DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A SECTION 1 Physical TEKS 3A, 3B, 3C, 4D, 4E, 5A, 5B, 5C, Geography 6A, 6B, 21B, 21C, 22D What You Will Learn… If YOU lived there... You and your family fish for herring in the cold waters off the coast Main Ideas of Peru. Last year, however, an event called El Niño changed both 1. The Andes are the main physical feature of Pacific the weather and the water. El Niño made the nearby ocean warmer. South America. Without cold water, all the herring disappeared. You caught almost 2. The region’s climate and vegetation change with no fish at all. El Niño also caused terrible weather on the mainland. elevation. 3. Key natural resources in the How might another El Niño affect you? region include lumber, oil, and minerals. The Big Idea BUILDING BACKGROUND Although most of the countries of The Andes dominate Pacific Pacific South America lie along the coast, their landscapes are South America’s physical dominated by the rugged mountain range called the Andes. These geography and influence the region’s climate and resources. mountains influence climates in the region. Ocean winds and currents also affect coastal areas here. Key Terms and Places altiplano, p. 279 strait, p. 279 Physical Features Atacama Desert, p. 281 The countries of Pacific South America stretch along the Pacific El Niño, p. 281 coast from the equator, for which the country of Ecuador is named, south almost to the Arctic Circle. One narrow country, Chile (CHEE-lay), is so long that it covers about half the Pacific coast by itself. Not all of the countries in Pacific South America Use the graphic organizer online have coastlines, however. Bolivia is landlocked. But all of the to take notes on the physical countries in this region do share one major physical feature— geography of Pacific South the high Andes mountains. America. Mountains The Andes run through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Some ridges and volcanic peaks in the Andes rise more than 20,000 feet (6,800 m) above sea level. Because two tectonic plates meet at the region’s edge, earthquakes and volcanoes are a constant threat. Sometimes these earthquakes disturb Andean glaciers, sending ice and mud rushing down mountain slopes. 278 CHAPTER 12 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A Landscapes in the Andes differ from Pacific South America: south to north. In southern Chile, rugged Physical mountain peaks are covered by ice caps. In the north, the Andes are more rounded than rugged, and there the range splits COLOMBIA 0° Equator ECUADOR er into two ridges. In southern Peru and MG7FVS_psamap003ba n Riv Galápagos mazo Islands A Bolivia these ridges are quite far apart. A HRW-MS (ECUADOR)Geography Maps 90°W Pacific100°W South America: PhysicalPERU broad, high plateau called the altiplano lies A Locator BRAZIL between the ridges of the Andes. N Final pass--6/22/0510°S D E PACIFIC S Water and Islands BOLIVIA OCEAN N Lake Altiplano Andean glaciers are the source for many Lake Poopó Titicaca A t E a W c tributaries of the Amazon River. Other a 20°S m S a than the Amazon tributaries, the region D PARAGUAY e s e Tropic of Capricorn r has few major rivers. Rivers on the altiplano t have no outlet to the sea. Water collects in CHILE ELEVATION 30°S two large lakes. One of these, Lake Titicaca, URUGUAY Feet Meters is the highest lake in the world that large 13,120 4,000 6,560 2,000 ships can cross. ARGENTINA 1,640 500 At the southern tip of the continent, 656 200 40°S (Sea level) 0 0 (Sea level) the Strait of Magellan links the Atlantic and Below Below Pacific oceans. A strait is a narrow body of sea level sea level ATLANTIC 0 400 800 Miles water connecting two larger bodies of water. OCEAN 0 400 800 Kilometers 50°S The large island south of the strait is Tierra Projection: Strait of Magellan Lambert Azimuthal Equal-Area 80°W del Fuego, or “land of fire.” Tierra del Fuego Chile and Ecuador both control large Cape Horn 50°W islands in the Pacific Ocean. Ecuador’s volcanic Galápagos Islands have wildlife not found anywhere else in the world. MG7FVS psamap003ca HRW-MSRegions TheGeography Andes stretch Maps all through the countries of Pacific Pacific South America: Physical READING CHECK South America. Contrasting How do the legend Andes differ from north to south? 1. Identify To what country do the Galápagos Islands belong? Final 2. Interpret pass--6/22/05 How do you think the Andes affect life in the region? MG7FVS_psamap003aa HRW-MS Geography Maps Pacific South America: Physical Final pass--6/22/05 Llamas graze on the high, dry altiplano. The climate on the altiplano is too dry for trees to grow. 279 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A Close-up Climate Zones in the Andes Five climate zones exist in the Andes. The different elevations support different types of plant and animal life. no vegetation Snow line shrubs, sheep, llamas 15,000 ft potatoes, wheat, (4550 m) corn, sheep, llamas evergreens, coffee, wheat, cattle 12,000 ft (3650 m) bananas, sugarcane 6,000 ft (1850 m) 3,000 ft (900 m) ANALYSIS SKILL ANALYZING VISUALS Sea Level Between what elevations do potatoes grow best? Climate and Vegetation well there. This first zone is often found FOCUS ON Climate, vegetation, and landscapes all along the coast, but it is also found inland READING vary widely in Pacific South America. in eastern Ecuador and Peru and northern What can you We usually think of latitude as the major Bolivia. These regions are part of the infer about the location of factormg7fvspsa000005aa that affects climate. However, in Amazon basin. They have a humid tropical mountains in Pacific4th passSouth America, elevation has the climate with thick, tropical rain forests. Ecuador? 7/26/05 biggesttjh effect on climate and vegetation. As elevation increases, the air becomes cooler. The second elevation zone has Elevation moist climates with mountain forests. Mountain environments change with This zone is good for growing coffee. In elevation. For this reason, we can identify addition, many of Pacific South America’s five different climate zones in the Andes. large cities are located in this zone. You can see these different climate zones Higher up the mountains is a third, on the diagram above. cooler zone of forests and grasslands. The lowest zone includes the hot and Farmers grow potatoes and wheat there. humid lower elevations near sea level. Many people in Pacific South America live Crops such as sugarcane and bananas grow and farm in this climate zone. 280 CHAPTER 12 DO NOT EDIT--Changes must be made through “File info” CorrectionKey=TX-A At a certain elevation, the climate As El Niño warms ocean waters, fish becomes too cool for trees to grow. This leave what is usually a rich fishing area. fourth climate zone above the tree line This change affects fishers. Also, El Niño ACADEMIC contains alpine meadows with grasslands causes heavy rains, and areas along the VOCABULARY and hardy shrubs. The altiplano region coast sometimes experience flooding. cause to make something between the two ridges of the Andes lies Some scientists think that air pollutants happen mostly in this climate zone. have made El Niño last longer and have The fifth climate zone, in the highest more damaging effects. elevations, is very cold. No vegetation grows in this zone because the ground is READING CHECK Finding Main Ideas How almost always covered with snow and ice. does elevation affect climate and vegetation? Deserts Pacific South America also has some Natural Resources climates that are not typical of any of The landscapes of Pacific South America the five climate zones. Instead of hot and provide many valuable natural resources. humid climates, some coastal regions have For example, forests in southern Chile desert climates. and in eastern Peru and Ecuador provide Northern Chile contains the Atacama lumber. Also, as you have read, the coastal Desert. This desert is about 600 miles (965 waters of the Pacific Ocean are rich in fish. km) long. Rain falls there less than five times a century, but fog and low clouds are common. They form when a cold current in the Pacific Ocean chills the warmer air above the ocean’s surface. Cloud cover keeps the air near the ground from being warmed by the sun. As a result, Salt coastal Chile is one of the cloudiest—and driest—places on Earth. In Peru, some rivers cut through the dry coastal region. They bring snowmelt down from the Andes. Because they rely on melting snow, some of these rivers only Snow appear at certain times of the year. The rivers have made some small settlements possible in these dry areas. Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert lies between the Pacific coast and the El Niño Andes in northern Chile. In this image you can see two snow- About every two to seven years, this dry capped volcanoes. The salt in the top right part of the image region experiences El Niño, an ocean and is formed from minerals carried there by rivers that only ap- weather pattern that affects the Pacific pear during certain months of the year. These seasonal rivers also support some limited vegetation. coast. During an El Niño year, cool Pacific water near the coast warms. This change Drawing Conclusions Why do you think there is snow on the may cause extreme ocean and weather volcanoes even though the desert gets hardly any precipitation? events that can have global effects.