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The area pertains to the western part of the Eastern Chortis Terrane, the rifted continental margin of the North American Plate which developed during the Jurassic separation of the North and South American Plates. The area’s basement mainly consists of sub-greenschist- to greenschist-facies metamorphosed siliciclastic sediments of Paleozoic age. Intensive volcanic activity started in the Neogene and acidic ignimbrites of late Miocene age up to 500 m thick are typical for this area. Below the sequence of ignimbrites lies a sequence of dominant basaltic andesite that reach a thickness of 1000 m. It is a denudation area with a distinctive relief. The majority of sediments are represented by dejection (alluvial) cones and the fluvial deposits of the streams. As well as 21 other areas identified as Geosites, the area includes an area of international geological significance. With a total length of about 7 km, the Monumento Nacional al Cañón de Somoto, formed in very solid welded ignimbrites during the Pleistocene from tectonic and exogenous processes, is between 150 and 250 m deep and in some parts only a few meters wide. Tectonic processes are still active in this part of the world, and the Somoto Canyon represents an area where the direct effects of such process can be observed. It is a unique scenario where, in a relatively small and very accessible area, you can see a wide spectrum of geological and geomorphological phenomena of volcanic, tectonic and exogenous origin.