Volcanic Mountain Ranges of Costa Rica

In Costa Rica, there are four groups of mountain ranges. They run from northwest to southeast crossing the whole country. Only two of these mountain ranges are volcanic. They are called the Volcanic Mountain Range of Guanacaste and the Central Volcanic Mountain Range.

The Central Volcanic Mountain Range is 80 km long starting from the Tapezco Pass crossing through the Turrialba Volcano and ending in the Pacuare River. This volcanic mountain range divides the northern plains from the central valley.

The volcanoes of this volcanic mountain range are Poás, Barva, Irazú and Turrialba. The Irazú volcano altitude is very high making this volcano a strategic place for telecommunications. Most of the TV and radio stations of the country have their repeaters on the summit. Between the Poás Volcano and the Barva Volcano, there is a pass named El Desengaño. Between the Barva and the Irazú there is another pass called La Palma. Both of these passes join the central valley to the north and the Atlantic region of the country and these passes also allow the trade winds coming from the Caribbean Sea to travel to the Central Valley.

The Volcanic Mountain Range of Guanacaste is the oldest of the mountain ranges of the country. This volcanic mountain range is 70 km long spanning from La Hacha hill and the Orosí Volcano, traveling close to the Nicaragua border ending at the Arenal Volcano. This volcanic mountain range divides the Guanacaste province from the northern plains, which helps to set the climates of these regions by stopping the trade winds. There are a lot of rivers that originate in this range that flow into the Caribbean Sea (River Guacalito and Zapote) and some other rivers that flow into the Pacific Ocean (River Blanco, Tenorio, Martirio, Corobiá, and San Lorenzo).

The Volcanic Mountain Range of Guanacaste has great economic importance to the country. The active volcanoes such as the Rincon de la Vieja volcano and the Arenal volcano are a strong ecotourist attraction. They have areas of immense ecological value that gave birth to the existence of several national parks such as The Rincon de la Vieja National Park, The Arenal National Park, Volcan Miravalles National Park, and the Tenorio National Park. The Volcanic Caldera of Guayabo in the Miravalles Volcano makes excellent use of geothermal energy.