Integration of petrologic and tectonic data favours a model of slab window formation beneath Central America in the Pliocene–Pleistocene. Central America has been the site of voluminous Cenozoic arc volcanism. The Cocos and Nazca plates, which are subducting beneath Central America, are diverging along the east-trending Cocos–Nazca spreading ridge. Since 25 Ma the Americas have advanced about 1800 km west over the ridge–transform system. Since at least 8 Ma, plate integrity and the ridge–transform configuration have been preserved during convergence, resulting in subduction of the spreading ridge and development of a slab window. The Panama fracture zone, an active transform fault, is the part of the ridge–transform system currently being subducted. The ridge–transform system formerly adjoining the northern end of the Panama fracture zone is likely to have been left-stepping. We use present-day plate motions to design a slab window to fit known variations in igneous composition, hypocentre distribution, and mantle anisotropy. The modeling demonstrates that subduction of ridge segments and resultant slab window development began between 6 and 10 Ma. Cessation of ridge subduction occurred between 1 and 3 Ma, when subduction of the Panama fracture zone is considered to have begun. The slab window is continuing to expand and migrate northeastward below the Central American volcanic arc. The absence of a Wadati–Benioff zone from southeastern Costa Rica through Panama corresponds to the position of the slab window. Within this region, dacitic and rhyolitic volcanic rocks have ''adakitic'' compositions, and are thought to result from anatexis of the young, buoyant crust which forms the trailing edges of the slabs bounding the window. Basalts in this area were derived from an enriched ocean-island type mantle source, whereas basalts from the rest of the arc, in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, are mainly derived from slab-modified depleted mantle, characteristic of volcanic arcs. The presence of ocean-island type mantle beneath southern Costa Rica and Panama is explained by eastward flow of enriched asthenosphere from the Galapagos plume-head through the slab window and into the volcano source region. Eastward transfer of asthenosphere is consistent with global plate motion studies and seismic anisotropy in the asthenosphere beneath the Nazca and Caribbean plates. The flow of peridotite is a consequence of progressive shrinkage of the Pacific mantle reservoir and concurrent expansion of the Atlantic mantle reservoir.