No abstract

Central America is located in a dynamic region where tectonics and volcanism together with the tropical climate and its diverse vegetation have shaped the landscapes. Our main objective is to review the status of the geodiversity, geoconservation, and geotourism in Central America. We will identify the region’s geomorphic environments and geodiversity using classic regional geomorphology mapping techniques. Likewise, using touristic maps and webpages, we identify the most prominent geosites of different origin in Central America. Moreover, we will explore the national environmental policies, natural conservation systems, and tourism initiatives to promote their national geoheritage through geotourism. We found that volcanic, coastal, karstic, glacial, and fluvial geomorphic environments are the most common in the region. In addition, we identified 393 geosites of volcanic, coastal, karstic, glacial, fluvial, and archeological origin in Central America. The promotion of geoheritage, geodiversity, geoconservation, and thus the development of geoparks are excellent opportunities to promote sustainable development, sustainable lifestyles, appreciation of natural and cultural diversity, and the promotion of peace. These results may prove important to spread information about geoscience widely to decision makers on geotourism and conservation in each country and the stakeholders of the region. Geoheritage studies in tropical and developing countries such as those in Central America should be improved, and priority should be given to the geomorphological dynamics and strong anthropic pressures on their geo- and biodiversity to increase their income through geotourism, especially among the less favored communities and avoid affecting their already threatened natural resources.

In the last 10 years, the community of La Mesa de Macaracas (central Panama) has experienced considerable aftershocks due to earthquakes of magnitudes up to 5.7 Mw. Although most of the community consists of single-storey houses, the agricultural development in the region has led to multistorey building projects. To determine whether the characteristics of the soils could affect future construction in the study area, 16 stations were established to measure ambient vibrations and estimate the predominant frequencies and their corresponding H / V ratio peaks through the ambient noise H / V spectral ratio technique. According to the site class established by the Japan Road Association, the results revealed the existence of (a) soft soil with a range of predominant frequencies between 0.7 and 1.6 Hz, (b) medium soil with a range of predominant frequencies between 2.1 and 2.4 Hz, and (c) hard soil with a range of predominant frequencies between 2.6 and 2.9 Hz. In the first type (soft), the resonance effect could affect constructions of between 6 and 14 storeys with H / V ratio peak values (amplification factor) in the range of 2.1 and 4.3, while in the second and third types (medium and hard soils), buildings of between 3 and 5 storeys could be affected, with H / V ratio peak values (1.5–2.0) except at the SS-9 station. These results were complemented with the V s 30 values obtained in four seismic soundings carried out at the site.