Costa Rica Geologic

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ORIGIN AND GEOLOGIC CHARACTERISTICS OF COSTA RICA

Central America is characterized rather by the biodiversity that by the homogeneity, that is the predominant characteristic of this area because of the geographic situation. In addition it presents excellent characteristics, one double climate condition: the inter-oceanic and the inter-continental one.

Structurally the region extends from Mexico in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, to the valley of Atrato in Colombia according to Dengo (1975). During this time the inter-oceanic channel of almost 3,000 kilometers separated North America from South America. For this one time, the Central America of the north was constituted by invasive and sedimentary rocks, because of the tectonic movements. At the end of this period and because of their movements it was actually formed, actually it is in the same form. When the Tertiary period finalized still exist a channel of approximately 300 km in length, which still separated the north of Nicaragua with the north of Colombia. In the south sector of Central America, during the Inferior Tertiary period and the Superior Cretaceous period, it appeared a chain of volcanic islands. In the Pliocene, three or four million years ago, the terrestrial bridge formed and consolidated. It separated the Pacific Ocean of the Atlantic Ocean and the North America with South America.

Thanks to the bridge condition, Central America allowed the animal and plant spreading as well as the migrations of human and the cultural interchange. The located mountainous systems in Guatemala, Honduras and in the north of Nicaragua, caused isolation, reason which the evolution of endemic species was favored and formed a barrier that prevented the diffusion. A clear example of this is the Pine tree which is not in the south of the Nicaraguan Lake.

To the south of Costa Rica is located the Mountain range of Talamanca, where we found oaks from North American mixed with origin South American coniferous. The combination of great variety of species from North America as well as from South America makes Central America, a privileged region for the wealth and the variety of flora and fauna, which is not found in any other part of the Western Hemisphere and which doesn’t has a territory of this same extension.

During the Freezing’s of the Pleistocene, the Straits of Bering was possibly frozen, which allowed the migrations from Asia to America. The first settlers, with a rudimentary culture were dedicating to the hunting, harvesting and fishing, extend all around the continent. Little by little they are going to develop two types of agriculture, one of them based on the tuber cultivation, like yucca, for the case of the Andean Region.
In the Mesoamerican area the crops were the corn and the beans. Thanks to this type of agriculture bloom three great civilizations in the American continent grew up: The Mayan, the Aztec in Mexico and Guatemala and the Inca in Peru.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF COSTA RICA

Due to the intense volcanism it originated the Avocado Mountain and the mountain range of Talamanca. It starts an ascent and reaches the greater altitude of the internal arc. This volcanism would give later the origin to the Central Volcanic Mountain range and to the Mountain range of Guanacaste.

Thus, the conformation of the territory that Costa Rica occupies today has lasted approximately 8 to 10 million years, because the rise of the geologic structures occurs in a rate of 10 mm per year.

MAIN GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES OF COSTA RICA

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