Journal of South American Earth Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 1/2, pp.

43~0, 1991 Printed in Great Britain

0895-9811/91 $3.00 + 0.00 1991 Pergamon Press plc & Earth Sciences & Resources Institute

The Guayape fault system, Honduras, Central America

R. C. F I N C H 1 a n d A.

W. RITCHIE 2.

1Department of E a r t h Sciences, Tennessee Technological University, Cookeville, TN 38505 USA; 2Department of Geology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424 USA

(received September 1990; accepted May 1991 )

Abstract---The Guayape fault system (GFS) is the longest continuous structural feature in Honduras and a major tectonic element within the Chortis block of the Caribbean Plate. Nevertheless, it has been largely ignored in most tectonic studies of this region, apparently due to lack of detailed information concerning the location, extent, and nature of the system. This paper attempts to fill this gap. The GFS is defined as a complex band of faults, from 2 to 25 km in width, which trends N30-35E for 290 km from the HondurasNicaragua border near El Paraiso to the Caribbean coast near the mouth of the Rio Sico. A probable offshore continuation can be seen in seismic reflection profiles. Field mapping and aerial photograph interpretation indicate t h a t the GFS proper terminates in a series of splay and cross faults in the J a m a s t r a n Valley-El Paraiso area and does not make an en echelon transfer to connect with the Choluteca l i n e a m e n t to the southwest. The most obvious manifestation of the GFS is the fault-controlled alignment of major segments of the Guayambre, Guayape, Tinto, Paulaya, and Sico Rivers. The great length and rectilinearity of the GFS indicate t h a t it is a strike-slip fault, which is confirmed by a b u n d a n t horizontal and sub-horizontal slickensides, vertical drag-folds, shutterridges, and extensional basins generated by strike-slip displacement. Subsidiary dip-slip faults, expected in a major t r a n s c u r r e n t fault system, are common, especially where extensional basins have developed. Stream offsets of about 50 km, some mesoscopic slip indicators, the regional distribution of a shaly member of the Honduras Group, and regional tectonic considerations suggest sinistral displacement on the GFS. On the other hand, three, possibly four, modern topographic depressions along the GFS are dextral strike-slip extensional basins, and dextral mesoscopic slip indicators o u t n u m b e r sinistral indicators. A two-stage slip history is thereby inferred, with a sinistral-slip phase of more t h a n 50 km displacement followed by a dextral-slip phase of smaller displacement. The GFS t r u n c a t e s units as young as tufts of the predominantly Miocene Padre Miguel Group as well as younger Tertiary(?) gravels. The extreme topographic crispness of the GFS at many localities and the youthfulness of the strikeslip basins show t h a t the GFS is a young feature; hot springs in four localities and scattered seismic data suggest continued activity, but there is no convincing evidence of significant modern motion on the system. The age of inception of motion is unknown, but the sinistral phase was probably sympathetic to Tertiary movement of the Chortis block along the s i n i s t r a l M o t a g u a - S w a n t r a n s f o r m (NOAM-CARIB p l a t e boundary}. Continued movement of the Chortis along the arcuate plate boundary may have rotated the block into a position favorable for the initiation of dextral slip.
R e s u m e n - - s e e p a g e 60.

INTRODUCTION THE GUAYAPE fault system (GFS; Figs. 1 and 2) comprises a complex of both strike-slip and dip-slip f a u l t s e x t e n d i n g for at least 290 km from t h e Honduras-Nicaragua border near the Honduran city of E1 Paraiso northeastward to the Caribbean coast of Honduras near the mouth of the Rio Sico. Proprietary marine seismic reflection profiles included as part of the petroleum exploration project managed by Sunmark for the H o n d u r a n Direccibn General de Minas e Hidrocarburos (available from that agency) suggest that the system continues offshore for an unknown distance, The GFS varies in surface expression from a narrow band less than 2 km across, to zones of splay faults and related normal faults spread across widths of 20 to 25 km. The overall trend of the system is N30-35E. Earlier workers had speculated that the GFS connects with the Choluteca lineament

(CL, Fig. 1) to form a through-going system extending 450 km to transect the entire isthmus. Whether or not this connection exists, the GFS clearly is one of the major tectonic features of the Chortis block, along with the better-known Nicaraguan Depression]Fosa Central of Nicaragua/E1 Salvador and the Motagua transform and its related faults, the Chixoy-Polochic and Jocot~n (Fig. 1). In spite of its magnitude and a p p a r e n t significance, the GFS has been ignored in a l m o s t all published regional tectonic discussions involving the Chortis block, apparently due to the lack of precise data regarding the location, extent, and nature of the system. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the GFS and define its extent and nature.

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS The GFS was recognized by Elvir (1974) and M u e h l b e r g e r (1976), b u t a p p a r e n t l y not by the authors of earlier syntheses of this r e g i o n (e.g., Roberts and Irving, 1957; Weyl, 1961; Mills et al., 1967; Svanholm, 1968). Dengo (1968, his Fig. 9) 43

*Address all correspondence and reprint requests to: A . W . Ritchie, Dept. of Geology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424 USA (Tel: 803-792-5589; Fax: 803-792-5446).

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Fig. 2. M a p of the Guayape fault system and associated linear features. K n o w n faults are shown as solid lines;probable faults identifiedfrom topographic and photolineaments are shown as dashed lines. Honduras-Nicaragua border indicated by heavy dash-dot line. AZ, Azacualpa; CAT, Catacamas; DNC, Dulce Nombre de Culml; EM, E] Maguelar; EP, E] Paralso; P D W , Portillode Will;S, Sico; T, thrust faultof Kozuch (1989); VS, Villa Santa.

46

R.C. FINCH and A. W. RITCHIE

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Fig. 3. Major drainages affected by the Guayape fault system

showed a s e g m e n t of the GFS b u t not the full structure The GFS shown on Elvir's (1974) geologic map of Honduras is schematic and is based on major drainage patterns, the most obvious manifestation of the system (Fig. 3). This representation of the GFS is

too simplistic and is especially i n a c c u r a t e in its northern portions. This was the only version of the GFS available for the compilation of Case and Holcomb's (1980) Geologic-Tectonic Map of the Caribbean. Weyl (1980) showed the same rendition of the

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Fig. 4. Sico Valley portion of the Guayape fault system: AC, Agua Caliente; GF, main Guayape fault; MK, Mariana kink; PR, Papa Ray's house; S, town of Sico. Known faults are shown as solid lines; probable faults identified from topographic and photolineaments are shown as dashed lines.

The Guayape fault system, Honduras, Central America Guayape fault on his geologic map of Honduras, but he did not incorporate it into his general geologic map of Central America. Muehlberger (1976) utilized topographic maps and available geologic data to define a number of tectonic features, including his "cross-Honduras Choluteca-Guayape trend." He noted that this trend and several other major fractures that mark the boundaries of tectonic blocks appear to radiate from the Gulf of Fonseca. He postulated a northward component of movement on the Chortis block east of the Honduras Depression (Fig. 1), resulting in some sinistral slip on the graben-bounding faults of the depression. This reasoning also implies sinistral slip along the Guayape trend. Sutch's (1979) interpretation of the Choluteca-Guayape structure as a through-going fault zone appears to be based on Muehlberger's paper. Curran (1980, his Fig. 25) also showed the GFS-Choluteca lineament as a throughgoing feature transecting the isthmus and separating major basement blocks (his Olancho and Moraz~n blocks on the west, from his Mosquitia block on the east). Curran suggested that the GFS is at present a normal fault. Burkart and Self (1985) also showed the GFS-Choluteca lineament as a through-going feature, again repeating Elvir's (1974) approximate representation of the fault. They also suggested that the Guayape fault has undergone "about 50 kilometers of sinistral slip, as determined by offsets in topography." More recently, Manton (1987) showed the Guayape fault as a sinistral fault, disconnected from the "Choluteca fracture zone." In contrast, Gordon and Muehlberger (1988) viewed the GFS as transecting the entire isthmus and they presented evidence for dextral slip. Gordon (1987a) has proposed that the GFS-Choluteca l i n e a m e n t has had a two-phase history - - an earlier sinistral phase followed by a neotectonic dextral phase. Gordon (1990) made a detailed study of the GFS and its associated structures in the Catacamas Valley area. This paper is an amplification and modification of our previous work (Ritchie and Finch, 1984, 1989). It is based on data collected on a reconnaissance trip made in 1983, during the course of field work for the Government of Honduras in 1984, 1986, and 1987, and map and aerial photograph interpretation of those sections of the GFS that we were unable to visit on the ground.

47

two segments, the Rio Sico and Sico to Rio Paya segments, extending from the coast to the confluence of the Rio Paya with the Rio Paulaya, a distance of about 55 kin. Access to this part of the GFS is very difficult, and most of the following description is the result of topographic and photolineament interpretation, supplemented by helicopter reconnaissance made possible by the Fuerza A~rea Hondurefia.

Rio Sico Segment (Fig. 4)

The Rio Sico (also known as the Rio Tinto or Negro) enters the Sico Valley from the northeast at a hot spring site (Helbig, 1959) known as E1 Agua Caliente. Although this site is an isolated knob separated by some 2 km from the main topographic front which forms the northeast wall of the Sico Valley, it is directly in line with this impressive scarp and may be considered the northernmost point at which the main Guayape fault retains a marked topographic expression. The hot springs here are presumed to issue from fractures in the GFS. The Rio Sico enters the Sico Valley at right angles to the valley wall, at a point where the valley widens and becomes less well defined. The Sico's course here is probably controlled by a cross-fracture. Northward from E1 Agua Caliente, the main Guayape fault can be projected as a weaker topographic and photolineament for 10-11 km, paralleled to the southeast (within the valley) by a photolineament of nearly equal length. Farther to the north along the projection of the GFS, the valley is floored with coastal swamps and jungle-covered alluviated savannahs; however, the last 4 km of the Rio Claura to its mouth lie very nearly along this projection, and the river course here may mark the trace of the GFS as it passes out to sea. Upstream from this nearly straight 4-km segment, the Claura has a typical meandering pattern that passes within 1.5 km of the modern Rio Sico. Although the Claura is an insignificant stream compared to the Sico, its delta is bigger than that of the larger river and forms the prominent coastal bulge just west of the mouth of the Sico (Figs. 3 and 4). The Rio Claura appears to be an abandoned lower Sico stream course - - abandoned as the Sico shifted to the southeast side of the Sico Valley. This shift is likely the result of downdropping of the southeast side of the Sico Valley. The beach ridge morphology of the Claura delta is still prominently visible in aerial photographs, indicating that the delta switching event was relatively recent. Another feature suggesting relatively recent d e r a n g e m e n t of the former drainage system is a small stream that flows parallel to the upper Claura for over 5 km but in the opposite direction, southwestward, to join the Sico. The Rio Sico, after turning to the northeast, gradually approaches the highly irregular southeast side of the valley. Here its course is influenced by bedrock knobs that rise above the otherwise fiat valley fill. These knobs are probably eroded fault blocks in the shattered southeast valley wall. We have mapped a number of lineaments here, repre-

LOCATION, EXTENT, AND D E S C R I P T I O N OF THE GUAYAPE FAULT SYSTEM Figure 2 is a simplified map of the GFS and closely related faults and fractures compiled from topographic maps, aerial photography and reconnaissance, and field work. In this section we describe the GFS in eight segments, commencing at the north coast. The northernmost onshore or Sico Valley portion of the GFS (Fig. 4) may be conveniently described in

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Fig. 5. Aerial photograph mosaic ofthe trace of the main Guayape faultin the Portillode Will area The Rio Paulaya liesjust east ofthe faulttrace in the northern two-thirdsof the mosaic and follows the trace closelyin part of the southern third. The knife-edged Cerro Portillode Will and itsunnamed continuation to the north castthe prominent shadows in the northern third of the mosaic.

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50

R.C. FINCH and A. W. RITCHIE structural low point is toward this margin, and it may be due to a component of uplift on the northwest side of the main fault or to progressive downfaulting of blocks along the s o u t h e a s t side as the basin has grown. The topography changes completely south of the Sico Valley, with jungle-covered mountainous terrain on both sides of the GFS. Again, access problems limit our discussion primarily to map and photointerpretation, supplemented by scattered helicopter landing inspections.

senting at least three distinct sets of fractures - - one set trending N40E (parallel to the main Guayape fault), one trending N77E, and a minor set trending N6oW. Recent movement within this complex of fault blocks is indicated by an abandoned meander loop of the Rio Sico, which passes through a small V-shaped valley between two knobs that are 21 and 95 m high. The meander appears to have been abandoned due to uplift of the fault block underlying the knobs. Point bar ridge and swale topography still evident on the inside of the meander shows that the abandonment is recent.

R iv Paya to Paulaya-Wampu Drainage Divide Segment (Figs. 4 and 5)

The Rio Paya joins the P a u l a y a j u s t south of "Papa Ray" (Fig. 4). From here southward, the Sico Valley closes rapidly. The course of the lower Paya, which may be fracture controlled, essentially marks the southern terminus of the v a l l e y as a m a j o r topographic feature. However, the main G u a y a p e f a u l t is still c l e a r l y e x p r e s s e d as a p r o m i n e n t topographic lineament that continues $25W nearly unbroken for 40 km to the low divide separating the Paulaya and Wampfi drainages. South of where the Rio Paya crosses the main fault, topographic and photolineaments to the west of the main trace suggest the presence of a n o r t h converging fan of at least five more-northeasterlytrending splays off the main fault. A l t e r n a t i v e l y , these fractures could be continuations of the northeasterly-trending fractures thought to control the lower course of the Rio Paya and the southern terminus of the Sico Valley. Topographic expression of the main fault is slightly discontinuous in this zone, but quickly regains its firm expression to cross the succeeding 19 km as a series of aligned (offset?) stream segments, narrow linear valleys, and shutterridges. Segments of the Rio Paulaya and many of its tributaries follow the main fault trace. The upstream portions of the Catacamas-Guayabo drainages appear to be offset sinistrally, but this may be only apparent inasmuch as these streams are forced to follow along the main fault by the Cerro Portillo de Will and its unnamed northern continuation, which form a knifeedge bedrock shutterridge 100-150 meters high and four km long (Fig. 5). Throughout most of this section the topography is variable and rugged on both sides of the main fault. There seem to be no major differences in the general elevations on one side of the fault as compared to the other; however, where there are differences, the southeast side is the lower. The Rio Paulaya follows the main fault for only 16 km north from the P a u l a y a - W a m p 6 divide. Farther to the north it diverges gradually eastward from the main fault until at its junction with the Paya it lies 4.5 km east of the main escarpment. The Paulaya in this section is somewhat entrenched into the floor of a poorly-defined older valley up to 1 km wide. Muehlberger (pets. comm., 1982) has interpreted some of this lower topography as the result of

Sico to Rio Paya Segment (Fig. 4)

Southward from the town of Sico, the Sico Valley is drained by the Rio Paulaya, a major tributary to the Rio Sico. In this segment the valley is of more uniform width, averaging about 6-7 km across, with, as to the north, the northwestern wall being sharply defined and the southeastern margin more irregular. From El Agua Caliente the valley wall runs 18 km in a nearly straight line $43-500W, the escarpment growing from zero relief just southwest of E1 Agua Caliente knob to greater than 300 m 6 km to the southwest. An impressive, sharp topographic scarp characterizes the northwest wall of the Sico Valley for the rest of this segment, and there is no doubt that it marks the main Guayape fault. Only a very few photolineaments suggest parallel and subparallel fractures in the terrane lying west of this escarpment. At a point we call the "Mariana kink," 18 km southwest of E1 Agua Caliente, the Sico valley wall/ main Guayape fault makes a sharp 30 bend (Fig. 4). Southward from this point the valley wall/main fault trends $22-25Wq for 16 km to the Rio Paya. The topographic escarpment becomes even more s h a r p l y defined in this section, with relief up to 500 m. At the Mariana kink we found no evidence in the topography or photolineaments that either of the contrasting main fault trends extends beyond their junction. A group of photolineaments crossing the Rio Sico west of E1 Agua Caliente may represent an old continuation of the more northerly trend, but the most recent activity on the GFS appears to make a clean trend change at the Mariana kink Our interpretation of the Sico Valley is that it is a strike-slip basin (Christie-Blick and Biddle, 1985) c r e a t e d by p r i m a r i l y d e x t r a l slip on the m a i n Guayape fault south of the Mariana kink, necessitating a prominent component of normal slip on that portion of the fault between the kink and the coast (Fig. 4). The northwest wall of the valley, controlled by the main fault, is sharply defined and nearly continuous, with an a p p a r e n t d o w n t h r o w to the southeast. The southeast side of the valley is more broken up, as would be expected in a complex of normal fault blocks collapsing into the opening basin. The preference of the Rio P a u l a y a and the downstream portion of the Rio Sico for the s o u t h e a s t margin of the Sico Valley probably indicates that the

The Guayape fault system, Honduras, Central America downdropping due to small dextral pull-aparts. The overall trend of the river in this section is N30-35E, and it projects directly into the general trend of the Paulaya in the Sico Valley to the north - - that is to say, this section of the Paulaya aligns generally with the fau~.cd southeast margin of the Sico Valley.

51

Rio Wampu-Rio Tinto Segment (Fig. 6)

The Rio Tinto is a tributary to the Rio Guayape, d r a i n i n g the s o u t h e r n 45 km of a major faultcontrolled valley that extends for 77 km N35E from the confluence of the Tinto with the Guayape near the city of Catacamas (Figs. 6 and 7). This valley varies from 4 to 13 km wide. The northern part of the valley is drained by the Rios Wamp6 and Paulaya. As in the case of the Sico Valley, the northwestern valley wall is the better defined, with the southeastern wall being more irregular or, in places, obscure. In the northern part of the valley, the valley floor slopes toward the southeast and is covered with alluvium derived primarily from Tertiary tufts. This alluvial cover appears to be thin, and bedrock exposures become increasingly prominent towards the south where Mesozoic clastic and carbonate strata and Tertiary(?) ash-flow and air-fall tufts of the Campantepe volcanic rocks (Gordon, 1990) are exposed in the valley floor. For purposes of this discussion, we refer to the southern portion of this long fault-controlled valley as the Tinto Valley, and to the n o r t h e r n portion as the Culmi Valley, after the town of Dulce Nombre de Culmi, the only sizeable town within this remote valley.

valley wall. This block is composed in part of Tertiary tufts. Just north of the point where the valley narrows, another low divide crosses the valley floor to separate north-draining tributaries of the Wamp6 from southdraining tributaries of the Tinto (Fig. 6). Once again, the WampO side of the divide is characterized by gentle slopes, whereas the Tinto side is steeper. The Tinto tributaries are actively e n c r o a c h i n g headwardly into the Wampfi drainage basin. This situation is surprising inasmuch as the overall gradient of the Wampfi to its confluence with the Patuca at Boca Wamp6 (see Fig. 3) is considerably steeper than that of the Tinto-Guayape-Patuca to Boca Wampfl. The cause of this seemingly anomalous situation is the block of mountains through which the Wamp6 must pass as it exits to the east from the Culmi Valley. Here the Wamp6 flows through a narrow, 300-meter deep gorge cut into hard rocks forming a threshold that must be eroded before the Wampfi can effectively cut into the Culmi Valley floor. This threshold effect is probably responsible for the ponding of alluvium in the northern part of the Culmi Valley. The origin of the wider northern end of the Culmi Valley is not as readily explained as the Sico Valley. It could be a highly modified or complex strike-slip basin (Mann et al., 1983) produced by sinistral motion on the GFS, but there is no convincing evidence at the present time to support such an interpretation.

Tinto Valley Portion of the Wampu-Tinto Segment. South of the Wamp6-Tinto drainage divide the topographic expression of the GFS changes markedly (Fig. 7). The valley narrows and neither the northern Culmi Valley Portion of the Rio Wampu-Rio Tinto nor the southern walls form continuous escarpments. Segment. The headwaters of the Paulaya minimally Bedrock exposures, including J u r a s s i c - C r e t a c e o u s cut into the Culmi Valley, draining only about 25 km 2 clastic strata, Cretaceous limestone, and Tertiary(?) of the northernmost part of the valley, plus the im- volcanic rocks, become more common in the valley mediately adjacent mountains (Fig. 6). The Paulaya- floor. A road-metal quarry has been opened in brecWampfi drainage divide is a low, asymmetrical ridge ciated limestone displaying horizontal slickensides with very gentle slopes on the W a m p 6 side but ("X" on Fig. 7). Nonetheless, no particular fracture dropping steeply for about 80 meters on the Paulaya can be identified as the main Guayape fault trace side. Clearly, the Paulaya is actively pirating tri- through this portion of the Wampfi-Tinto segment. butaries that formerly belonged to the Wampfi. This A projection of the main GFS trace southwestheadward extension of the Paulaya into the Culmi ward from the north wall of the Culmi Valley falls Valley has taken place along the main Guayape fault along the average course of the Rio Tinto where we trace. have identified a series of left-stepping en echelon Immediately south of the Paulaya-Wamp6 drain- photolineaments. We consider it highly probable that age divide, the main trace of the Guayape makes a the main Guayape fault zone closely follows the the right-stepping transfer, with the r e s u l t t h a t the course of the Tinto to its confluence with the Guavalley wall and main fault trace are poorly defined for yape, but it is also clear that the GFS has developed a a distance of 5-6 km. Southward from this stepover number of splays that break off in a more souththe main trace is clearly defined for 15 km, to a point westerly trend at the junction of the GFS with the where a small left-stepping transfer occurs. Creta- Catacamas structure. ceous limestone and Tertiary volcanic rocks are exposed in the valley wall, juxtaposed against younger Catacamas Valley Junction (Fig. 7) tuffaceous valley fill. Immediately south of the short, left-stepping transfer, the valley suddenly narrows The structure of the Catacamas Valley has been from 12 to 5 km. This narrowing is due in small part described by Gordon and Muehlberger (1988) and to the step towards the valley made by the main trace, Gordon (1990). The Catacamas Valley is a major but it is due primarily to the occurrence of a roughly topographic feature that extends 70 km along a rectangular fault block jutting out from the southeast N55E axis, terminating to the northeast against the

52

R.C. FINCH and A. W. RITCHIE

Fig. 6. Culml Valley portion of the Guayape fault system: DNC, town ofDulce Nombre de Culmi; GF, main Guayape fault; X, roadmetal quarry in brecciated limestone with horizontal slickensides. Known faults are shown as solid lines; probable faults identified from topographic and photolineaments are shown as dashed lines.

GFS (Fig. 7). It averages 7-8 km in width and is drained by the Rio Guayape, which flows generally along the southeast side of the valley. The river meanders across thin alluvial deposits with numerous bedrock exposures in the valley floor. The north wall of the valley, a spectacular escarpment rising over 1000 meters, marks the Catacamas fault. Near the city of Catacamas, basement schist crops out from the base of the escarpment up to 300350 meters above the valley floor. The schist is overlain by a relatively thin section of clastic strata belonging to the J u r a s s i c - C r e t a c e o u s H o n d u r a s Group (Donnelly et al., 1990), which are in t u r n overlain by Cretaceous limestone. The escarpment is

offset by several cross-faults. Within the valley on the downthrown side of the C a t a c a m a s fault, Tertiary(?} volcanic units are exposed. On the south, the Catacamas Valley is bounded by a basement massif of schist, thrust southeast over a section of Honduras Group clastic s t r a t a which differs from that seen in the northern escarpment - being much thicker and consisting mainly of shale (Kozuch, 1989). At the northeast end of this block, Tertiary(?) Campantepe tufts (Gordon, 1990} either overlie the massif or are brought into fault contact with it by splays of the GFS. The Catacamas Valley has been interpreted by Gordon (1987a) as a "fault wedge basin along a right-

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Fig. 7. Catacamas Valley junction and Rio Tinto portions of the Guayape fault system: CAT, city of Catacamas; CF, C a t a c a m a s fault; CMR, Cerro Monte Redondo; GF, main Guayape fault; X, road-metal quarry in brecciated limestone with horizontal slickensides. Known faults are shown as solid lines; probable faults identified from topographic and photolineaments are shown a s dashed lines

The Guayape fault system, Honduras, Central America lateral fault" -- i.e., the GFS. The geometry of the valley suggests that "right-lateral fault flank basin" (Mann et al., 1990) is more appropriate, considering that the C a t a c a m a s f a u l t a p p a r e n t l y t r u n c a t e s several of the more southwesterly-trending splays off the main GFS. A pair of these truncated splays outline a 2-km long brecciated fault sliver known as Cerro Monte Redondo (Fig. 7). In the San Francisco de Becerra quadrangle to the southwest ofCatacamas, Kozuch (1989) mapped a north-dipping thrust fault. This post-Middle Jurassic thrust indicates north-south compression incompatible with dextral motion on the GFS.

53

duras Group (Ritchie and Finch, 1985). Within the shaly section, movement on the GFS is spread over wide zones of distributed shear; furthermore, lack of massive resistant units or contrasting lithologies results in poor topographic expression of the shear zones.

Rio Guayambre Segment (Fig. 8)

Southward from the union of the G u a y a p e and Guayambre to form the Rio Patuca (Figs. 3 and 8), the main faults of the GFS are presumed to be closely represented by the course of the Rio G u a y a m b r e . However, once again there is no single, throughgoing trace that can be identified as the main fault. The character of the main zone is generally similar to that of the G u a y a p e s e g m e n t , with, p e r h a p s , a greater variety of stratigraphic units involved in the faulting. In'the vicinity of the village of El Maguelar we mapped slices of red beds and limestone belonging to the Cretaceous Valle de Angeles Group tectonically interleaved with Agua Fria shale and sandstone (Fig. 8). At the Guayape-Guayambre junction, the northwest valley wall forms an abrupt cusp (Fig. 8). Here the fault trace b o u n d i n g the valley t u r n s from parallel to the main GFS to $650W, follows this course approximately 8 km, then begins to curve gently more to the south and simultaneously breaks up into a number of less well-defined segments. These lineaments may be traced on air photos and topographic maps approximately 20 km to a second kink where the trend bends back to nearly parallel to the main GFS - - i.e., $35~/. From this point the lineaments become more obscure and are only tentatively traceable to the Jamastr~n Valley another 30 km to the south. We have designated these the Azacualpa faults. North of the second kink the Azacualpa faults separate the high Montafia de Azacualpa block from

Rio Guayape Segment (Fig. 7)

Near the east end of the Catacamas Valley, the Rio Guayape - - for which the GFS was named - turns abruptly southeastward as it reaches the GFS. It soon joins the Rio Tinto at a T-intersection (Figs. 3 and 7), where it turns $350W to flow along the GFS for 37 km to its confluence with the Rio Guayambre (see Fig. 2). The Guayape course follows a valley that varies from 2 to 4 km in width, with generally welldefined valley walls. The valley presumably follows closely the main Guayape fault trace; however, no single, through-going trace can be identified in this segment. Instead the system appears to be broken up into numerous segments dispersed across a zone as much as twice as wide as the modern Guayape stream valley. On the southeast side of the valley there is a general tendency for the segments to form a leftstepping en echelon pattern, and, toward the north end of this segment, a noticeably arcuate pattern (concave toward the Guayape Valley) is evident. One likely explanation for the apparent dispersed nature of the GFS in this segment is the fact that the bedrock here consists mainly of a very thick pelitic section belonging to the Agua Fria formation, an informal member of the Jurassic-Cretaceous Hon-

---

MT~A de CUYAM "~lPA e

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~ KM

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Fig. 8. Guayambre segment of the Guayape fault system: AF, Azacualpa faults; AZ, town of Azacualpa; EM, town of El Maguelar; VS, town of Villa Santa. Knownfaults are shown as solid lines; probable faults identified from topographic and photolineaments a r e shown as dashed lines.

54
' /f'
'
,

R. C. FINCH and A. W. RITCHIE

iI

',

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Zr, ~:. ! --~.'-~?.

//_ _,,,I. . . . ~ AF

x..\

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/ /

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,~ I /

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Fig. 9. Jamastran-E1 Paraiso segment of the Guayape fault system: AF, southern extension of the Azacualpa faults; EC, El Chichicaste; EP, city of El Paraiso; GF, main Guayapefaults; PB, Pozo Bendito. Knownfaults are shown as solid lines; probable faults identifiedfromtopographicand photolineamentsare shownas dashed lines, ttonduras-Nicaraguaborder indicatedby heavy dash-dot line. the low Azacualpa Valley (Fig. 8). South of the second kink the Azacualpa faults separate the high Montafaa de Cuyamapa from the lower terrain around the town of Villa Santa. The trend of the Azacualpa faults as they diverge from the main GFS trend is nearly identical to that of the Catacamas fault, the terrain lying between the Azacualpa faults and the GFS is consistently lower than that to the northwest of the Azacualpa faults, and the most pronounced development of the extensional basin occurs at its northern end where it abuts the GFS. Gordon (1990) interpreted the Azacualpa Valley as a fault wedge or a fault flank basin analogous to the C a t a c a m a s Valley basin. We disagree, noting that because the northwest escarpment and, therefore, the generating fault are continuous, the valley represents a dextral releasing bend basin (Crowell, 1974). Hot springs e m e r g i n g along the northern portion of the Azacualpa faults may hint at their youthfulness.
Valle de Jamastrdn-El Paraiso Segment (Fig. 9)

The Jamastr~in Valley is a rectangular valley about 15 by 13 km, with its long axis parallel to the GFS. The valley is bounded on the northwest by faults t h a t are the projected c o n t i n u a t i o n of the Azacualpa faults, and on the southeast by rightstepping en echelon segments of the GFS. Furthermore, the topography suggests that the northeast and southwest ends of the valley may also be faultbounded, but this is less certain (Fig. 9). On the basis of a reconnaissance trip in 1983, we (Ritchie and Finch, 1984) suggested t h a t the GFS makes a right-stepping en echelon connection with the 165-km-long Chotuteca lineament in the Valle de Jamastrfin-E1 Paraiso region, to form a through-

going system transecting the entire isthmus. On the basis of topography, Gordon (1987a) suggested t h a t the Jamastr~n Valley must be a dextral pull-apart, n e c e s s i t a t e d by d e x t r a l slip on r i g h t - s t e p p i n g , overlapping segments of the GFS and C h o l u t e c a lineament. The results of field work in the area in 1984 and 1986 i n d i c a t e t h a t n e i t h e r of t h e s e interpretations is correct (Ritchie and Finch, 1989). Our field data and map and photo interpretations do not support the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of t h e GFSCholuteca lineament as a through-going f e a t u r e . Instead, we find that the GFS breaks into a multiplicity of splay faults and shear zones represented by bands of breccia hundreds of meters thick, passing along the southeast side of the J a m a s t r ~ n Valley, and probably through the valley floor as well, to terminate finally against a well-developed set of northwest-trending fractures without connecting with the Choluteca lineament (Fig. 9). We last see the GFS some 7 km due west of the city of El Paraiso, where it places Jurassic Agua Fria s t r a t a a g a i n s t T e r t i a r y Padre Miguel tufts. We find no evidence that faults of the Choluteca lineament extend this far northward. Such faults, if they exist, do not appear to break the Tertiary volcanic cover in this region as do faults of the GFS, and as faults of the Choluteca lineament do farther to the south where t h a t f e a t u r e is b e t t e r developed. Our present i n t e r p r e t a t i o n is t h a t the GFSCholuteca lineament does not form a through-going s y s t e m , but t h a t the two e l e m e n t s h a v e a c t e d independently n although possibly in response to the same tectonic influences. We now view the GFS as terminating in the series of splays developed in the Valle de Jamastr~n-E1 Paraiso segment, with the movement being distributed in smaller amounts over

The Guayape fault system, ttonduras, Central America a wider area t h a n elsewhere in the system. The J a m a s t r ~ n Valley appears to be a special case of a dextral pull-apart (Crowell, 1974} in which the valley is not the result of dextral motion on two overlapping segments of the main fault but rather of interaction between the main GFS and the Azacualpa faults splays off the GFS. Thus, the Jamastrfin Valley is more likely a result of movement on the Azacualpa faults than it is to a relationship with the Choluteca lineament.

55

N A T U R E OF T H E D I S P L A C E M E N T The tectonic setting, extreme rectilinearity, and great length of the GFS suggest that it is a strike-slip fault. This is confirmed by the common occurrence of horizontal to sub-horizontal (rakes less t h a n 30 ) slickensides on exposures of discrete faults and in zones of shear within the GFS throughout the entire length visited by us. Locally, mesoscopic drag folds with vertical axes were also noted (see below). That no pairs of offset features can be u n e q u i v o c a l l y identified along the GFS suggests that the amount of movement may be large. As a working prejudice based on the regional tectonic pattern, we expected the GFS to prove to be a m e m b e r of a family of major t r a n s c u r r e n t faults affecting the northern edge of the Chortis block (see Fig. 1): the Motagua, the Jocot~n, the La Ceiba, the Agu~n, the Guayape, and possibly the Patuca fault zone to the east of the GFS. The present sinistral movement on the Motagua transform is well documented. Although the GFS has a more northerly trend than the Motagua and the other faults lying between the GFS and the Motagua, we expected to find that the GFS exhibited sinistral displacement as well. Sinistral displacement has been documented on other N30-40E-trending faults cutting the Chortis block - - e.g., the faults active during the 1972 Managua earthquake (Brown et al., 1973). However, the Managua faults belong to a group of shorter faults transverse to the volcanic arc and related to segmentation of the Cocos plate as it is subducted at the Middle America Trench (Stoiber and Carr, 1973; Carr, 1976; Cart and Stoiber, 1977). It is unlikely that the much longer GFS, which does not reach the volcanic arc, is genetically related to these faults. Nevertheless, sinistral slip on these transverse faults suggests that the N30-35E orientation of the GFS does not necessarily require dextral slip, as suggested by Gordon (1987a). As indicated in the following paragraphs, the evidence for the direction of displacement on the GFS is mixed.

sisting of shear surfaces with associated asymmetric minor folds. A preponderance of dextral-slip indicators are associated with steeply-dipping surfaces subparallel to the Guayape trend. Sinistral indicators are more common on surfaces at an angle to this trend. The sinistral indicators may result from movement on complementary or Riedel shears within a dextral GFS or may be rotated relic structures from an earlier period of sinistral motion on the GFS. Cross-cutting relationships are, as might be expected, complex, but it is our observation in the field t h a t surfaces associated with dextral indicators cut those associated with sinistral indicators more frequently than the opposite. However, a count of cross-cutting relationships of lineaments on Fig. 2 reveals no preference one way or the other (Carson and Ritchie, 1991). In addition, 29 slip indicators were measured on an east-northeast-trending GFS splay fault on the other side of the Jamastrgm Valley at Pozo Bendito (PB on Fig. 9). The pattern of movement indicated by these data is similar to that at E1 Chichicaste but, interestingly enough, 12 of the indicators imply normal movement on the splay. Such normal movement, if real, would be consistent with more recent dextral movement on the GFS. Mesoscopic structural data from other parts of the GFS are scarce, principally as a result of poor exposure.

Evidence for Sinistral Slip

Burkart and Self (1985) suggested that the GFS was a sinistral fault with about 50 km of displacement, based on "offsets in topography." The topographic offset referred to is the apparent displacement of the headwaters of the G u a y a p e and G u a y a m b r e stream systems (Ritchie and Finch, 1984) (Fig. 10). In the present-day drainage patterns (Figs. 3 and 10) the Guayape flows from its headwaters generally northeastward, toward the Caribbean coast, until it nears its junction with the Tinto. Here the river makes a nearly 180" turn, away from the coast, to follow the GFS for 37 km until it meets the Guayambre to form the Rio Patuca. Helbig (1959) concluded that the Guayape once drained n o r t h e a s t w a r d along the present course of the Tinto, to exit to the Caribbean via either the present Paulaya or Wampt] Valleys. tie viewed the turning of the Guayape back to the southwest as an effect of uplift and blockage of the Tinto (then Guayape) Valley by eruptive rocks. We think it hardly likely t h a t the G u a y a p e ever flowed to the Caribbean via the P a u l a y a (which appears to have only recently pirated its way into the Culmi Valley area). However, a G u a y a p e - W a m p ~ drainage seems much more plausible, with sinistral movement on the GFS as the cause of its disruption. Today the Rio Wampfi exits the Culmi ValleyGuayape f a u l t zone at a point 47 km from the Guayape-Tinto confluence. Upstream from its exit canyon, the headwaters of the Wamph encompass an area of only 640 km 2, whereas the Guayape drainage basin upstream from its junction with the T i n t o covers some 8140 km ~ (Fig. 10). This discrepancy in

Mesoscopic Slip Indicators

Much of our mesoscopic structural data come from a major, GFS-related shear zone in the northeast corner of the J a m a s t r h n Valley in the vicinity of E1 Chichicaste (EC on Fig. 9). Here we found 33 scattered sinistral- and dextral-slip indicators con-

56

R.C. FINCH and A. W. RITCHIE drainage basin areas seems peculiar when the canyons through which the two rivers exit the GFS are compared (Fig. 11). The Wampfi, with a drainage basin less than one tenth that of the Guayape, exits the GFS through a canyon that is somewhat g r e a t e r in cross-sectional a r e a t han t h a t occupied by the Patuca (combined Guayape/Guayambre rivers) where it leaves the GFS. The Patuca exit c a n y o n is cut through a varmty of rocks including limestone, sandstone and shale of the Agua Fria, and volcanic rocks. The rocks forming the Wampd canyon have not been sampled, but from helicopter observations we suspect they might be resistant volcanic rocks. E ven considering t hat the a n n u a l rainfall in t he Wamp(l headwaters area is higher t h a n t h a t in the u p p e r Guayhpe d r a i n a g e (Aguilar Paz, 1954), it s e e m s unlikely t h a t the Wampfl would h a v e c a r v e d a canyon larger than that carved by the combined flow of the G u a y a p e / G u a y a m b r e r i v e r s with t h e i r f a r larger drainage basins. It seems that the Wampfl is underfit for its canyon, and that the canyon itself may be the product of erosion by the Guayape prior to its displacement by 47 km of sinistral m ovem ent on the GFS. This concept finds some support in the fact th a t the upper Guayambre drainage system joins the GFS at a point 53 km from the Patuca exit canyon. The upper Guayambre tributaries may follow or be cut by splays of the GFS but, as a whole, are not controlled by the fault system and may be interpreted as predating the GFS. The lower drawing in Fig. l0 shows a h y p o t h e t i c a l r e c o n s t r u c t i o n of t h e G u a y a p e Wampt~ and Guayambre-Patuca pre-faulting d ra in age basins, r e q u i r i n g the r e s t o r a t i o n of a p p r o x i mately 50 km of sinistral slip on the GFS. The proposed match is not perfect. The a p p a r e n t offset of the Guayape-Wampfi is 47 km, in contrast to the 53 km of the upper Guayambre-Patuca. Pe rh a p s this 6-km discrepancy is an effect of the later development of dextral extensional basins on the northwest side of the GFS, which would a l t e r the d i s t a n c e between points lying on that side of the fault system. L at er d e x t r a l slip on the G F S would o b v i o u s l y

KM

100

Fig. 10. Upper drawing shows the present drainage along the Guayape fault system. Note the difference in size Guayape and Wamp~ drainage basins. Lowerdrawing shows a hypotheticalreconstructionprior to approximately50 km of sinistral displacementon the Guayapefault system. In this position the upper Guayape river wouldhave drained through the lower courseofthe Wampti.
trace of the between the

WAMPI~ WSW

EXIT

CANYON

PROFILE ENE

PATUCA

EXIT

CANYON

PROFILE

SSW

NNE

,OOm

,oo

SL -

NO

V.E.

SL -

NO

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Fig. 11. Transverse profiles of the stream valleys of the Rfos Wampd and Patuca at the points where they exit the GFS faultcontrolled valleys.

The Guayape fault system, Honduras, Central America diminish the effects of the earlier sinistral movement; therefore the proposed 50 km of sinistral displacement in the early phase would be a minimum figure. Additional, but weak, evidence favoring largescale sinistral displacement on the GFS is the distribution of the Agua Fria strata as currently known (Ritchie and Finch, 1985). This thick unit of the Honduras Group is best known in the area lying to the west of the Jamastr~n Valley and in the Azacualpa area. Farther north, in the Catacamas Valley, only a thin section of Honduras Group strata occurs along the Catacamas fault on the northwest side of the GFS, whereas on the southeast side widespread exposures of Agua Fria shale indicate a thick section here. This thick section of Agua Fria may be an offset continuation of the thick Agua Fria deposits in the Jamastr6n-Azacualpa region. On the other hand, this may reflect our lack of knowledge of the Agua Fria, which has never been subjected to regional mapping or facies analysis. It is also in the C a t a c a m a s area that Kozuch (1989} mapped a thrust fault whose motion indicates north-south compression. The age of the pest-Middle Jurassic thrusting is poorly constrained, but its orientation is compatible with sinistral slip on the GFS and incompatible with dextral slip.

57

However, a problem with any i n t e r p r e t a t i o n which argues for 50 km of sinistral movement on the GFS is the difficulty of terminating a fault with that much movement in the mass of splay and cross-faults in the Jamastr~n-E1 Paraiso area. Perhaps during an earlier phase of sinistral movement, the GFS did step over to connect with the Choluteca lineament, as suggested by Muehlberger (1976}. Such an e a r l i e r connection, now covered by Tertiary volcanic rocks little disturbed by the smaller dextral m o v e m e n t , would solve the problem of terminating the movemeat on the GFS and remain compatible with our observation that there is now no evidence for a connection between the two structures.

AGE OF THE GUAYAPE FAULT SYSTEM The GFS cuts virtually the entire stratigraphic section of Honduras, from Paleozoic(?) b a s e m e n t schist to Tertiary volcanic rocks. At the present there are no data to constrain the initiation of faulting. In the Jamastr~n-E1 Paraiso region, faults of the GFS place tufts of the Padre Miguel Group against Agua Fria shale. The tufts have been widely dated in central Honduras as Mio-Pliocene (Williams and McBirney, 1969; Curran, 1980; McDowell, pers. comm., 1986}; the Agua Fria clastic strata have been dated as Middle Jurassic using both ammonites and plant remains (Ritchie and Finch, 1985). In the CatacamasCulmi region the system cuts through volcanic rocks believed to be of Tertiary age (Gordon, 1990}. It is likely that the GFS originated as the Caribbean plate evolved in Tertiary time. The sinistral m o v e m e n t may have originated in response to stresses related to the Caribbean-North American plate boundary at an earlier time when the GFS was at an a p p r o p r i a t e orientation. Gordon (1987a} has proposed that the dextral phase of activity on the GFS is neotectonic. Much of the discussion regarding the history of the GFS and its relationship to the NOAM-CARIB boundary (Gordon, 1987a,b, 1990} has been speculative and contradictory. This speculation results, to a large degree, from a lack of u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the nature of the relationship between the GFS and the plate boundary. Indeed, Mann et al. (1990} do not include the GFS in their list of faults included in the plate boundary zone. Without some knowledge of the interaction between the GFS and the NOAM-CARIB boundary, any attempt at placement of the GFS in a regional tectonic picture is necessarily speculative. N u m e r o u s features support the proposal t h a t neotectonic movement has taken place on the GFS. The extreme crispness of the topographic expression of the main Guayape throughout much of its length e.g., the Cerro Portillo de Will shutterridge (see Fig. 5), and the modern tectonic basins developed as extensional features along the GFS argue for recent, if not current, activity on the fault system. The ClauredSico delta switch and block-faulting-induced meander abandonment along the Rio Sico are best explained by recent activity along the GFS. In the
-

Evidence for Dextral Slip

The evidence for dextral displacement on the GFS consists p r i m a r i l y of the large-scale topographic features best explained as dextral strike-slip basins: the Sico, Catacamas, and Azacualpa valleys and, possibly, the J a m a s t r 6 n Valley. Additionally, Gordon's analysis of fault slip data in the Catacamas Valley area (Gordon, pers. comm., 1987) indicates dextral slip, as do some of our slip indicators from the Jamastr~m area. Following a less convincing line of reasoning, we believe that right-stepping en echelon segments are more likely to develop in a dextral slip regime than as a result of sinistral slip. Although occurrences of both left- and right-stepping segments can be seen along the length of the GFS, right-stepping overlaps are more common than left-stepping overlaps along the fault traces that are the more obvious and likely younger fractures in the system (e.g., segments along the southeast side of the Jamastr~n Valley, which we interpret as the main Guayape trace in this area}.

Two-Stage Movement History

Taken altogether, the evidence presently available, both mesocopic and large-scale, suggests that the GFS has had an early history of sinistral displacement, followed by more recent dextral slip, as first suggested by Gordon (1987a}. The earlier phase resulted in a minimum of 50 km displacement; the amount of displacement in the more recent dextral phase is unknown but would have to have been less than that of the earlier phase in order to preserve any of the sinistral offset.
SAES~4:I/2 E

58

R.C. FINCH and A. W. RITCHIE CONCLUSIONS The Guayape fault system (GFS) trends N30 35E across the Chortis block of the Caribbean Plate for approximately 290 km from the vicinity of the city of E1 Paraiso to the Caribbean coast. We find no evidence that the GFS connects with the Choluteca lineament or t h a t the GFS c o n t i n u e s b e y o n d El Paraiso in any form. Large-scale tectonic features associated with the GFS, extensional basins in particular, indicate a dextral sense of movement for the fault system. However, offset stream drainage features suggest a minimum of 50 km of sinistral offset. From the apparent relative ages of these and other features, it appears that the GFS has had a two-stage movement history, with the dextral movement being the more recent. In any case, motion on the GFS has diminished during the Holocene. The sinistral movement is likely T e r t i a r y and may have occurred at a time when the orientation of the Chortis block aligned the proto-GFS with the sinistral Caribbean-North American plate boundary. Rotation of the Chortis block into its present orientation has placed the GFS in an orientation more nearly complementary to the sinistral NOAM-CARIB plate boundary, which could explain the neotectonic dextral movement on the system as proposed by Gordon (1987a,b). However, an argument that the N30-35E orientation of the GFS necessitates a dextral sense of movement is contraindicated by the sinistral movement observed on faults of that orientation during the 1972 Managua, Nicaragua, earthquake (Brown et a l . , 1973) and by the s i n i s t r a l d i s p l a c e m e n t on arc segmentation faults transverse to the Middle American volcanic arc (Stoiber and Carr, 1973; Carr, 1976; Cart and Stoiber, 1977). Precise placement of the GFS in a regional tectonic picture awaits further data on the nature of the interaction offshore of the GFS and the NOAM-CARIB plate boundary.

Azacualpa area we found two outcrops of semiconsolidated, poorly-sorted gravel beds t h a t have been rotated to near vertical. These beds crop out in an area dominantly floored with Agua Fria strata, but we believe the gravel beds to be of Tertiary age (probably late Tertiary), tectonically interleaved with the Agua Fria by movement on the GFS. The relatively poor integration of drainage networks in the La Colonia region may indicate d i s r u p t i o n of older drainages by relatively recent movement on the GFS. Hot springs, commonly associated with young faults, are known to occur in four places along the GFS; however, fracture-controlled hot springs are exceedingly common in Honduras (Finch, 1986) and cannot be considered proof of anything more than the fact that the fractures facilitate the movement of thermal waters. Although some epicentral locations plot near, and possibly along the GFS (Sutch, 1979), no modern seismic activity can be definitely attributed to movement on this system. In spite of numerous indications of relatively recent activity on the GFS, at no place could we find any certain displacement of Q u a t e r n a r y features. Multiple levels of stream terraces are well developed along the Rio Guayambre. Such terrace levels and terrace fronts might be expected to show the effects of modern movement on the GFS, as do the terraces along the Rio E1 Tambor in the Motagua fault zone (Bosc, 1971; Schwartz et al., 1979), but we could not find any examples of offset or disrupted terraces along the GFS. Other than the young extensional basins themselves, all indicators of recent activity on the GFS occur on the northeastern half of the system - - e.g., the Portillo de Will shutterridge and recent drainage changes in the P a u l a y a and Claura/Sieo rivers. This can be explained as a southwestward dying out of slip on the GFS proper as movement is accommodated by the series of extensional basins. It could also indicate that activity on the GFS is indeed related to the NOAM-CARIB boundary in some way. If the GFS were still active today it would be expected to be associated with historical seismic events. Sutch (1979, her Fig. 18) shows four epicenters for shallow focus earthquakes recorded between 1898 and 1978 that appear to be spatially related to the GFS. She noted (p. 58) that "information regarding individual faults cannot be e x t r a p o l a t e d " due to insufficient data. Historically, Honduras has been sufficiently free of seismic damage that little effort has been expended in seismic studies within the republic. From presently available data it is not possible to say with certainty that activity continues on the GFS. In sum, the GFS is probably a Tertiary feature that has undergone an early sinistral slip phase, followed by a neotectonic dextral phase. Motion on the GFS appears to be greatly reduced in Holocene time but likely has continued to some degree on the northeastern portion of the feature.

Acknowledgements--We gratefully acknowledge t h e i n v a l u a b l e

support of the Direcci6n General de Minas e Hidrocarburoe, *,he Instituto Geogr~fico Nacional, and Fuerza A6rea Hondurefia of the Republic of Honduras, and the support of our own i n s t i t u t i o n s , Tennessee Technological University and the College of Charleston. In addition, we express our special appreciation to W. R. Muehlberger of the University of Texas a t Austin, without whose longterm support and many valuable suggestions this paper would not have been written.

The Guayape fault system, Honduras, Central America

REFERENCES
Aguilar Paz, J., 1954. Mapa General de la Republica de Honduras: Escala 1:500,000. Presso l'Instituto Poligrafico e Zecca delio Stato, Rome, Italy, I sheet. Bosc, E., 1971. Geology of the San Agust~n Acasaguastlan Quadrangle and Northeastern Part of E1 Progreso Quadrangle. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, 131 p. Brown, R. D., Ward, P. L., and Plafker, G., 1973. Geologic and Seismologic Aspects of the Managua, Nicaragua, Earthquake of December23, 1972. U.S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 838, 34 p.
Burkart, B., and Self, S., 1985. Extension and rotation of crustal blocks in northern Central America and effecton the volcanic arc. Geology 13, 22-26. Carr, Michael J., 1976. Underthrusting and Quaternary faulting in northern Central America. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America 87,825-829.

59

Gordon, M. B., 1987a. The Guayape fault of Honduras: A major right-lateralfault cutting the Chortis block. E O S (Transactions of the American Geophysical Union) 68, 423.

Gordon, M. B., 1987b. Cenozoic migration of strike-slip faulting in Central America. EOS (Transactions of the American Geophysical Union) 68, 1483. Gordon, M. B., 1990. Strike-Slip Faulting and Basin Formation at the Guayape Fault-Valle de Catacamas Intersection, Honduras, Central America. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, 259 p.
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Honduras.

R e s u m e n - - E l sistema de fallas del Guayape {GFS) es la estructura mas larga y continua en Honduras y uno de los mayores elementos tectbnicos en el bloque Chortis de la plata Caribe. Sin embargo, este sistema de fallas ha sido ignorado en la mayoria de estudios tect6nicos realizados en esa regi6n, debido, aparentemente, a la falta de datos detallados sobre la localizaci0n, dimensi6n y naturaleza del sistema. Este estudio intenta proporcionar esta informaci6n faltante. E1 GFS es una franja compleja de fallas que varia desde 2 hasta 25 km en ancho, con rumbo N30-35E y una longitud de 290 km. Se extiende desde la frontera de Honduras con Nicaragua, cerca de El Paraiso, hasta la costa del Caribe en las proximidades de la desembocadura del Rio Sico. Perfiles de reflexi6n sismica sugieren que el GFS se extiende a la plataforma continental. Mapeo geol6gico en el campo e interpretacion de fotografias a~reas indican que el verdadero GFS desaparece en una zona de bifurcaciones Csplay faults"}, las que son intersectadas por otro sistema de fallas en la regi6n comprendida entre el Valle de J a m a s t r a n y E1 Paraiso. En esta area, el GFS no presenta ninguna conexi6n en echelon que muestre continuidad con el lineamiento de Choluteca al suroeste. La m~s obvia manifestaci6n del GFS es un alineamiento de segmentos largos de los rios Guayambre, Guayape, Tinto, Paulaya y Sico. La longitud y rectitud del GFS indican que 6ste es un sistema de fallas de transcurrencia, lo cual es confirmado en el campo por la abundancia de "slickensides" horizontales, pliegues de arrastre con ejes verticales, ~shutterridges" y otras estructuras tipicas en zonas de fallas de transcurrencia como cuencas de origen extensional engendradas por desplazamiento lateral. A d i c i o n a l m e n t e , fallas subsidiarias de car~cter ~dip-slip" son comunes, como debe esperarse, principalmente asociadas a l a s cuencas de origen extensional. Desplazamientos laterales de m~ts de 50 km de cauces de rios, indicadores mesosc6picos de direcci6n del movimiento, la distribuci6n regional de una lutita que es un miembro del Grupo Honduras, y consideraciones tect6nico-regionales sugieren un desplazamiento lateral izquierdo en el GFS. Pot otto lado, tres, o posiblemente cuatro, cuencas recientes originadas por movimiento transcurrente de desplazamiento lateral derecho y la prevalencia de indicadores mesosc6picos de direccibn de movimiento de car~cter lateral derecho sugieren un desplazamiento lateral derecho en el GFS. Una historia de deslizamiento horizontal en dos etapas es indicada, con una fase de movimiento horizontal lateral izquierdo de mt~s de 50 km, seguida pot una fase de movimiento horizontal lateral derecho de menor desplazamiento. El GFS intersecta formaciones tan recientes como las tobas del Grupo Padre Miguel del Mioceno y gravas del Terciario(?) mas recientes. La topografla angular del GFS en varias localidades y la edad a p a r e n t e m e n t e reciente de las cuencas de origen extensional, indican que el GFS es joven. Aunque fuentes termales en cuatro localidades y dispersa informaci6n sismica podrian set indicadores de actividad reciente en el sistema, no existe evidencia convincente que asegure la misma. La edad del sistema es desconocida. Sin embargo, la fase de movimiento lateral izquierdo coincide con el movimiento lateral izquierdo del bloque Chortis, a lo largo de la falla Motagua-Swan (limite entre las placas NOAM-CARIB) durante el Terciario. Una continuaci6n del movimiento del bloque Chortis a lo largo del limite de placas pudo haber rotado el bloque hacia una posici6n favorable para el inicio del movimiento lateral derecho.