Stratigraphy of Northern Belize: Petroleum and Economic Potential

David T. King¹, Kevin O. Pope², and Lucille W. Petruny^3
1 Auburn University, Auburn, AL
² Geo Eco Arc Research, Aquasco, MD
³ Astra Terra Research, Auburn, AL

Belize, formerly British Honduras, has a substantial Coastal Plain section composed of outcropping Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. Resting upon a thick section of deformed and metamorphosed Carboniferous-Permian sedimentary and volcanic strata, these Coastal Plain strata include a thick section of Mesozoic strata, mostly carbonates, which are found in the subsurface and in outcrop near the Maya Mountains and along major faults, and a relatively thin section of Paleocene-Pleistocene carbonates. Since preparation of the relatively extensive 1952 informal stratigraphic study of Giovanni Flores, which was written for the Bahamas Exploration Co., Ltd., no further detailed analysis of stratigraphic units has been conducted in northern Belize. In 1986, a provisional geological map of informal units within the whole of Belize (1:250,000) was produced for the Petroleum Office (Ministry of Natural Resources). Today, Belize still has no formal stratigraphy and there are no type localities for any of its stratigraphic units. Our experience, working in the interior of the country north of the 17th parallel, has been that the 1986 geological map has many deficiencies. In this paper, we present a discussion of the main stratigraphic units of northern Belize, with a description of each, provisional type localities, and their economic and petroleum geology. This paper is not intended to establish formal nomenclature, but rather to help in the larger effort to more fully describe northern Belize's Coastal Plain stratigraphy and its economic potential. We will discuss the petroleum potential of the Yalbac formation and describe a new unit, the Albion formation.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90039©2005 AAPG Calgary, Alberta, June 16-19, 2005