Maya Mountains
The Maya Mountains are a mountain range located in Belize and eastern Guatemala, in Central America.
Etymology
The Maya Mountains were known as the Cockscomb or Coxcomb Mountains to Baymen and later Belizeans at least until the mid-20th century. Their current appellation is thought to be in honour of the Mayan civilisation.Geography
Physical
Peaks
The range's highest peaks are Doyle's Delight at and Victoria Peak at.Rivers
Nine streams with a Strahler order greater than 1 flow from the Mountains into the Caribbean Sea, namely, five tributaries of the Belize River, two tributaries of the Monkey River, and the Sittee River and Boom Creek.Karst
Prominent karstic features within the Mountains include the Chiquibul Spring and Cave System, the Vaca Plateau, the Southern and Northern Boundary Faults, and possibly an aquifer contiguous with that of the Yucatán Peninsula.Plutons
The Mountains 'are the only source of igneous and metamorphic materials' in Belize. These are exposed in three plutons, i.e. Mountain Pine Ridge, Hummingbird Ridge, and the Cockscomb Basin. It has been recently suggested that the former was mined by stonemasons at Pacbitun for the manufacture and trade of stonetools, e.g. manos and metates.Climate
Precipitation decreases from per annum in the northwestern extreme of the Mountains to per annum in its southeastern extreme.Human
Parks
Much of the Mountains is in protected areas spanning seventeen parks, reserves, sanctuaries, or monuments in southern Belize and northern Guatemala.| WDPA ID | Name | Type | District | Notes |
| Chiquibul | forest reserve | Cayo | – | |
| Columbia River | forest reserve | Toledo | – | |
| Deep River | forest reserve | Toledo | – | |
| Maya Mountain | forest reserve | Stann Creek | – | |
| Mountain Pine Ridge | forest reserve | Cayo | – | |
| Sibun River | forest reserve | Cayo | – | |
| Sittee River | forest reserve | Stann Creek | – | |
| Vaca | forest reserve | Cayo | – | |
| Noj Kaax Me'en Eligio Panti | national park | Cayo | – | |
| Chiquibul | national park | Cayo | – | |
| Bladen | nature reserve | Toledo | – | |
| Cockscomb Basin | wildlife sanctuary | Stann Creek | – | |
| Caracol | archaeological reserve | Cayo | – | |
| Victoria Peak | natural monument | Stann Creek | – | |
| Montañas Mayas Chiquibul | nature reserve | Peten | – | |
| San Román | nature reserve | Peten | – | |
| Yaxhá-Nakum-Naranjo | national park | Peten | – |
Important Bird Area
The site, comprising several large forest, nature and archaeological reserves in the mountains, has been designated a 645,000 ha Important Bird Area by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of numerous resident and passage bird species.Threats
Unauthorised farming and resource extraction by Guatemalans have been identified as a significant threats to Belize's protected areas bordering Peten. For instance, in 2008 an estimated 1,0001,500 xateros i.e. fishtail palm foragers were operating in the region, and by 2011 some 13,50020,000 acres had been cleared for various agricultural activities, thereby severing the ecologically important contiguity of Belizean forests to the Guatemalan Selva Maya. Furthermore, unlicensed interlopers often hunt for sustenance during their extended incursions, leading to worrying declines in wildlife populations, such as that of the white-lipped peccary, which has been extirpated from 'was once the species' primary stronghold in Belize .' Threats indigenous to Belize have also been identified, however, with demographic pressures deemed the most significant. The recent construction of the hydroelectric Chalillo Dam in the Mountains, for instance, 'sparked international controversy for its widespread ecological effects,' including the inundation of 2,400 acres of forested and riparian ecosystems, and exposure of downstream villages to significant pollutants in 2009 and 2011.Geology
The Mountains and their abutting foothills and plains, considered as a north-easterly trending structural uplift of Palaeozoic bedrock, constitute a geologic or physiographic province in the Maya Block of the North American Plate. The province is bounded by the seismically inactive Northern and Southern Boundary Faults.History
The Mountains' orogen mainly consists of metamorphosed late Carboniferous to middle Permian volcanic-sedimentary rocks overlying late Silurian granites.Stratigraphy
Basement
The Mountains' basement is sub-aerially exposed in four extremes of the mountain range. The exposed portions in the northwestern, northeastern, and southeastern points of the range are predominantly composed of intermediate-to-silicic Palaeozoic plutons, with exposed portions in the southern point of the range predominated by Palaeozoic volcanic rocks.The geologic evolution of the exposed portions of the Mountains' basement has been deemed 'one of the most disputed aspects of Central American geology,' though it has subsequently been suggested that these formed during the late-Neogene to late-Pliocene.
Cover
The Mountains' sedimentary cover blankets all of the province's foothills and plains, and all but a few portions of its mountain range. The cover in the foothills and plains is predominantly composed of Cretacaeous marine strata to the south, west, and north, but this transitions into Quaternary alluvium to the east. In contrast, the cover in the mountain range is predominated by Palaeozoic strata.The Mountains' cover in the mountain range has been recently characterised as an elevated relict landscape, i.e. an area where basement uplift has not been counterbalanced by fluvial erosion.
Formation
Geologic mapping and dating of rocks in the Maya Mountains have 'led to a variety of interpretations and eventually to puzzling discrepancies between reported field relations, age of fossils, and geochronologic data.' An early 1955 study divided the Mountains' sedimentary rocks into Macal and Maya series or formations, but these were subsequently rejected in favour of the single Santa Rosa Group of sedimentary rocks. However, this consensus was upended upon the 1996 discovery of deeper granitoids which crystallisation ages 'considerably older' than known post-Devonian ages of Santa Rosa fossils. The presence of pre-Devonian sediments was 'a matter of debate' until 'conclusively demonstrate' in the affirmative in 2009.| Name | Rocks | Epoch | Age | Unit | Notes |
| Maya Block crystalline basement | – | EdiacaranCambrian | 560540 | Ma | cf |
| Baldy Unit | CambrianSilurian | 517406 | Ma | cf | |
| Mountain Pine Ridge Pluton | granite | OrdovicianSilurian | 420405 | Ma | cf |
| Bladen Formation | SilurianDevonian | 413400 | Ma | cf | |
| Macal Formation | PennsylvanianPermian | 330270 | Ma | cf | |
| HummingbirdMullins Pluton | granite | Triassic | 250220 | Ma | cf |
| CockscombSapote Pluton | granite | Triassic | 240206 | Ma | cf |
| Todos Santos | – | JurassicCretaceous | 175125 | Ma | cf |
| Coban Limestone | CretaceousHolocene | 1500 | Ma | cf |
Morphology
Basins
The Mountains are wedged between the easterly to northeasterly trending Corozal and Belize Basins, themselves sub-basins of the PetenCorozal Basin, which fully encompasses the Mountains.History
Pre-Columbian
The Mountains are thought to have remained sparsely populated, and culturally and economically isolated, until 600830 CE, during the Late Classic, when the region experienced major demographic growth, possibly peaking in the 8th century. In CE, during the Classic Maya Collapse, most of the Mountains' settlements experienced demographic decline, leading to sparse settlement during the Postclassic.Columbian
The mountains are mainly made of Paleozoic era granite and sediments.The Maya Mountains and associated foothills contain a number of important Mayan ruins including the sites of Lubaantun, Nim Li Punit, Cahal Pech and Chaa Creek.