Geography: The geographical correlation suggested by Sorenson has the Mulekites landing in Olmec-dominated territory on the Gulf of Mexico. Their split-off colony moved south along the Grijalva River to found Zarahemla. Zeniff’s emigrants would have followed the Grijalva to its headwater and then down the other side of the mountains into the Guatemalan highlands. How did Limhi’s people possibly miss Zarahemla when they went the other direction?
Lawrence Poulsen, a research biochemist retired from the University of Texas, examined three-dimensional maps of the Book of Mormon regions. He noted that, while the land of Zarahemla is plausibly located along the Grijalva River, there is a roughly parallel Usumacinta River valley to the east. Most interesting is that the headwaters of the two rivers are within perhaps ten miles of each other. How then did Limhi’s search party miss Zarahemla? They followed the wrong river. Coming from the opposite direction they found the headwaters of the Usumacinta rather than the Grijalva.