Coastal geomorphological cartography of Veracruz State, Mexico

This paper presents a general geomorphological map of the coastal zone of Veracruz State, Mexico, produced using topographic information, digital orthophotos and high-resolution aerial photographs, as well as a study of geological materials and field survey. Hierarchical levels established for the typological classification are (a) relief categories (mountains, hills and plains); (b) relief subcategories (low mountains; foothills; large, medium and small hills; very high, high, medium, low and very low plains); (c) specific morphogenetic relief type, according to morphology, morphometry and the genetic formation process, and geological substratum; (d) relative age of relief, according to correlated data for the Mexican-Caribbean region; and (e) morphogenetic formations complex. The geomorphological history of relief development in the region reveals a period of compression of the palaeo-mesozoic substratum, during the Laramide orogeny, followed by neotectonic reconstruction of the morphostructure, primarily in the mountains, giving rise to intense erosion-denudation processes and the break-up of relief during the Pliocene and up to the present day. These conditions contributed to the spread of a varied, complex and interdigitated sedimentation, shaped by marine, fluvial, lacustrine-palustrine and aeolian processes which, under glacio-eustatic conditions during the Quaternary, established a system of terraced plains of different origin, dissected or not dependent on the prevailing lithology. The study area of 7872km(2) was divided into five sectors: Tamiahua, Poza Rica, Veracruz, Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos, and mapped at a scale of 1:110,000.