Amazon basin

The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The basin is located mainly (40%)[citation needed] in Brazil, but also stretches into Peru and several other countries. The South American rain forest of the Amazon is the largest in the world, covering about 8,235,430 km2 (3,179,720 sq mi) with dense tropical forest.

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about 7,000 km (4,300 mi) long, about 200 km (120 mi) to 700 km (430 mi) wide (widest between 18 degrees South and 20 degrees South latitude), and of an average height of about 4,000 m (13,000 ft).

Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated by intermediate depressions. The Andes is the location of several high plateaux – some of which host major cities such as Quito, Bogotá, Arequipa, Medellín, Sucre, and La Paz.

The so-called Altiplano plateau is the world's second-highest plateau following the Tibetan plateau. The Andes extend from north to south through seven South American countries; Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

The Andes range is the world's highest mountain range outside of the continent of Asia. The highest peak, Mt. Aconcagua, rises to an elevation of about 6,962 m (22,841 ft) above sea level. The peak of Mt. Chimborazo in the Ecuadorean Andes is located at the point on the surface of the Earth that is the most distant one from its centre. This is because of the Earth's equatorial bulge that results from its rotation. The world's highest volcanos are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina frontier which rises to 6,893 m (22,615 ft), and over 50 other volcanos that rise above 6,000 m.

Atacama desert

The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a 600-mile (1,000 km) strip of land on the Pacific coast of South America, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world,[1][2][3] due to the rain shadow on the leeward side of the Chilean Coast Range, as well as a coastal inversion layer created by the cold offshore Humboldt Current.[4] The Atacama occupies 40,600 square miles (105,000 km2)[5] in northern Chile, composed mostly of salt basins (salares), sand, and felsic lava flows towards the Andes.

Brazilian highlands

The Brazilian Highlands or Brazilian Plateau (Portuguese: Planalto Brasileiro) are an extensive geographical region, covering most of the eastern, southern and central portions of Brazil, in all approximately half of the country's land area, or some 4,500,000 km² (1,930,511 sq mi). In addition, the vast majority of Brazil's population (190.755.799 2010 census) lives in the highlands or on the narrow coastal region immediately adjacent to it.

Ancient basaltic lava flows gave birth to much of the region. However, the time of dramatic geophysical activity is long past, as there is now no seismic or volcanic activity. Erosion has also played a large part in shaping the Highlands, forming extensive sedimentary deposits and wearing down the mountains.

The Brazilian Highlands are notable for the great diversity to be found there: within the region there are several different biomes, vastly different climatic conditions, many types of soil, and thousands of animal and plant species.

Guiana highlands

The Guiana Shield[1] is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion year old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the impressive and mysterious table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most spectacular waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls and Kuquenan Falls.

The Guiana Shield underlies Guyana (previously British Guiana), Suriname (previously Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana (or Cayenne), as well as parts of Colombia, Venezuela and Brazil. The rocks of the Guiana Shield consist of metasediments and metavolcanics (greenstones) overlain by quasi-horizontal layers of sandstones, quartzites, shales and conglomerates intruded by sills of younger mafic intrusives such as gabbros.

Llanos

The Llanos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈʝanos] or [ˈʎanos], The Plains) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in northwestern South America (Colombia and Venezuela). Its main river is the Orinoco, which forms part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela and is the major river system of Venezuela.[1]

The climate change of the Llanos is extreme. During the rainy season from May to October, parts of the Llanos can flood up to a meter. This turns the woodlands and grassland into a temporary wetland, comparable to the Pantanal of central South America. This flooding also makes the area unique for its wildlife. The area supports around 70 species of water birds, including the Scarlet Ibis.[1] A large portion of the distribution of the White-bearded Flycatcher is in the Llanos.

This event also makes the area unfit for most agriculture before the advent of modern, industrial technology; therefore, during the colonial era, the prime economic activity of the area came from the herding of millions of heads of cattle. The term llanero ("plainsman") became synonymous with the cowhands that took care of the herds, and had some cultural similarities to the compare to the gauchos of the Pampas or the vaqueros of Spanish and Mexican Texas.

The area slopes gradually away from the highland areas that surround it; elevation above sea level in the llanos area never exceeds 200 meters.

Pampas

The Pampas (from Quechua, meaning "plain") are the fertile South American lowlands, covering more than 750,000 km2 (289,577 sq mi), that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul. These vast plains are only interrupted by the low Ventana and Tandil hills near Bahía Blanca and Tandil (Argentina), with a height of 1,300 m (4,265 ft) and 500 m (1,640 ft) respectively. The climate is mild, with precipitation of 600 mm (23.6 in) to 1,200 mm (47.2 in), more or less evenly distributed through the year, making the soils appropriate for agriculture. This area is also one of the distinct physiography provinces of the larger Paraná-Paraguay Plain division. These plains contain unique wildlife because of the different terrains around it. Some of this wildlife includes the rhea, the pampas deer, several species of armadillos, the pampas fox, the White-eared opossum, the Elegant Crested Tinamou, and several other species

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the south west towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, it includes the territory of Valdivia through Tierra del Fuego archipelago.[1]

The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón[2] used by Magellan in 1520 to describe the native people that his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed the Patagons were actually Tehuelches with an average height of 180 cm (~5′11″) compared to the 155 cm (~5′1″) average for Spaniards of the time.[3]

The Argentine portion of Patagonia includes the provinces of Neuquén, Río Negro, Chubut and Santa Cruz, as well as the eastern portion of Tierra del Fuego archipelago . The Argentine politico-economic Patagonic Region includes the Province of La Pampa.[4]

The Chilean part of Patagonia embraces the southern provinces and regions of Valdivia, Los Lagos Region and Greater Island of Chiloé, it includes Puerto Montt and the Archaeological site of Monte Verde, and also the islands south to the regions of Aisén and Magallanes, including the west side of Tierra del Fuego and Cape Horn.[5]