9.1 - landforms and resources of latin america
DESCRIPTION
Landforms of Latin America.TRANSCRIPT
Latin America: Landforms Latin America: Landforms and Resourcesand Resources
Latin America – it looks like this:
Another view:
Mountains and Highlands
• The Andes Mountains
This is a continuation of the mountain chain that runs through the Americas.
• Includes the Rockies in North America, the Sierra Madres in Mexico, and the Andes here in South America.
• Because these mountains run along the western side, it make it difficult to travel. So most people in South America have settled in the east or north.
• Despite the rough terrain, some of the greatest South American civilizations were located in the Andes, such as the Incas.
• Other highlands include the Guiana Highlands
Plains
• Llanos
• Grassy and treeless plains in Columbia and Venezuela.
• Used for grazing livestock.
• Cerrado
• Expansive Brazilian plains.
• Pampas
• In northern Argentina and Uruguay.
• This area is home to the gauchos – South American cowboys.
Rivers
1. Amazon
• Second longest river in the world (next to the Nile), but has the greatest volume of water.
• More water travels along it than the next seven rivers combined.
• The average discharge of the Amazon is 219,000 cubic meters per second. That’s nearly 58 million gallons per second!!! That’s 8 trillion gallons per day. It’s a fifth of the total fresh water entering the oceans.
• During the rainy season, it can nearly 80 millions gallons per second.
• Flows from the Andes in the west to the east and empties into the Atlantic.
• It’s over 4,000 miles long.
• It’s average depth is 150 feet and is up to 300 feet deep near the mouth.
• Its width ranges from 1 to 35 miles.
• Fed by many tributaries, four of which are over 1,000 miles long themselves.
• That’s some river.
2. Orinoco River
• 1,500 mile river, mainly in Venezuela.
• The basin drains both Venezuela and some of Columbia.
3. Parana River
• 3,000 mile river that exits around Buenos Aries.
Islands
• Mainly in the Caribbean. They’re sometimes known as the West Indies.
1. Bahamas
• Hundreds of islands around Florida and Cuba. Capital is Nassau.
Bahamian beaches.
What dumps.
Who needs this when you have…
Galveston.
2. Greater Antilles
• The larger islands. Made up of…
Cuba Jamaica Hispaniola Puerto Rico
3. Lesser Antilles
• The smaller islands.
• Divided into the Windward Islands – those that face winds that blow across them – and the Leeward Islands – those that are more sheltered from the winds.
Resources
• Minerals
• South America produces a great many minerals, such as gold, silver, iron, copper, and aluminum.
• Energy
• Mexico and Venezuela have large oil reserves that bring in a lot of money.
We’ll end by looking at Angel Falls in Venezuela, the tallest waterfall in the world at 3,200 feet (the Empire State Building is only 1,250 feet).