The Isthmus of Panama

by Jon Ashurov

Today Panama’s modern city lifestyle, vivacious rain forests as well as booming Panama real estate market and thriving economy make it difficult to imagine that the entire area was once a serene ocean bottom. About twenty million years ago, the continents of North America and South America were separated by ocean at a time when the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans naturally converged. Formation of the Isthmus of Panama, the narrow strip of land now connecting the continents of North and South America, changed the face of the Americas and significantly impacted both the flow and ecosystems of the oceans and forever changed wildlife on the continents which it joined.While geologists are not in full agreement about what specific events led to the creation of the Isthmus of Panama, a widespread theory involves a convergence of the Pacific Plate and the Caribbean Plate beneath the surface of the earth wherein the Pacific Plate gradually shifted underneath the Caribbean Plate. Excessive heat and pressure from this collision are believed to have resulted in the formation of many volcanoes over a time period of millions of years, with some reaching such great elevations that they protruded above sea level and became islands. Over time, the converging tectonic plates are also believed to have forced other parts of the ocean floor above sea level. Sediment carried by ocean currents then deposited itself around the new islands that dotted the area between North America and South America for millions of years, eventually forming a solid land mass and separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Isthmus of Panama had been formed by approximately three to four million years ago.The “land bridge” that eventually came to be known as the Isthmus of Panama initiated major biological changes with effects far beyond this relatively small stretch of land. The waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans which had once intermingled developed dissimilar marine ecosystems and water temperature characteristics. Current patterns also changed dramatically, with Atlantic currents shifting to the northeast and creating the Gulf Stream. Some species died along with the major changes to their habitats, while new species emerged. Marine life such as mussels and clams seems to have flourished most abundantly in the cold and nutrient rich waters of the Pacific, whilst organisms such as algae and coral thrived in the warmer Caribbean waters. Plants and animals began to traverse the isthmus both from North America to South America and vice versa. Ancestors of common North American animals such as armadillos and opossums crossed the isthmus from South America, and the ancestors of cats, canines, horses, and raccoons journeyed from North to South America via the land bridge.Today, the Panama Canal once again links the waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, albeit a considerably engineered and restricted water passage as compared to the naturally connected oceans of millions of years ago.

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