The American continent is divided into three parts: North, Central and South America. We will discuss below the main features and information of the South America.
THE South America it is located largely in the southern hemisphere, in the western intertropical zone. South America covers a territory of 18 million square kilometers and is washed to the east by the Atlantic ocean, west by the Pacific ocean and north by the Antilles Sea, known as the Caribbean.
The subcontinent covered is privileged in a coastal area, along the South American coast, several geographic accidents are identified, a an example of this type of configuration is the Estreito de Margalhães, which connects the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, in addition to the Malvinas (archipelago with more of two hundred islands, located on the coast of Argentina), Fernando de Noronha (twenty islands of volcanic origin, located on the northeast coast of the Brazil); and on the coast of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, established by the UN (United Nations) as a Natural Heritage of Humanity.
Natural Aspects of South America
Relief
The entire east coast of South America is made up of plateaus of very ancient geological origin, in which is why it has undergone long erosive processes and currently has relatively flat.
In the interior of South America there is a predominance of plateaus with little elevation and plains.
In the extreme west of the subcontinent, the relief consists of high altitudes, where the Andes Mountains are located, corresponding to a alpine folding arising from the encounter between the nazca plate and the South American plate, which is why the region develops a high incidence of tremors seismic. The Andes Mountains extends from Venezuela to Chile, has distinct aspects that vary according to each particularity, it can be classified as: humid northern Andes, central or arid Andes and southern or cold.
Hydrography
South America, in terms of water resources, has one of the largest hydrographic basins in the world, such as the Amazon basin, which is the largest in the world.
The great water potential of this subcontinent comes from the climatic aspects that predominate in a large part of the territory where humid climates (equatorial and tropical humid) prevail with high rates rainfall.
The main hydrographic basins present in South America are:
Amazon Basin: is located in the Amazon rainforest and covers Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela and Guyana.
Silver Basin: corresponds to the union of three sub-basins (Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay).
São Francisco River Basin: it is entirely in Brazilian territory and its main river is the São Francisco.
climate and vegetation
Due to its territorial extension, in the north-south direction, the continent is influenced by two climatic zones: the intertropical and the temperate in the south. Thus, equatorial and tropical climates are identified, in addition to the presence of a Mediterranean and temperate climate.
The relief is one of the fundamental elements in the composition of climates, along the entire Amazon plain there are no altitudes that can impede the movement of hot or cold air masses, thus serving as a kind of passageway for masses that follow their path to interact with local characteristics and thus give rise to different variations climate.
In addition to the climates already presented, in South America the following climates are also identified: mountain cold, characteristic of the Andes; semiarid, which occurs in the Central Andes and northeast of Brazil; and arid or desert, which occurs in Patagonia (Argentina) and Atacama (Chile).
As the climate is largely equatorial and tropical, it develops large broadleaved forests, which correspond to the equatorial forest, such as the Amazon.
In areas with a tropical climate, which occurs in the territories of Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela and Colombia, vegetations such as savannas (cerrado in the central Brazilian plateau, Chaco in Paraguay and Bolivia and llanos in the Venezuela). And in regions with a humid tropical climate, there are tropical forests such as the Atlantic Forest on the Brazilian coast.
In regions where the subtropical climate prevails, such as in southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, there are vegetations such as Araucaria Forest, in addition to steppes and grasslands.
In a restricted portion of South America there is a temperate climate, this climatic characteristic is present in southern Chile, the vegetation that develops in the region is the temperate forest.
By Eduardo de Freitas
Graduated in Geography
