Towards reliable sub-division of geological areas: interval approach

An appropriate subdivision of a geophysical area into segments enables us to extrapolate the results obtained in some locations within the segment (where extensive research was done) to other locations within the same segment, and thus, get a good understanding of the locations which weren't thoroughly analyzed. Often, different evidence and different experts' intuition support different subdivision schemes. For example, in our area-Rio Grande rift zone-there is some geochemical evidence that this zone is divided into three segments, but, in the viewpoint of many researchers, this evidence is not yet sufficiently convincing. We show that if we use topographical information (this information, e.g., comes from satellite photos), then interval methods lead to a reliable justification for the tripartite subdivision of the Rio Grande rift zone.