Subduction of the Cocos plate in the Mid America Trench.

The Mid America Trench, off the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and central America, is the site of northeastward subduction of the Cocos oceanic plate under the North America and Caribbean plates (Fig. 1). In Guatemala, the North America and Caribbean plates are separated by the Polochic-Motagua left-lateral strike-slip faults (Fig.