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Honduras Pacific Lowlands
The smallest physiographic region of Honduras, the
Pacific
lowlands, is a strip of land averaging twenty-five
kilometers wide
on the north shore of the Golfo de Fonseca. The land is
flat,
becoming swampy near the shores of the gulf, and is
composed mostly
of alluvial soils washed down from the mountains. The gulf
is
shallow and the water rich in fish and mollusks. Mangroves
along
the shore make shrimp and shellfish particularly abundant
by
providing safe and abundant breeding areas amid their
extensive
networks of underwater roots.
Several islands in the gulf fall under Honduras's
jurisdiction.
The two largest, Zacate Grande and El Tigre, are eroded
volcanoes,
part of the chain of volcanoes that extends along the
Pacific coast
of Central America. Both islands have volcanic cones more
than 700
meters in elevation that serve as markers for vessels
entering
Honduras's Pacific ports.
Data as of December 1993
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