The Maya Region is cultural, first order subdivision of Mesoamerica, located in the eastern half of the latter. Though first settled by Palaeoindians by at least 10,000 BC, it is now most commonly characterised and recognised as the territory which encompassed the Maya civilisation in the pre-Columbian era.
Extent
The Maya Region is firmly bounded to the north, east, and southwest by the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, respectively.[1][2] It is less firmly bounded to the west and southeast by 'zones of cultural interaction and transition between Maya and non-Maya peoples.'[3][2] The western transition between Maya and non-Maya peoples roughly corresponds to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, while the southeastern one roughly corresponds to a line running northwards from the mouth of the Lempa River to that of the Ulua River.[4][2][5][note 4]
Divisions
The Maya Region is traditionally divided into three cultural and geographic, first order subdivisions, namely, the Maya Lowlands, Maya Highlands, and the Maya Pacific.[6][note 5] The Region's internal borders, like some of its external ones, are not usually precisely fixed, as they are rather demarcated by 'subtle environmental changes or transitions from one zone to another.'[7][8] Additionally, the Lowlands, Highlands, and Pacific are often further subdivided along similarly imprecise lines, giving rise to a myriad roughly-demarcated second order subdivisions for the Maya Region.[9][10]
The Maya Lowlands are a low-lying karstic plain stretching from Campeche in Mexico through northern Guatemala and into northwestern Honduras, thereby encompassing all of the Yucatan Peninsula and its abutting plains (including all of Belize).[11] The plain generally lies below 2,625 feet (800 m).[12][note 6] Mean annual temperatures and rainfall range within 77–95 °F (25–35 °C) and 20–120 inches (510–3,050 mm), respectively.[13]Wet seasons range from six to eleven months (usually starting in May or June), with dry seasons ranging from one to six months.[13][note 7]
The Maya Highlands are a geologically-active east-west band of peaks and valleys stretching from Tabasco in Mexico through central Guatemala and into northwestern Honduras, and generally topping 2,625 feet (800 m).[14][15] Mean annual temperatures and rainfall range within 59–77 °F (15–25 °C) and 80–120 inches (2,000–3,000 mm), respectively.[16] Wet seasons typically last eight months (May–December), with dry seasons typically compressed to four (January–April).[16][note 8]
Pacific
The Maya Pacific, also known as the Pacific Coastal Plain, is a fertile volcanic-sedimentary plain stretching along the Pacific coast from Chiapas in Mexico through southern Guatemala and into western El Salvador.[17] Mean annual temperatures and rainfall range within 77–95 °F (25–35 °C) and 80–120 inches (2,000–3,000 mm), respectively.[18] Wet seasons typically last eight months (May–December), with dry seasons typically compressed to four (January–April).[18]
Geography
Physical
The Maya Region is 'one of the most varied environments on earth.'[19] Its terrain ranges from vast sea-level plains to near-inaccessible peaks topping 10,000 feet (3,000 m).[19][20] Its soils range from rich alluvial and volcanic types to poor karstic ones, resulting in vegetation ranging from lush to sparse.[19][8] Mean annual temperatures and rainfall range within 59–95 °F (15–35 °C) and 20–160 inches (500–4,000 mm), respectively.[21][22] Wet seasons range from six to eleven months, with dry seasons ranging from one to six months.[23][note 9] Surface freshwater is readily available year-round in some areas, and virtually absent in others.[7][24] Nonetheless, broadly speaking, the Region is described as featuring two geographic zones , namely, lowlands and highlands, with the former lying below circa 1,000–2,625 feet (305–800 m), and the latter above.[25][26] Naturally, lowlands are predominantly found within the Maya Lowlands and Pacific, with highlands generally restricted to the Maya Highlands.[26]
Climate
The Maya Region is generally described as having two climes, a cool, temperate one (prevalent in highlands), and a hot, tropical one (prevalent in lowlands).[19] Each of these experiences two seasons, a wet one, and a dry one. Rainfall in the wet season is usually heaviest during June and October, and is thereby described as 'following a double-peaked distribution.'[27]
Scholars had 'usually assumed that the climatic conditions which now [2010s] prevail in the Maya [Region] have always been the same, all through Maya prehistory and history[; b]ut recent palaeoclimatic research has challenged this assumption, revealing far more climatic fluctuation that previously anticipated.'[28][29]
Geology
History
Pre-Cenozoic
Middle America, including the Maya Region, is thought to have taken shape sometime after 170 million years ago.[30] Its formation is thought to have 'involved [the] complex movement of [various] crustal blocks and terrains between the two pre-existing continental masses [ie North and South America].'[31] Details of the pre-Cenozoic portion of this process (ie 170–67 million years ago), however, are not widely agreed upon.[31][note 10] Nonetheless, it has been proposed that the northern Lowlands were subaerially exposed by some 150 million years ago.[32][33][note 11]
Cenozoic
Details of the Cenozoic (ie 66–0 million years ago) geologic history of Middle America, including the Maya Region, are relatively more widely agreed upon.[31] In broad strokes, the Maya Highlands and Pacific are thought to have been subaerially exposed by some 40 million years ago, with these being initially separated from the northern Lowlands by the incipient Bay of Honduras.[34] The Bay is thought to have closed by at least 20 million years ago, thereby finally linking the northern and southern portions of the Maya Region together.[35][36][note 12]
Timeline
Prominent geologic events in or relevant to the Maya Region.[note 13]
inc. end of eastwards migration of Chortis Block; inc. possible uplift of Chortis Block; inc. formation of Bay of Honduras ie initial linking of northern and southern portions of the Maya Region; cf[42]
Morphology
Provinces
The Maya Region is thought to fully or partially encompass at least fourteen geologic provinces.[43][44][note 16]
Geologic provinces within the Maya Region per 21st century literature.[43][44][note 17]
USGS No.
Name
Location
Notes
5308
Yucatan Platform
northern Lowlands
–
6117
Greater Antilles Deformed Belt
offshore Lowlands
–
6120
Cayman Trough
southern Lowlands
–
6125
Maya Mountains
central Lowlands
–
5305
Villahermosa Uplift
western Lowlands
–
5306
Macuspana Basin
western Lowlands
–
5304
Saline–Comalcalco Basin
western Lowlands
–
5302
Veracruz Basin
western Lowlands
–
5303
Tuxla Uplift
western Lowlands
–
5311
Chiapas Massif
western Lowlands
–
5310
Sierra Madre de Chiapas–Peten Foldbelt
southern Lowlands, northern Highlands
–
6088
Pacific Offshore Basin
Pacific
–
6122
Chiapas Massif–Nuclear Central America
Highlands
–
6087
Choco Pacific Basin
Highlands
–
Basins
The Maya Region is believed to fully or partially comprehend at least five sedimentary basins.[45]
Sedimentary basins within the Maya Region per 21st century literature.[45][note 18]
The Maya Region's pre-Mesozoic crystalline basement is only exposed in the Mixtequita or Guichicovi Complex, the Chiapas Massif, the Altos Cuchumatanes, the Maya Mountains, and along the Chicxulub impact crater.[52] It is elsewhere blanketed by extensive Mesozoic sedimentary cover.[53][54]
^As per Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 24 within 10 mi (16 km) accuracy. However, Adams & Macleod 2000a, p. 200 give these values as 550 mi (890 km) and 350 mi (560 km), respectively.
^Sharer & Traxler 2006, p. 28 draw the southeastern border as 'a line from the lower Lempa River in central El Salvador northward to Lake Yojoa and along the Ulua River to the Gulf of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea.' Adams & Macleod 2000a, p. 197 give the same as a line 'defined along the valleys of the Ulua [River], flowing north into the Caribbean, and the Lempa [River], running through central El Salvador to the Pacific.'
^However, Adams & Macleod 2000a, p. 200 give the Region's traditional first order subdivisions as either (i) the Northern Lowlands, the Southern Lowlands, and the Highlands (including the Pacific), or as (ii) the Northern, Central, and Southern Areas. Carrasco 2006, article 'Mesoamerica' sec. 'Overview' para. 6, for instance, employ the first of these subdivisions (labelled (i)), while Coe & Houston 2015, ch. 1, fig. 1, and sec. 'Areas' employ the latter (labelled (ii)). Furthermore, some scholars prefer a simpler division of the Region into two first order subdivisions, namely, (i) the Lowlands and the Highlands (including the Pacific), or (ii) the Northern and Southern Areas. Adams & Macleod 2000a, pp. 203–204, for instance, employ the first of these (labelled (i)), while xx employ the latter (labelled (ii)).
^Wet seasons given as lasting eight months, from May through December, in Coe & Houston 2015, ch. 1, sec. 'Setting,' para. 11.
^Wet seasons given as lasting seven months, 'roughly from May through early November,' in Coe & Houston 2015, ch. 1, sec. 'Setting,' para. 3.
^Though Adams & Macleod 2000a, p. 202 assert a June–November wet season, without immediately noting variation in its start-date nor duration.
^Bundschuh & Alvarado 2012, p. 10 suggest that geologic models of the formation of Middle America differ most significantly in their handling of the Caribbean Plate, with one group of models proposing its formation in the Pacific and subsequent movement to its present location, and another group proposing its formation in its present location.
^However, it has been further proposed that this portion of the Lowlands was subsequently re-submerged during 130–72 million years ago, with thick carbonate deposition beginning by at least 80 million years ago (DTM 2013, sec. Mesozoic maps nos. NAM_key-130Ma_EarK to NAM_key-72Ma_LateK, Ahmad & Escalona 2014, sec. 'Introduction' and sec. 'Preliminary Results').
^The northern and eastern coasts of the Region, however, are not thought to have been fully subaerially exposed until some 5–2 million years ago (DTM 2013, sec. Cenozoic maps nos. NAM_key-5Ma_Plio and NAM_key_Pleist_Wisc). The Region's coastlines, which were initially more expansive than its present-day ones, are thought to have reached modern dimensions due to rising sea levels some 11–8 thousand years ago (DTM 2013, sec. Cenozoic maps nos. NAM_key_Present and NAM_key_Pleist_Holo).
^Alternative models date the formation of the present-day Caribbean to during 130–80 million years ago (Bundschuh & Alvarado 2012, p. 211).
^Event recorded by 'a well-dated, 120 Ma-old subduction complex along the northern edge of the Chortis block presently exposed on the southern margin of the Motagua valley of Guatemala' (Bundschuh & Alvarado 2012, p. 212). Dated to Late Cretaceous by Gómez-Pompa et al. 2003, pp. 32–33.
^Alternative divisions of the Maya Region into geologic provinces have been offered, for instance, by Bundschuh & Alvarado 2012, p. 77, fig. 3.1.
^Evenick ID is the unique basin identifier ie UBI as per Evenick 2021, app. A supp. no. 1. The Evenick ID for the Limon–Bocas del Toro Basin is not given in Evenick 2021, app. A supp. no. 1, though falls within 353–365, inclusive, given the alphabetical assignment of identifiers used therein.
^Additionally, a northeastern portion of the Maya Region, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, might extend beyond the Maya Block into the neighbouring Oaxaquia Block ie the Juarez, Cuicateco, or Oaxaquia Block, Terrane, or microcontinent (Ross et al. 2021, p. 243, fig. 1).
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