Landforms of Central America

The Petén Basin is a geographical subregion of Mesoamerica and was a center of Maya civilizations. It is primarily located in northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico. The Maya Forest is the second-largest remaining tropical rainforest in the Americas.

The Poás Volcano is an active stratovolcano in north-central Costa Rica with the world's second-largest volcanic crater. The volcano is located in Poás Volcano National Park, part of the Cordillera Volcánica Central Biosphere Reserve.

The Sierra de las Minas runs east to west through the Guatemalan Highlands in the country's southeast. The Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve contains a substantial part of the range and an estimated 60 percent of Guatemala’s remaining cloud forest.

​The Sierra Madre de Chiapas is a major mountain range of Central America that runs parallel to the Pacific coast, from southern Mexico northwest-southeast across the southern half of Guatemala and into El Salvador and Honduras.

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.

Turrialba Volcano is located in the easternmost part of the Central Volcanic Range and is the second-highest volcano in Costa Rica. Turrialba Volcano National Park is a part of the Central Conservation Area of Costa Rica and encompasses the area around the volcano.

Valle Central is a highland valley region in central Costa Rica that hosts some of the most important cities in the country. Valle del General is an agricultural and coffee-growing region that lies at the base of the Cordillera de Talamanca in the south-central part of the country.

The Yucatán Peninsula is the exposed portion of the larger Yucatán Platform and lies between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. It includes the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán as well as parts of Belize and Guatemala.