Resumo

CARRASCO-VELAZQUEZ, B.E.. Paleokarst Evaluation in the Upper Albian Calcareous Platforms in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. Ing. invest. y tecnol. [online]. 2011, vol.12, n.2, pp.165-178. ISSN 2594-0732.

This paper presents the evaluation in México, Guatemala and Honduras of the Upper Albian platform carbonate rocks that were exposed to subaerial conditions by the falling of the sea level, exposing the rocks to the physical, chemical and temperature phenomena allowing for some type of karst formation. There is a methodology for the identification of paleokarsts by the petrology, fabrics, geometry and stratigraphy of the breccias. Only at Dengandho in the Actopan Platform there are the evidences to confirm a paleokarst. In the three countries mentioned there is literature related to the presence of "paleokarst" in the Upper Albian rocks of the Coahuila, Valles-San Luis Potosí, Golden Lane, Córdoba, Artesa-Mundo Nuevo, Chiapas, Guatemala and Honduras Platforms. As much of the work was done before the time when the methodology for paleokarsts was stablished, muchof the descriptions do not allow confirmation of the paleokarsts presence. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out field research and to study the subsurface rocks in order to confirm the paleokarst structures. In Texas, at the San Marcos Platform (Upper Albian rocks), the studies of the breccias confirm a paleokarst structure in the rocks. In the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico the geophysics research done at the Jordan Knoll and the Campeche Scarp has discovered at Upper Albian rocks an unconformity at the Upper Albian rocks, but there are no physical evidences or rocks to confirm a paleokarst.

Palavras-chave : calcareous platforms; upper albian; paleokarsts; Mexico; Guatemala; Honduras; evaluation.