South America: La Plata Lowland

South America is perhaps the most mysterious continent on the planet. How many mysteries this continent keeps, and how many unexplored places there are on it. La Plata Lowland is one of the poorly studied places in South America. This article is devoted to her.

Where is La Plata Lowland?

In the center of South America from the Andes to the Brazilian plateau from west to east, from Argentina to Brazil from the south to the north is the La Plata. Its length is about 2300 km, and the width is about 900 km. On average, the La Plata territory lies at 200 m above sea level.

In geography, this lowland is divided into three sections, depending on the terrain and climate. So, Gran Chaco is the western region of the La Plata Lowland. There are uplands here, closer to the Andes. The climate is not very pleasant: hot and humid, subtropical. Characteristic are solonchaks and dry beds. The eastern border of Gran Chaco runs along the Paraguay River. Part of the La Platan Lowland, located near the Brazilian plateau, is called the Pantanal. It is a vast wetland (perhaps one of the largest marshes in the world), which arose from the spill of the Paraguay River. There is a protected nature reserve in UNESCO. This is due to the spread in this area of unique species of fauna and flora: battleship, anteater, anaconda, water lily, fern and others.

La Plata lowland in the southern part is called Pampa / Pampas. On the eastern side of the Pampa is washed by the Atlantic Ocean, from the west - it is confined to the Andes. This is a place with fertile lands, which are actively used by the countries of the La Plata Lowland (primarily Argentina) for agricultural purposes.

Which countries are located on La Plata Lowland?

The countries that are located on the La Plata lowland are Uruguay and Paraguay. Also in this area are the south-eastern part of Bolivia, the southern territory of Brazil, the north of Argentina. All these countries actively use the natural resources that the La Plata lowland gives them.

Pampas belonging to Uruguay and Argentina are 90% used for agriculture: exporting livestock, rice, reeds, corn, wheat. A small area of the Pampas and a significant part of Gran Chaco is used by Paraguay to grow soybeans, reeds, and cotton. La Plata covers the territory of Brazil - this is a large part of the Pantanal National Park. Gran Chaco concerns Bolivian land, here is a province called Gran Chaco. This is the area where oil reserves were found several years ago. In the south of the largest province in Bolivia, Santa Cruz created the Kaa Iya del Gran Chaco - National Park.

Amazonian Lowland

The most extensive lowland on the planet is also in South America. It borders on the La Platska Lowland in the south. If the La Plata is the main territory of the Parana basin, the Amazonian lowland is a vast zone of the Amazon basin, the largest river in South America, stretching from the west to the east from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean itself. The countries of the Amazon basin and the La Plain Lowland are Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay. At the same time, two states (Bolivia and Brazil) occupy part of the Amazon and the La-Plata. The countries of the Amazon and La Plata lowland cover almost the whole continent. Only five countries do not belong to the region of La Plata-Amazonia: Chile, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Guyana. Thus, the two largest lowlands on Earth are spread over a significant area of South America.

The protected zones of the Amazon and La-Plata

The national park for the protection of the unique nature of the Amazon basin of the world scale is located in Brazil. This is the park of Jau. Here is a great variety of flora in several tiers: palm trees, mahogany, cocoa, legumes, ferns, figs, lianas and many other, exceptional representatives of the tropics. Fauna is very diverse: monkeys, crocodiles, river dolphins, jaguars, toucans, macaws and others.

Chaco Park in Argentina is the National Park for the protection of the cutting of special trees - quiberough. This tree does not rot and is a valuable source of tannin. The climate of the park is arid, but rich in vegetation: quiberio, shrubs, cacti. The fauna is not very diverse, mostly rodents. Here there are mana, carpets, tuko-tuko, mountain cats, caimans.