Field Trip Post: Number One

Roatán, (16.34°N 86.33° W) lays across the Cayman Trench at the northwestern intersection between the Caribbean and North American Plates.

Image Credit: Purdue University

The easiest way to describe Roatán's formation is to say that through a process of transforming plate interaction and a parallel process of divergence between the North American Plate and Caribbean plate, magma was allowed to escape from below the earth's crust. The transform process allowed the sub-aquatic magma to cool (through an exothermic process) and form the resultant igneous rock - which eventually ended up forming the Bonacca Ridge, which resides underneath the Bay Islands, and more importantly: Roatán.

Because magma was moving from an area of high pressure to low pressure, magma moved through dikes to reach the ocean floor, and the basalt lava flows allowed centuries of compiling igneous rock to eventually form the ridge islands.

It would not be completely absurd to assume that a process of extension faulting allowed some of the material of the ridge to move in certain ways that effect its height (which would account for the fact that pats of the island are at a higher elevation than others).

Areas where the plates were convergently moving created areas of anticline folds.

Interesting Look at the trough surrounding Roatán and the Bonacca Ridge, Courtesy: Stanley Submarines

Sources Consulted:

"Island Geography." Tourism Roatan. Web. 14 Feb. 2011. http://tourismroatan.com/about-roatan/geography

Mann, Paul. Geologic and Tectonic Development of the Carribean Plate Boundary in Northern Central America. Boulder, Colo: Geological Society of America, 2007. Print.
http://books.google.com/books?id=CvmNCC0W97wC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=bonacca+ridge+formation+site&source=bl&ots=jyciKoT7y-&sig=bXI8l-tB3FU2SjqQ9dCAzgFLuv8&hl=en&ei=rf9aTaSmB4r6sAPz_9COCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Rogers, Robert. "Chapter Two Figures." Geology at CSU Stanislaus.
Web. 14 Feb. 2011. http://geology.csustan.edu/rrogers/Rogers2003/chpt2_figs.htm

Geography 1202 Introduction

Welcome, I'm Christian van de Werken. I'm a junior studying Business Administration with a specialization in Finance Management at the University of Colorado.

For my physical geography 'field trip' assignment, I have selected the island of Roatán - the largest of the four Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras. I chose this location because I've visited it on past vacations, dove many parts around the island, found the environment to be incredibly beautiful and plan to return to Roatán over the summer of 2011 to get my Dive Master certification (with a fresh supplementary scientific understanding of the locale).

Roatán is incredibly beautiful from land,

remarkably tranquil from the air

and has a powerfully dazzling ambience underneath the ocean surface.

Over the duration of this project, I will adhere to the grading criteria by providing geographical information, but will do so with photos and experience from my previous visits used to substantiate my arguments.

Throughout the course of this semester, I hope to gain knowledge that will not only educate me about the Honduran island, but also about the natural environment that surrounds me. I look forward to a successful Spring 2011 semester in Dr. Casey D. Allen's Physical Geography 1202 class!

*All images are owned by me and have been posted from my personal archive*