Middle America Trench facts for kids
The Middle America Trench is a very deep ditch in the Pacific Ocean, located off the coast of Central America. It stretches for about 1,700 miles (2,750 km) from central Mexico all the way to Costa Rica. Imagine a giant crack in the ocean floor – that's what a trench is!
This trench is a special place called a subduction zone. This means it's where two huge pieces of the Earth's outer layer, called tectonic plates, crash into each other. One plate then slides underneath the other. The Middle America Trench is formed where the Rivera, Cocos, and Nazca plates are pushing under the North American and Caribbean plates.
At its deepest point, the Middle America Trench goes down about 21,880 feet (6,669 meters). That's deeper than the tallest mountains are high! It's actually the 18th-deepest ocean trench in the entire world. Because these massive plates are constantly moving and grinding against each other here, many large earthquakes happen in this area.
Understanding the Trench's Sections
The Middle America Trench can be thought of as having two main parts: a northern section and a southern section. These parts are named differently depending on whether you're looking at the ocean side or the land side of the trench.
Ocean Side Divisions
On the ocean side, the northern part of the trench is known as the Acapulco Trench. This section runs from a place called Jalisco in Mexico to the Tehuantepec Ridge. The southern part on the ocean side is called the Guatemala Trench. This section continues from the Tehuantepec Ridge down to the Cocos Ridge.
Land Side Divisions
On the land side, the way the trench is divided is a bit different. The split here is marked by a large system of faults (cracks in the Earth's crust) called the Polochic-Motagua fault system. This system is the boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The dividing point on the land side is about 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of where the ocean side division happens.
See also
In Spanish: Fosa mesoamericana para niños
