Les montagnes calcaires du Mexique et du Guatemala

Résumé En

Mexico and Guatemala are the largest calcareous areas in the tropical world and are, consequently, a choice field for karst surveys. Therefore it seems interesting to look for terms of comparison between the high limestone mountains where the altitude offsets, from the climatic point of view, the effects of latitude, and the West European limestone areas, in order to draw a parallel between the surface land-forms and the underground karstification. It appears that the Altos Cuchumatanes in Guatemala, the heights of the Sierra Madre ďOaxaca, and especially the mountains of the Eastern Sierra Madre, South of Monterrey, offer examples of original land-forms : *) a strong karstification which developed at the end of Cenozoïc and beginning of Quaternary ; **) following tectonic movements of the farthest end of Cenozoïc, an extraordinary and efficient dissection by the « ruz », which severely altered the structural land-forms ; ***) during the glacial period, and above 2 800 meter, an over-laying of the karst by the frost-worked debris (grèzes), a phenomenon which can be compared with those noticeable on the limestone plateaux and mountains of Western Europe.