Respuesta ambiental en el Pacífico frente a la subducción de la dorsal asísmica de Cocos (Panamá y Costa Rica)

The subduction of the Aseismic Cocos Ridge (DAC) significantly altered marine environments along the Pacific coasts of Panama and Costa Rica, shaping the evolution of benthic communities. Research reveals that during the early Pliocene, oceanic islands with moderate upwelling existed in the Burica region before the Isthmus of Panama closed. The DAC's collision later uplifted the seafloor, transforming deep waters into shallow coastal areas and intensifying open-ocean upwelling while creating protected zones near Burica. This process led to the formation of coral reefs in the tropical Eastern Pacific. A second uplift event during the middle Pleistocene elevated the Talamanca Range, blocking trade winds and further optimizing ecological conditions for marine life. The study reconstructed past benthic assemblages using Neogene fossil formations and modern dredge collections, analyzed via principal component analysis to compare paleoecological conditions with contemporary data.

De Gracia, C., O’Dea, A., Rodríguez, F., & D’Croz, L. (2012). Respuesta ambiental en el Pacífico frente a la subducción de la dorsal asísmica de Cocos (Panamá y Costa Rica). Revista de Biología Tropical, 60(2). https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v60i2.4025