Latin America - L1 Physical Geography

Latin America is a blank region

culturally defined

Latin American peoples and cultures are a blank of indigenous Amerindians and Europeans along with African populations.

mix

Plate Tectonics

the theory that the earth’s crust is made up of solid rock crustal plates that float on an internal sea of magma. the edges of the plates either collide, separate, or slide past each other

Convergence

edges of plates collide, creating mountains, underwater trenches, volcanoes and volcanic island arcs, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions

Divergence

edges of plates separate, allowing magma to rise to the surface. this creates oceanic ridges through volcanism

Transform Movement

edges of plates slide past each other. they often catch on each other and when the pressure is released, violent earthquakes occur

The west coast of Latin America as well as the Caribbean experience tectonic

convergence, many effects

Some of the world’s tallest mountains

Andes

Caribbean islands are mostly

volcanoes, there are extremely deep oceanic trenches, many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes affect the region

Lowlands

areas close to sea level

Highlands

mountains and plateaus

Basin

a concave geographic area bounded by highlands that does the job of funneling mountain snowmelt and other precipitation into river networks that eventually flow to the sea. the size of a river is determined by the size of its and its latitude (wetter or drier). Sometimes called watersheds

Worlds largest river (volume-wise)

Amazon

Tropical Climates (A)

are most influential in Latin America. the region is close to the equator, which is associated with low pressure and thus, wetter weather. it takes a very wet climate to support tropical biomes like rainforest

Dry Climates (B)

are second most influential. the region crosses both subtropical latitudes, which are associated with high pressure and thus, drier weather. Dry climates lead to grassland and desert biomes

Highland Climates (H)

are also influential. they can be found anywhere that tall mountains exist. the rapid change in altitude overrides the normal effects of latitude on temp and precip. thus, highlands create their own climate

Altitudinal Zonations

small, altitudinal zones of climate and biomes are created as you go up in elevation (up the side of the mountain). so a highland climate is really an area of altitudinal zonation and lots of small areas of all other climate types on earth

Winward Side

the side of a mountain that encounters the oncoming wind

Leeward Side

the side protected from the prevailing wind

Atacama

driest desert on earth

found on coast of Latin America on the leeward side of the Andes

Ocean Currents

a byproduct of predominant wind directions. friction between wind and ocean surface creates surface level that flow in certain directions. Warm flow from tropics to poles, cold flow in opposite direction

knowledge of predominant wind directions and currents allowed the first European explores to discover the Americas for themselves (Spain and Portugal). they used these natural patterns to navigate from Europe to the Americas and back again