Geological Development of Panama

The Panama that geologists see today is a young landscape that in form comprises a reclined S-shaped, generally E-W oriented isthmus produced through complex geotectonic processes that created and assembled a diverse suite of geological units since late Cretaceous/early Tertiary time. The geological development of Panama is a consequence of the relative motions of the North and South American continental plates and four oceanic plates over the past 150 million years, and is a part of the larger story of the tectonic development of the Caribbean basin and Central America. The igneous rocks that comprise much of present-day Panama formed during Tertiary time as an oceanic plateau associated with the Galapagos plume and from an oceanic volcanic island arc complex that presently extends from the southern margin of Nicaragua to the northwestern Colombia. About 10 million years ago, the Panama-Costa Rica arc began to collide with northwestern South America, cutting off the deep-water circulation between the Pacific and the Caribbean. Development of Central America was completed around 3 million years ago, creating the land bridge between North and South America and terminating the shallow marine circulation between the Pacific and Caribbean.