9.1 - Landforms and Resources of Latin America

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).