The Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America (continent). This mountain range is about 7000km long, about 200km to 700km wide and it is of an average height of about 4000m. Along the length of the Andes, it is split into several ranges, that are separated by intermediate depressions. It is the location of several high plateux, some of which major cities are built on, such as Quito, Bongtá, Arequipa, Medellin, Sucre and La Paz.
The Altiplano plateu is the second highest plateu in the world, following the Tibetian plateu. The Andes extends to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela (known as the Andes States), altogether 7 countries in all.
What is the climate in the Andes?
The climate of the Andes varies very differently due to the location, altitude and the proximity to the sea. The temperature, the atmospheric pressure and the humidity, decreases in the higher grounds/ elevations. the southern section of the Andes is rainy and cool, the central Andes are dry, whereas the northern part is rainy and warm (humid). The average temperature in Colombia is 18°C. The climate in the Andes is known to change drastically within a short period of time. Just miles away from the snow peak of Cotopaxi, rainforests exist which consists of rich amount of flora and fauna. The mountains affect the temperatures of nearby areas greatly, and the snow line depends on the location of the mountain.
For Chile and Argentina, the Andes can be separated according to the climates, the Dry Andes and the Wet Andes. The Dry Andes stretches from the latitudes of the Atacama Desert to the area of the Maule River, with strong temperature changes/ conditions. In the high Andes of central Chile and the Mendoza Province, rock glaciers are larger and more common than glaciers; this is caused by the high exposure to solar radiation.
- What type of natural vegetations:
The rainforests encircle much of the northern Andes but are now greatly decreasing, especially in the Choco and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia. As a direct opposite of the humid Andean slopes are the relatively dry Andean slopes in most of western Peru, Chile and Argentina. They are typically dominated by deciduos woodland, shrub and xeric vegetation, reaching the extreme in the slopes near the virtually lifeless Atacama Desert.
About 30,000 species of vascular plants live in the Andes with roughly half being endemic to the region, surpassing the diversity of any other hotspot. The small tree Cinchona pubescens, a source of quinine which is used to treat malaria, is found widely in the Andes as far south as Bolivia. Other important crops that originated from the Andes are tobacco and potatoes. The high-altitude Polylepis forests and woodlands are found in the Andean areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. These trees, by locals referred to as Queñua, Yagual and other names, can be found at altitudes of 4,500 m above sea level. It remains unclear if the patchy distribution of these forests and woodlands is natural, or the result of clearing which began during the Incan period. Regardless, in mordern times the clearance has accelerated, and the trees are now considered to be highly endangered, with some believing that as little as 10% of the original woodland remains.Who lives there?
Highways and railroads that cross the Andes are quite rare, even with modern civil engineering practices. For example, there is not one highway that crosses over the Andes between Argentina and Chile, though the ends of some highways come rather close to one another from the east and the west. By using tunnels, etc., there are one or two railroads that connect Argentina and Chile. Much of the transportation of passengers is done via airline.
Because of the tortuous terrain in places, villages and towns in which vehicles are of little use are still present. Locally, the relatives of the camal llama, continues to carry out important uses as pack animals, but this use has generally diminished in modern times.
The beautiful scenery of the Andes mountains...
- Special mention of the Andes:
The Andes is rich in fauna, with almost 1,000 species, of which roughly 2/3 are endemic to the region, the Andes is the most important region in the world for amphibians. The diversity of animals in the Andes is high, with almost 600 species of mammals, more than 1,700 species of birds, more than 600 species of reptile, and almost 400 species of fish.
- The Andes range has many active volcanoes, which are distributed in four volcanic zones separated by areas of inactivity. The Andean volcanism is a result of subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The belt is subdivided into four main volcanic zones that are separated from each other by volcanic gaps. The volcanoes of the belt are diverse in terms of activity style, products and morphology.
- Special incidents that happened:
The Andes are a Tertiary orogenic belt of mountains along the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of volcanic activities that encompasses the Pacific rim of the Americas as well as the Asia- Pacific region. The Andes are the result of plate tectonic processes, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate. The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of western rim of the South American Plate due to the subduction of the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate. To the east, the Andes range is bounded by several sedimentary basins, which separates the Andes from the ancient cratons in eastern South America. In the south the Andes shares a long boundary with the former Patagonia Terrane. To the west the Andes ends at the Pacific Ocean, although the Peru- Chile trench can be considerated its ultimate western limit. From a geographical approach the Andes are considered to have their western boundaries marked by the appearance of coastal lowlands and a less rugged topography.- Information taken from:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andes_70.30345W_42.99203S.jpg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%C3%81rea_Cultural_Andina.png
