STS082-704-5 Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record.
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| STS082-704-5 |
STS082-704-5 Click the photo number to access all resolutions available and the database record. |
| Southern Mexico and northern Central America: Southern Mexico and northern Central America. Spectacular shot of three seas, five nations, three plates of the Earth's crust, and two plate boundaries. Yucatan Peninsula extends northward, with the Gulf of Mexico on the west and Caribbean on the east -- the blue waters surrounding reefs off Belize lie along the eastern Yucatan coast, and Laguna de Terminos on the west. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, one of the sites proposed for a canal connecting the Atlantic and Pacific, is in left center; the Golfo de Tehuantepec and Golfo de Fonseca are at the west and east ends, respectively, of the Pacific coastal margin seen here. The volcanoes along the Pacific coast mark the convergent margin between the Cocos plate (Pacific side), which is moving northeastward with respect to the North American (Mexico, Yucatan, Belize) and Caribbean plates (Guatemala, El Salvador). The Motagua, Polochic and Jocotan are long, arcing faults crossing the frame from WSW to ENE; they are elements of the transform boundary (Swan Island transform) between the North American and Caribbean plates. Blocks south of the transform zone are moving east with respect to that to the north; the transform zone is an extension of the Cayman Ridge/trench system. |
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This service is provided by the International Space Station program and the JSC Astromaterials Research & Exploration Science Directorate. Recommended Citation: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth." . |
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