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In contrast to Palenque, Calakmul is located on the carbonate shelf of the Yucatan Peninsula, in an area of Paleocene limestones (see Fig. 2.4). The Paleocene limestones have layers of gypsum from the Xpujil formation, and above these rocks there are carbonate strata with clay layers dating from the Eocene (Castro Mora 2002). Calamul’s lithology is very porous and results in a very permeable terrain, with the water table found more than 200m below (Morales and Magara 2001 cited in Parkswatch 2004).

Limestone samples taken from buildings and quarries in Calakmul’s center and analysed as part of my research show pelmicrites, that is, limestones with high proportion of pellets in a micritic cement. A sample of sascab was also analysed, showing subrounded and subspherical sediments of micritic calcite with high contents in silicon, presumably caused by a high proportion of clay minerals (see Appendices 3.2 and 3.5).

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