Geological Features/Landforms in Central/North America

The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System is a marine region, underwater ecosystem and geological structure that stretches from the Yucatán Peninsula down to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. Dazzling arrays of coral form this underwater wilderness, providing homes and food to hundreds of species.

The Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano, is a large arid to semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. The plateau consists of the vast Mesa del Norte (Northern Plateau) and the smaller but heavily populated Mesa Central.

Chirripó National Park is named for its most prominent feature, Cerro Chirripó, the highest mountain in Costa Rica. Five ecosytems found in the park include lowland tropical wet forest, premontane tropical wet forest, lower montane wet forest, montane wet forest and subalpine wet forest (páramo).

Nicoya Peninsula lies along the northern section of Costa Rica's Pacific coast. The Gulf of Nicoya separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs.

Ometepe Island is located in southwest Nicaragua, formed by two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicargua. It is the lake's largest island. The two imposing volcanoes, Maderas and Concepcion, define its topography. The island was designated a Biosphere Reserve in 2010.

The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica and a center of Maya civilizations such as Tikal and Calakmul. It is primarily located in northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico. The Maya Forest is the second largest remaining tropical rain forest in the Americas.

The Sierra de las Minas mountain range runs from east to west through Guatemala's southeast highlands. The Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve contains a substantial part of the range as well as an estimated 60 percent of Guatemala’s remaining cloud forest.

The Sierra Madre is a mountain system that is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges that consists of an almost continuous sequence of ranges that form the western backbone of North America, Central America, South America and West Antarctica.

The Solentiname Islands are an archipelago located in the southeastern part of Lake Nicaragua. They are made up of four larger islands: Mancarroncito, Mancarrón, San Fernando and La Venada. Along with some 32 smaller islands with rocky headlands, they afford shelter to numerous aquatic birds.

The Sonoran Desert, also called Desierto de Altar, is an arid region covering 120,000 sq mi. This North American desert ecoregion covers large parts of northwestern Mexico in Sonora, Baja California and Baja California Sur as well as parts of the southwestern U.S.