Yucatanchas is the email handle of Dr. Charles Shaw, past-director of Centro Ecológico Akumal and current president of EnviroCurricula, SA de CV. Prior to becoming Director of CEA in 2002, Charles was in charge of CEA´s scientific program for eleven years. In that capacity he gave a weekly lecture on the meteor impact that killed the dinosaurs and conducted geological field trips for visiting scientists and students. Charles holds a Ph.D. in geology from Brown University.
Since retiring as CEA Director, he has the time to make his geological walks and talks available to everyone.
The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula records the history of sea level changes brought
on by the ice ages of the recent geological past, that is, the last 125,000 to one million years.
You are invited to join Yucatanchas for a geological adventure exploring the tropics
of the Yucatan Peninsula as they existed between the ice ages.
Since retiring as CEA Director, he has the time to make his geological walks and talks available to everyone.
The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula records the history of sea level changes brought
on by the ice ages of the recent geological past, that is, the last 125,000 to one million years.
You are invited to join Yucatanchas for a geological adventure exploring the tropics
of the Yucatan Peninsula as they existed between the ice ages.
Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo México 77710
Cellular: 011.52.044.984.807.3672
E mail: yucatanchas@hotmail.com
© 2006 Yucatanchas All Rights Reserved
Cellular: 011.52.044.984.807.3672
E mail: yucatanchas@hotmail.com
© 2006 Yucatanchas All Rights Reserved
WHEN YOU ARE MAKING PLANS TO COME TO THE RIVIERA MAYA PLEASE VISIT
MY FRIENDS
MY FRIENDS
Contact Yucatanchas by phone 044.984.807.3672
WALK ONE: AN ANCIENT REEF AND A RECENT TSUNAMI
This walk explores a reef that flourished between the ice ages and which is today entombed in the limestone strata that border the coast at Akumal and all along the Riviera Maya. The strata of the Yucatan Peninsula are like a book on natural history. They contain fossil clams, snails, corals and much else, along with structures that let us tell a beach deposit from a reef, both of which will be seen on the walk.
Also on this walk we look at evidence that suggests a
large tsunami hit this coast about 1500 years ago.
This walk explores a reef that flourished between the ice ages and which is today entombed in the limestone strata that border the coast at Akumal and all along the Riviera Maya. The strata of the Yucatan Peninsula are like a book on natural history. They contain fossil clams, snails, corals and much else, along with structures that let us tell a beach deposit from a reef, both of which will be seen on the walk.
Also on this walk we look at evidence that suggests a
large tsunami hit this coast about 1500 years ago.
Three hours $25 USD per person Minimum of 4 people Requires walking over rough ground
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Cancun
Playa del Carmen
Akumal
Tulum
YUCATAN PENINSULA
Merida
NASA Map
Contact Yucatanchas by phone 044.984.807.3672
Be sure to bring a hat, good walking shoes, water and sunscreen.
As the last ice age took hold of the Earth 100,000 years ago, the level of the sea fell in lock step with the permanent accumulation of snow and ice on the northern continents. Powerful ice age winds blew across newly exposed sand on the continental shelf of the Yucatan Peninsula, resulting in a series of large sand dunes spread along the peninsula’s eastern edge. The two highest of these dunes today form the island of Isla Mujeres and the site of the ancient Maya city of Tulum.
GEOLOGICAL WALKS WITH YUCATANCHAS
Modern Experience in the Context of Geologic Time
Modern Experience in the Context of Geologic Time
WALK TWO: REGIONAL GEOLOGY, SEA LEVEL CHANGE BETWEEN ICE AGES
AND SITE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA CITY OF TULUM
AND SITE OF THE ANCIENT MAYA CITY OF TULUM
Stop 1. At Akumal discover an ancient beach thirty feet above present sea level that existed 125,000 years ago, before the last ice age. The sea then was 18 feet higher than today. We see the abundant shells of creatures that lived between the last two ice ages and visit the remains of their contemporary coral reef.
Stop 2. Inland from the Tulum ruins collect fossil shells that lived in the muddy bottom of a large coastal embayment in that 18 feet-above-present coastline.
Stop 3. At the Tulum Ruins we see evidence of the onset of the last ice age when the sea level fell drastically and the prevailing winds built a large dune across the mouth of the bay we saw at Stop 2. That dune, now hardened to rock, is the site of the Maya city of Tulum. A local Maya guide will tell the story of the ruins. Yucatanchas will amplify the Maya story to include some interesting time perspectives as well as show the form, internal structure and fossil roots of plants that grew on the dune 100,000 years ago.
Eight hours. $80.00 per person, Minimum of four people
Includes transportation, entrance fee at the ruins and local Maya guide
Stop 2. Inland from the Tulum ruins collect fossil shells that lived in the muddy bottom of a large coastal embayment in that 18 feet-above-present coastline.
Stop 3. At the Tulum Ruins we see evidence of the onset of the last ice age when the sea level fell drastically and the prevailing winds built a large dune across the mouth of the bay we saw at Stop 2. That dune, now hardened to rock, is the site of the Maya city of Tulum. A local Maya guide will tell the story of the ruins. Yucatanchas will amplify the Maya story to include some interesting time perspectives as well as show the form, internal structure and fossil roots of plants that grew on the dune 100,000 years ago.
Eight hours. $80.00 per person, Minimum of four people
Includes transportation, entrance fee at the ruins and local Maya guide
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RESERVATIONS PLEASE
RESERVATIONS PLEASE
READ ABOUT THE GEOLOGY OF THE REGION BY YUCATANCHAS IN SAC BE ONLINE
Site developed and maintained by Kate Robinhawk
walks and talks with
Be sure to bring a hat, good walking shoes, water and sunscreen.
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Yucatanchas
GET YOUR OWN SPECIAL PIECE OF THE EJECTA DUST THAT BLEW OUT OF THE IMPACT CRATER FROM
EnviroCurricula
EnviroCurricula
This map of the Yucatan Peninsula was made by NASA from satellite radar instrumentation which records altitude of the land surface.
The dark green corresponds to low altitudes near sea level, the yellowish green to around thirty meters, the grey to fifty meters, the light blue-gray to around 100 meters and the very light gray to altitudes over 200 meters. The geology of the peninsula is reflected in
the topography.
The faint semi-circle in the northwest corner
of the peninsula is the Chicxulub impact crater. It is seen through a cover of of limestone 1000 meters thick, like a plate under a rug. A ring of cenotes follows the crater edge. This crater resulted from a meteor impact 65 million years ago that killed the dinosaurs and 65 percent of the species on Earth. Material ejected from the crater is buried by younger limestones in the northern Yucatan Peninsula, but can be seen at the surface in the area around Chetumal.
The straight northwest-southeast line across the center of the map is the Sierrita de Ticul, also known as the Puuc Hills. This feature reflects a fault that probably formed in the Miocene Epoch, over 5 million years ago and possibly as far back as 23 million years ago. In any case, it formed some 40 million years after the meteor impact.
Special field trips can be developed to these and other geological features on the peninsula.
Special field trips can be developed to these and other geological features on the peninsula.
