Highest Mountain in South America

The highest mountain in South America is Mt Aconcagua, which is 6,961 m (22,841 ft) high. Not only is it the highest mountain in South America but also it is the highest peak in the whole American continent. Mt. Aconcagua is part of the Andes Mountain Range, lying on the 32 degrees and 39 minutes parallel, south of the Equator, in the province of Mendoza, Argentina.

The second highest peak in South America is also located in Argentina. It is Ojos del Salado, which is 6890 m of altitude, in the province of Catamarca, in the Andes Mountain Range. However, part of this mountain also lies in Chile as it is right on the international border between Argentina and this Andean country.

Below, map of Argentina and Chile showing the location of Aconcagua Mt, the highest mountain in South America.

A photograph of the Aconcagua taken in the 1990s, in Mendoza, Argentina.


Earth Crust Stress

The Earth crust stress is the force that changes the size, shape and location of all the rocks that make up the Earth’s continental and oceanic crust. Although it consists of basalt and granite, the hardest rocks on Earth, the crust is continuously and relentlessly being altered by this powerful force. The stress at the surface of the Earth originates from the layers below the crust, rising from the depth in the upper mantle. Basically, there are three types of Earth crust stress: tension, compression, and shearing.

Tension

It is the geological force that stretches the crust apart. Over a period of millions of years, this action can shape the surface of the Earth into valleys and basins, which are well known geographical features. The Great Basin located between California and Utah is an example of a big depression in the surface of the planet that was formed by tension forces.

Compression

Also known as smashing, it is the force that pushes the crust together, crushing it until it folds or breaks. This compressing action gave shape to the planet’s mountain ranges. The Andes mountains were formed by smashing forces which folded the Earth’s crust, lifting geological materials to high altitudes.

Shearing

It is the force which pulls a large and extended layer of rock into opposite directions. This action causes a break or a change of shape. The shearing effect on the Earth’s crust can create large areas of raised and flat land; this geographical feature is called plateau. The Colorado Plateau is an example, which is a raised area of territory that covers Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico.

South American River Basins

All three main South American river basins drain their three respective regions into the Atlantic Ocean. Those river systems that flow into the Pacific are very small and have little importance from a hydrological point of view. Although most of the fresh water they drain comes from rain water, about 15% of the water is from thawing snow piled up in the high-altitude gullies of the Andes Mountain Range. The major river basins of South America are:

1) The Amazon River Basin. It is the largest river system in the world, followed by the Mississippi, Volga, and Nile basins. The Amazon river rises in the Peruvian Andes under the name of Marañon River. As soon as it flows into Brazil, it changes its name and it is called Amazon, whose main tributaries are the Ucayali, Putumayo, Jura, Japura, and Madeira River. Half of Brazil, 60% of Peru, and 40% of Bolivia are drained by this river system.

2) The Rio de la Plata River Basin. It is the second largest fluvial system in South America. It drains a vast region, which includes Paraguay, Southern Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The main water course is the Parana River, which receives waters from the Paraguay and Salado River. When the Parana joins the Uruguay River, they form the Rio de la Plata.

3) The Orinoco River Basin. Its main water course is the Orinoco River. Some of its left hand tributaries originate from streams in the Venezuelan Andes Range. The Orinoco and its tributaries drain most of the Venezuelan territory, including the large grassy plain, called Llanos del Orinoco.

Below, a map of South America showing you the three major basins of South America.


 

Zagros Mountains

The Zagros mountains form a long chain of snow-capped ridges and peaks in Iran, with Mt. Dena being the highest point at 4,409 m (14,465 ft.). This mountain range stretches along the western portion of Iran, in a northwest-southeastern direction, for about 1,600 km (990 miles). They run from southern Turkey and northeast Iraq to the southern parts of Persia. Green fertile valleys and plateaus are found in between these high ridges where people practice animal husbandry (livestock raising) and agriculture as their main sources of livelyhood.

The origin of the Zagros mountains dates back to the Jurassic period of the Mesozoic era, about 155 million years ago. They were formed by the orogenic collision of the Arabian plate under the Eurasian plate. The geological structure of this mountain range consists mainly of limestone, which is a carbonate sedimentary rock formed by compressed and mineralized organic materials. However, outcrops of Paleozoic era older rocks and boulders are found in the highest portion of these elevations. Several rivers, such as the Karun, rising above 4,000 of altitude, flow down into the Persian Gulf.

Below, map of the Middle East, showing Iran, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf. You can see the Zagros Mountain Range marked with brown dashes.


A high snow-capped peak in the Zagros mountain range in Iran.


 

Types of Basins in Geography

There are two types of basin in geography; an exorheic and an endorheic basin. In an exorheic basin, the main river flows out into the ocean, or sea; the Mississippi and the Loire river constitute exorheic basins, because they both runs into the ocean, draining a large tract of land. The largest exorheic basin in the world is the Amazon Basin in South America; it drains the third part of the South American territory into the Atlantic.


In an endorheic basin, on the other hand, the main river flows into a large isolated depression hinterland a continent, most of the time forming a fresh water lake, like lake Tanganyika, which is fed by Ruzizi, Malagarasi and Kalambo River, in Africa.

Concept of Basin

A basin is a large tract of land, or region, whose excess water, in the form of melting snow or rain water, is drained by a main river and its tributaries (branches). Converging brooks (creeks) form a secondary river, which is in turn a tributary branch as it flows into a main river, feeding more water to it. Therefore, as a geographical feature, it is a depression of the Earth surface the snow or rain water flows through, emptying an entire region.

Below, a map of the River Plate Basin in South America. We can see the tributaries (Paraguay, Parana, and Uruguay River) flowing into the River Plate, on whose shore the city of Buenos Aires lies.


 

European Cenozoic Rift System

The European cenozoic rift system is a series of elongated geological depression in the earth. Located in western Europe, it extends from the western Mediterranean to the North Sea for about 1,500 km, in an almost south-north direction. To the south, under the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf of Lyon and the Valencia trough is a continuation of the European cenozoic rift system. In its onshore part, from south to north, it includes the Rhone depression, the Limagne, Bresse, and Saone grabens (elongated troughs), the Upper Rhine graben and the Leine graben.

The European cenozoic rift system began to form during the middle Eocene about 40 million years ago in its central part (southern Upper Rhine graben). Let's remember that the Eocene is the second epoch of the Terciary period. Then this system quickly extended to the south and north. It was locally accompany by strong volcanic activities. Thus, it evolved in the Alpine foreland, with the late phases of the Alpine orogeny.

Below, a map showing part of the European cenozoic rift system. The main grabens are in dark grey. The volcanic areas are marked in black. The numbers tell you the Moho depth in km.


 

Geological Folds

Geological folds are bends in a layer of rocks. It is a tectonic structure caused by deformation where several layers of rocks have been warped into wavelike, angular, and cylindrical patterns. They affect the horizontal layers of geological material as they are the result of the distortion of the Earth’s crust by powerful forces. Folds range in scale from microscopic in some fine-grained metamorphic rock to hundreds of kilometers across in old epeirogenic warps, with the Michigan basin being an example of it.

Overall, there are two kinds of this structural deformation: parallel fold, which keeps approximately constant layer thickness around the fold measured perpendicular to bedding; non-parallel fold, which has a variable layer thickness measured also perpendicular to bedding. Parallel folds are very common in Triassic limestone and shales of the Mesozoic era.

Parallel folds can further be divided into: 1) cylindrical parallel fold, whose layers of rocks completely curve around into a circular or cylinder-like pattern; 2) curved parallel fold, with the rock layers that compose it being disposed in the form of a curve, like segments of circular arcs; 3) angular parallel fold, whose layers of rocks are arranged at angles as they are more common and widespread than curved parallel folds. Most of the angular parallel folds date back to the carboniferous period of the Paleozoic era.

Curved parallel fold can even be further divided into synclines and anticlines. A Syncline is a downfold; in other words, it is a downward fold in which the strata of rocks convex downwards, in a trough-like pattern. An anticline, on the other hand, is a curved parallel fold that looks like an arch, with the curve being upwards.


Earth Inner Core

The Earth inner core is located below the outer core as it is its deepest and hottest geological layer. There, temperatures range from about 6,000 to 9,000° F (3,000°/5,000° C). According to the scientific theories, these extremely high temperatures of the center of the Earth are a leftover from the origin of the planet some 5.5 billion years ago, when Gea was a chaotic ball of fire. Over hundreds of millions of years, the Earth’s surface cooled down but the core is still real hot.

Despite its age, the inner core still plays a key role in altering and shaping the planet, even on a daily basis. Its heat fuels the convection forces in the mantle, causing tectonic plates movement and collisions and giving birth to violent volcanoes. According to some scientific evidence, the inner core spins around on its own inside the Earth, as if it were a small planet inside a larger one. This rotation of the inner core would have some effect on the planet’s magnetic field. However, no scientist knows its real impact with exact certitude.

Characteristics

The Earth inner core is a solid sphere which measures 750 miles across (1210 km), which is the size of the planet’s moon. In contrast with the other geological layers of the Earth, it is a dense ball of metal. Since it contains no other layers inside, it is really the center of the Earth. About 90% of the inner core is composed mostly of iron, with a low percentage of nickel, with the rest 10% being other metallic and non-metallic elements. Unlike the outer core, it is not molten but solid, because it is under great amount of pressure. This pressure is 14 million times the pressure exerted on humans at the Earth’s surface.

Below, a drawing of the Earth’s layers showing the inner and outer core.


 

Plate Boundaries

The plate boundaries are the borders of tectonic plates, which are the huge moving slabs of the lithosphere. The lithosphere in turn consists of the crust and the upper mantle, being divided into plates that drift about over a sea of molten rock. There are three types: 1) convergent boundary, which is the point where the edges of two tectonic plates meet as they collide; 2) divergent boundary, which is when their borders separate from one another; 3) transform boundary, where the edges of two plates slide by, sideways without collision.

Convergent Boundary

It is the geological phenomenon when one plate collides against another. As it crashes against the other plate, it slips violently under its edge. The convergence of two slabs of the lithosphere releases a huge amount of energy, causing strong seismic and volcanic activities, with the formation and/or elevation of mountains. When an oceanic crust plate collides against a continental crust block, it sinks and slides under the continental plate. This is so, because the oceanic crust plate is much denser and heavier that the continental one. A good example of this is the convergence of the Nazca Plate, which form the floor of the South Pacific Ocean, and the South American Plate, with the former pushing and slipping under the latter. This collision gave birth to the Andes Mountain Range and it has caused the strongest earthquake in the world, affecting the Chilean coastal cities.

Divergent Boundary

It is the space marked when two tectonic plates drift away from one another. When this happens, new crust crops up in the form of molten magma from the depth of the upper mantle to fill in the gap. Thus, most divergent boundaries are located along mid-ocean ridges in the ocean floor where this separation takes place. In this case there is no seismic activity. The plates separation and the rising of new crust form a long ridge of rock; an example of this is the ridge in the Atlantic Ocean, where the South American Plate drifts away from the African Plate. When divergent boundaries take place on land, they form deep valleys, which are called rift valleys; an example of this is the Great Rift Valley in Eastern Africa, which marks the separation of the African Plate from the Arabian Plate.

Transform Boundary

It is formed when two plates slides past each other as they move in opposite direction, but they do not collide. In this type of boundary, there is no formation of new crust and the long line that mark the sliding is called fault. The San Andreas Fault in the State of California is a good example of this phenomenon and it is where the Pacific Plate slips sideways northwards by the North American Plate. Earthquake is also quite common along transform boundary.

Dow below, the Andes Mountain Range between Argentina and Chile. It was shaped by the convergent boundary between the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate.


 

Orinoco River Basin

The Orinoco River Basin is one the three major river basins in South America, along with the Amazon, and Parana-Rio de la Plata basin. With 2,700 km in length, the Orinoco River and its tributaries constitute a major fluvial system that drains almost the whole of the Venezuela territory and part of northern Brazil. About 75% of its waters are pluvial waters from the Amazon rain forest.

The Orinoco originates in the Guiana Highlands, near Mount Delgado Chalbaud, right on the political border between Brazil and Venezuela. Then it flows in a southeast-northwest direction, meandering as it runs. When it receives the fresh waters from its first important tributary of the left hand, the Guaviare River, it turns to the right, making a large arch. Thus, at this point, the Orinoco changes its direction and now flows northwards.

In Central Venezuela, another important river of its left hand side flows into it; the Meta River. When the Apure River joins it, the Orinoco begins to run eastwards, towards the Atlantic Ocean, into which it flows. It must be said that part of the waters from both the Meta and Apure River originates from melting snow on the Andes Mountain Range. Flowing down the mountain sides, these streams and creeks flow into one another to become the basin’s tributary rivers of the left hand side that flow across the grassy plains of Venezuela, called ‘Llanos’.

The most important rivers of the Orinoco’s right hand side are the Ventuari, Caura, and Caroni, which are entirely pluvial (rain water streams from the Amazon jungle).

Below, a map of Venezuela, showing the Orinoco River Basin, with its networks of tributaries.


 

Rio de la Plata Basin

The Rio de la Plata basin, also known as the River Plate Basin in British text books, is the largest fluvial system in Argentina. It is also the second biggest basin in South America, right after the Amazon Basin. It is an exorheic river system which drains a huge portion of Argentina's territory. This territory includes the northeastern, a part of northwestern, and central Argentina, as well as Uruguay, Paraguay, and the southern portion of Brazil.

The Rio de la Plata basin is drained by a complex network of rivers, of which the Parana and Uruguay River are the most important ones. These two rivers confluence into one another to form the Rio de la Plata, which is the widest river in the world; as a matter of fact, it is really an estuary, with 190-km wide at the point where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Parana River originates in southern Brazil as Paranaiba River, which becomes the High Parana after it receives the waters of an eastern tributary, the Tiete River (still in Brazil). As it flows southwards, the High Parana makes the international border between Argentina and Paraguay. At this point, another eastern tributary flows into it; the Iguazu River, which makes the Iguazu Falls just as it flows into the northeast of Argentina. Then the High Parana turns westward, flowing in this direction for about 400 km.

Right at the bend where it turns south, the High Parana receives its main tributary, which is the Paraguay River that flows from north to south across the nation of Paraguay. At this meeting point, it becomes the Middle Parana, which runs from north to south. Having received small tributaries, the Middle Parana gets about 50% of the rain water of the Northwest of Argentina through the Salado River, which flows into it at the level of the city of Santa Fe, in the Province of Santa Fe.

As it takes an eastward course, turning around the big bend of the province of Entre Rios, it becomes the Low Parana, also called the Parana River Delta, where it gets fluvial water from the Uruguay River. When these two important water courses flow into one another, they form the Rio de la Plata (River Plate).

“Fluvial”, from Latin Fluvium, which means ‘river’. “Exorheic” means ‘draining towards the sea’.

Below, a map of South America showing the rivers that make up the Rio de la Plata Basin


 

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)