In the
southeastern corner of the m a p area, Blount
 Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA 821

:<* ß

20 10 10 20 60 40 20 0 20 40 60

,<e D

60 40 20 0 20 40 60 60 40 20 0 20 40 60

* E

20 10 10 20
Figure 12. (A) Rose diagram of 106 fault and photo diagram of 256 fault and photo lineation trends in
lineation trends in Nenton quadrangle. (B) Rose dia- Todos Santos quadrangle. (E) Rose diagram of 225
gram of 224 fault and photo lineation trends in San fracture trends from Mesozoic rocks in Chiantla
Miguel Acatan quadrangle. (C) Rose diagram of 303 quadrangle.
fault trends in La Democracia quadrangle. (D) Rose

(1967) mapped the intersection of a northwest-
trending reverse fault with the Chixoy-
Polochic fault zone. This fault and its associ-
ated splays continue for more than 80 km
across the map area. For most of their length,
the southwest-dipping faults, named Rio Ocho
fault system (Anderson, 1969), separate north-
dipping Mesozoic rocks from structurally
higher Paleozoic strata. N o r t h of Chiantla,
displacement has occurred along a single trace
described by Blount (1967, p. 100):
" T h e thrust fault . . . is in the southwest part
of the area, where the fault has moved a thrust
sheet of Paleozoic rocks over Mesozoic rocks.
The plane of the thrust fault strikes approxi-
mately N. 60° W. and dips southwest. The
actual fault plane was noted in only one area;
and the dip was 20° south. However, the ir-
regular front of the thrust sheet, its relation to
topography, and the overturning of the nose
of the sheet in some areas indicate a low-angle
fault."
Anderson believes that irregular fault trace
and the isolated blocks of Chochal Limestone
resting on Todos Santos Formation are the
result of gravitational slumping along the edge
of a steeply dipping reverse fault. ' 'Low-angle
faults" are restricted to those areas along the
fault where Chochal Limestone, uplifted along
reverse faults, is juxtaposed against mudstone
Downloaded
822 from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on JuneAND
ANDERSON 3, 2015
OTHERS
beds in Todos Santos Formation, which are
topographically lower. Gravity slumping along
the frontal edge of a high-angle reverse fault
gives the impression of a low-angle thrust.
T o the west, Rio Ocho faults dip steeply
south. An excellent exposure of a fault plane,
which dips 60° south, may be seen below the
village of Chochal in the valley of Rio Ch6chal.
Roberts and Irving (1957) noted a 70° south-
erly dip of a reverse-fault plane several kilom-
eters west of Chochal. T h e straight trace of
this fault system from near Chiantla to the
Mexican border indicates that along most of
its trend, the reverse faults dip steeply.
Roberts and Irving (1957) noted that the
single fault mapped by Blount bifurcates east
of Chochal. Probably the expansion of the
single zone into several faults is more gradual
than shown on the map; however, fault traces
are obscured because they parallel beds in
homogeneous clastic beds of Tactic and Todos
Santos Formations.
T h e trace of the southernmost and probably
the most significant of the reverse faults in
terms of displacement is marked by an abrupt
change from steeply dipping (70° to 90°)
Chochal Limestone on the north to less-steeply
dipping (30° to 50°) beds of Tactic and
Esperanza Formations to the south. T h e inter-
section is lost in fine-grained beds of the Tactic
Formation, or perhaps the displacement at the
eastern end of this fault is taken u p by several
smaller faults. T h e fault trace of this southern-
most break coincides with a prominent
obsequent fault-line scarp, locally as high as 900
m. Rocks that are lithologically similar to
Todos Santos Formation crop out as a narrow
band no more than 50 m wide along this fault
south of the town of Todos Santos. T o the
northwest, this fault coincides with Rio Ocho
in an area underlain by Tactic, where the fault
is an easily recognized photo lineation.
T h e contact between Chochal Limestone and
Todos Santos Formation, northeast of t.te
tightly folded syncline at Tuilan, has not been
a plane along which significant displacement
occurred. However, west of this area, where the
contact is exposed in the valley wall south of
the town of Todos Santos, Permian beds are
probably thrust over Todos Santos Formation.
Exposures of this fault contact are poor, but
Permian beds and upper Todos Santos beds are
juxtaposed, and anomalous dips are obvious.
A normal sequence of Todos Santos Forma-
tion overlies upper Paleozoic strata in most
places. However, northeast of La Democracia,
an isolated, anomalously south-dipping slab of
basal Todos Santos; boulder conglomerate is
overlain by Tactic shale thrust over it from the
south. N o r t h of La Democracia, a very small
fault sliver of fossililerous Chochal Limestone
crops out surrounded by Todos Santos Forma-
tion.
E l Chorro fault (Fig. 8), which dips north-
east, traverses parts of L a Democracia and
Cuilco quadrangles and separates Cretaceous
and Permian strata. According to Siesser
(1967), the Todos Santos Formation is faulted
out along most of its trace. An estimated thick-
ness of 640 m of Todos Santos (Boyd, 1966)
implies that this is the minimum displacement
along E l Chorro fault.
Northeast-Trending Faults. Northeast-
trending faults have been mapped throughout
the Altos Cuchumatanes where they are
particularly distinctive, in less-deformed com-
petent beds of Mesczoic age. Mapping of
hundreds of fractures on the high plateau has
substantiated the presence of a major trend at
about N . 35° E . (Fig. 12A, B, D, E). This
steeply dipping fracture set includes strikes
which range from N . f;0° E . to N . 50° E . In
general, throws appear to be a few tens of
meters.
Folds. Lower hemisphere plots of poles to
bedding (Fig. 10D, E , F ) define a distinct
trend of bedding of about N . 55° W. O n the
high karst plateau, this trend is shown by both
Mesozoic and Paleozoic units which are de-
formed into gently plunging and cylindrical
folds. Outcrops of Sepur Formation identify
faulted, northwest-trending synclines across
the top of the plateau. Strikes in Todos Santos
rocks are generally northwest, with low dips
except adjacent to faults. Small folds are scat-
tered throughout sandy and shaly beds.
Plunge of these structures is usually less than
10° to the east or west., In the northeastern
corner of the mapped area, regional structures
in the Todos Santos are controlled by struc-
turally high knobs of crystalline rocks that
probably acted as buttresses against which
younger strata were molded. Fold axes in this
area diverge slightly frcoi the usual trend,
where they conform to and delineate the form
of pre-existing stable, structural, as well as
paleotopographical high areas.
Paleozoic formations are folded on macro-
scopic and mesoscopic scales and show a variety
of deformational styles tha.t range from open,
symmetric folds to recumbent, isoclinal types.
T h e lower hemisphere plot (Fig. 10D) shows
 Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
WESTERN ALTOS CUCHUMATANES, NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA
bias toward south-dipping beds which results
from numerous measurements made on mod-
erately to steeply south-dipping strata up-
turned along the reverse faults of the Rio Ocho
fault system. In the southwestern part of the
mapped area, seven regional symmetrical folds
about 3 to 5 k m apart are delineated on the
basis of outcrop pattern (Fig. 8).
Paleozoic strata plunge under Todos Santos
beds about 50 k m northwest in Mexico (Web-
ber and Ojeda, 1957). T h e trace of the contact
with Todos Santos delineates a northwest-
plunging anticline which parallels fold axes in
the Mesozoic rocks.
N o r t h of the Rio Ocho fault system, Tactic
strata show incipient metamorphism with
minor development of micas along cleavage
planes. Outcrops in deep canyons on the nose
of the Cuchumatanes anticlinorium expose
steeply plunging, tight, isoclinal folds of small
amplitude. Northwest of San Miguel Acatan,
foliations trend predominantly northwest with
dips of 40° to vertical toward the northeast and
southwest. Elsewhere in the region to the west
and northwest, northerly and northeasterly
strikes were measured with dips of 20° to 70° in
both easterly and westerly directions. In the
northeastern part of the m a p area, unmeta-
morphosed higher parts of the upper Paleozoic
sequence are exposed, and the deformational
style resembles that to the south.
Episodes of Deformation, Plutonism, and
Metamorphism in Western Guatemala
Dengo (1968) and Dengo and Bohnenberger
(1969) have presented excellent summaries of
the structural development of northern Cen-
tral America and have correlated geotectonic
cycles of Mexico with those of Guatemala
starting in the Paleozoic. Kesler (1971) in-
cluded western Guatemala in his analysis of the
nuclear Central America orogenic zone.
Unfortunately, no radiometric ages are avail-
able for crystalline rocks in western Guate-
mala. McBirney and Bass (1969, p. 273) sum-
marized existing data for pre-Mesozoic rocks in
northern Central America. Based on studies by
Gomberg and others (1968), and Pushkar
(1968), they concluded: " . . . It appears,
therefore, that the Chuacus series could be as
old as 1,075 m.y. but more likely is younger,
and that it first was metamorphosed in Late
Devonian time simultaneously with emplace-
ment of the Rabinal granite."
Kesler and others (1970) suggested that the
Chuacus G r o u p is correlative with rocks re-
823
ferred to by them as the western Chuacus
Group. If the foregoing ages and correlations
are valid, then crystalline rocks south of
Chixoy-Polochic fault zone and north of the
area studied by Kesler and others are also cor-
relative to parts of the Chuacus Group.
Emplacement of concordant syntectonic
and late-syntectonic or post-tectonic plutons
into the western Chuacus G r o u p probably
marked the culmination of the first major
episode of plutonism, deformation, and me-
dium-grade metamorphism that affected these
oldest rocks. Less severe deformation and
metamorphism are recorded by the younger
Chicol Formation which contains volcanic
units. Associated unfoliated intrusive masses
are Ordovician age or younger. Perhaps this
later low-grade metamorphic event resulted in
the occurrence of retrograde effects which are
common at many localities in the older crystal-
line rocks. Bohnenberger (1967, unpub. rept.)
noted that perhaps two sequences of metasedi-
ments, one showing distinctly lower grade
metamorphism than the other, could be differ-
entiated in the northeastern part of the area.
A post-Permian deformational episode has
been suggested by many authors who agreed
with Sapper that an important orogeny oc-
curred during the post-Leonard-pre-Jurassic
time span (for example, Schuchert, 1935, p.
338).
T h e striking agreement between structural
elements in Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks (Fig.
10D, E , F) and lack of signs of refolding in
Paleozoic rocks creates the requirement that,
assuming a post-Permian-pre-Jurassic deforma-
tion, the distribution of later stresses would
have to be exactly coincident in western
Guatemala. McBirney (1963) noted parallel
structural trends to the east. He was skeptical
of a late-Permian-pre-Jurassic orogeny be-
cause, aside from greater intensity of folding in
Paleozoic rocks, he found no evidence for a
mountain-building episode.
However, the ubiquitous unconformity cited
by Sapper (1937), Lloyd and Dengo (1960),
Roberts and Irving (1957), and Blount (1967),
that separates Todos Santos Formation from
underlying Permian strata, indicates that
enough uplift had occurred to result in rapid
erosion with the resulting accumulation of
basal conglomerate. Near the Rio Ocho fault
system, little angular discordance marks the
contact where it is unfaulted. However, east of
La Democracia, basal Todos Santos conglom-
erate consists mainly of fossiliferous limestone
Downloaded from gsabulletin.gsapubs.org on June 3, 2015
824 ANDERSON AND OTHERS
boulders of Permian age. Walper (1960) noted
a similar conglomerate unit which marks the
unconformity to the east. Northeast of the
Rio Ocho fault system, as much as 2,0C0 m of
uplift probably occurred (see Todos Santos
Formation). O n the flanks of the Poxlac up-
life, Paleozoic strata were completely eroded
and Todos Santos Formation, which wedges
out against the crystalline basement, is only a
few meters thick. Additional evidence was
presented by Webber and Ojeda Rivera (1957)
who reported folds trending N . 75° 3. and
faults trending N . 75° W. in Permian rocks,
which did not affect overlying Mesozoic strata.
N o r t h and northwest of San Miguel Acatan,
Tactic and Esperanza strata show effects of
contact metamorphism adjacent to plutons.
During deposition of the Todos Santos Forma-
tion, these rocks were being eroded, and
detritus from t h e m was incorporated in basal
units of the Todos Santos. McRee (1969) found
serpentinite cobbles in basal Todos Santos con-
glomerate.
T h e latest and most obvious deformational
episode, which culminated during post-Cre-
taceous time, may have been presaged during
Turonian-Senonian time when probable activ-
ity along the Chixoy-Polochic fault zone re-
sulted in lithologic changes in the Ixcoy lime-
stone (Blount, 1967). Mobilization of ser-
pentinite occurred during the last deformation
as indicated by detritus in the Sepur Formation
as well as by considerably younger fluvial
conglomerates which contain lenses of mainly
serpentinite debris. Deformation during this
period was characterized by folding with in-
tensive faulting. T o the east, plutonism and
metamorphism were important, whereas only
near Soloma do dikes and small granitic bodies
intrude Santa Rosa or Todos Santos beds
(Bohnenberger, 1967, unpub. rept.). Volcanism
occurred locally along the Chixoy-Polochic
fault zone during post-Cretaceous time.
CONCLUSIONS
Regional interpretation of stress orientation
in western Guatemala is made suspiciously
simple by the repeated parallelism of structural
trends through time. Parallel elements that de-
fine the regional tectonic grain include: high-
angle faults; fold axes; foliation in igneous and
metamorphic rocks south of the Chixoy-
Polochic fault zone west of Huehuetenango;
depositional axis of the Todos Santos Forma-
tion (Richards, 1963), and probably the
Chochal Limestone. Assuming the Chixoy-
Polochic zone, which trends N . 85° W., is a
great left-lateral strike-slip fault zone (Kesler,
1971), the folds and high-angle reverse faults
producing the. northwest grain may be second-
order features according to the theory of
Moody and Hill (1956). These structures were
generated by multiple deformational pulses
over long time periods due to unchanged stress
orientation. Or perhaps the northwest-trending
tectonic grain, once established in the basement
by simple deformational processes, controlled
younger depositional trends as well as alignment
of later structural elements in overlying sedi-
mentary layers. T o the east, the east-trending
structural grain might result either from a
complicated orientation of stresses or from
transposition of crustal structure due to shear-
ing along a fundamental tectonic zone.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Data and ideas have been derived chiefly
from unpublished works by A. Boyd, G. H.
Davis, and the authors. We are particularly
grateful for the many facilities of the Instituto
Geográfico Nacional which were made avail-
able to us through the generosity of the
director, Ing. Manuel Castillo B. Jorge Godoy
O.; Oscar Salazar, and S. B. Bonis of the
Geology Section of the Instituto were ex-
tremely hospitable and helpful in providing
support and advice. We have benefited from
discussions with, and data provided by, R. E .
Boyer, who supervised Anderson's studies,
S. E. Clabaugh, G. Dsngo, S. E . Kesler, W. R.
Muehlberger, A. Egger, F. Stehli, R. E. Grant,
E . L. Yochelson, O. H. Stearns, W. M.
Furnish, B. F. Glenister, J. M. Schopf, J. K .
Rigby, W. L. Josey, D . E . McRee, D. R.
Forth, W. G. Siesser, W. G. Stevens, M.
Collins, and D. E . B radford. T h e manuscript
was greatly improved by the critical reading
and suggestions given, by Gregorio Escalante
and Gabriel Dengo. Monetary support was
provided by National Science Foundation
Grant GA-853. A National Science Founda-
tion Cooperative Fellowship for teaching
assistants, Standard Oil Company of Texas
Fellowship, N . D . E . A . Research Assistantships,
Sigma Xi grant, and a Hogg Fellowship and
McCollum Scholarship in Geology at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin (all to T . H. Ander-
son) are gratefully acknowledged.
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M A N U S C R I P T R E C E I V E D BY T H E S O C I E T Y JANUARY
5, 1972
REVISED M A N U S C R I P T RECEIVED AUGUST 18, 1972
PRESENT ADDRESSES: (ANDERSON) DIVISION OF
GEOLOGICAL AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, C A L I -
FORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PASA-
DENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. (BURKART) DE-
P A R T M E N T OF G E O L O G Y , U N I V E R S I T Y O F T E X A S
AT A R L I N G T O N , A R L I N G T O N , T E X A S 76010
CONTRIBUTION NO. 2147, CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE
OF TECHNOLOGY
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
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Geological Society of America Bulletin

Geology of the Western Altos Cuchumatanes, Northwestern

Guatemala
THOMAS H. ANDERSON, BURKE BURKART, RUSSELL E. CLEMONS,
OTTO H. BOHNENBERGER and DON N. BLOUNT

Geological Society of America Bulletin 1973;84, no. 3;805-826

doi: 10.1130/0016-7606(1973)84<805:GOTWAC>2.0.CO;2

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