Environmental Studies: Costa Rica Essays Example

Costa Rica is a Latin American country with a unique topography and geography. The country is relatively small yet it has geographical features similar to large countries. Costa Rica has a blend of coastal plains where the sandy beaches are and the mountainous highly forested regions in the central of the country running northwest to southeast of the country. The highlands are hilly almost throughout apart from the Meseta central, which is fertile relatively flat region where majority of the Costa Rica’s population lives. Meseta Central elevation ranges from 900 to 1200 meters above sea level and covers approximately two thousand kilometers. The highlands region has many volcanoes, some of which erupted in the mid twentieth century. Geologists believe the eye-catching beauty of Costa Rica is because of the volcanic activity.
Costa Rica is along the pacific rim of fire enhancing many volcanic activities in the past. There are about 40 active volcanoes and 60 inactive volcanoes in Costa Rica. The inactive volcanoes had their peaks withered creating calderas some of which have filled water over the years creating caldera lakes. Costa Rican highland region extends all the way to the Costa Rica Panama border on the eastern coast of the country. In fact, the eastern coast of Costa Rica on the Caribbean Sea is mountainous. The Costa Rican highlands in the northwest are narrow and low while in the southeast, they are broad and high. Southeastern region of Costa Rica towards the Caribbean coast near the border with Panama is low, swampy, and heavily forested receiving high rainfalls throughout the year. The northern region of the country towards the border with Nicaragua is relatively flat and dry encouraging cattle ranching. Costa Rica has three main islands namely Cocos, Puntarenas, and Calero islands.