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Why is the Orinoco river important?
The Orinoco and its tributaries long have served as vast waterways for the indigenous inhabitants of the Venezuelan interior. Especially during the floods of the rainy season, boats with outboard motors are the only means of communication throughout large areas of the river basin.
What is the importance of Llanos and Campos?
The raising of cattle has long been the mainstay of the Llanos’ economy, since Spanish colonial days. Since the 1950s there has also been considerable small farming. The economic importance of the region has been greatly enhanced by the oil fields in the Venezuelan Llanos at El Tigre and Barinas.
What type of geographical feature is the Orinoco?
The Orinoco plains, commonly known as Los Ilanos, are lowlands with elevations that never exceed 200 m (656 ft). The Orinoco river is a well known feature of the area and is the most important river in Venezuela. Finally, the Guiana region, which consists of plateaus, makes up over half of the country.
What 2 rivers drain the Andean region?
The four largest drainage systems—the Amazon, Río de la Plata (Paraguay, Paraná, and Uruguay rivers), Orinoco, and São Francisco—cover about two-thirds of the continent.
What is the Orinoco river basin?
The Orinoco Basin is the part of South America drained by the Orinoco river and its tributaries. Its discharge is the third largest of any river worldwide, after the Amazon and the Congo, and much greater than that of many rivers of greater length and basin area.
What does Orinoco river basin have?
These waters are home to the critically endangered Orinoco crocodile, river dolphins, giant river otters, the giant anaconda and more than 1,000 fish species. It is also a hub for rich birdlife, including flamingos, colourful parrots and the scarlet ibis.
Which type of grassland is the Llanos?
tropical grassland plain
The Llanos (Spanish Los Llanos, “The Plains”; Spanish pronunciation: [loz ˈʝanos]) is a vast tropical grassland plain situated to the east of the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, in northwestern South America….
| Llanos | |
|---|---|
| Protected | 105,323 km² (28%) |
What is Llanos and campos?
llanos and campos are grasslands found in South America. It is an ecoregion of the flooded grasslands and savannas biome. The Campos, grassland with few trees or shrubs except near streams, lies between 24°S and 35°S; it includes parts of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, and all of Uruguay.
Where is the river Orinoco?
Flowing in a giant arc from Colombia and Venezuela all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, the Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America, its basin and flooded forests home to rich plant and animal life.
What is significant about river basins?
Drainage basins are important in ecology. As water flows over the ground and along rivers it can pick up nutrients, sediment, and pollutants. With the water, they are transported towards the outlet of the basin, and can affect the ecological processes along the way as well as in the receiving water source.
Which rivers drain the eastern part of South America?
The Paraná, Paraguay, and Uruguay Rivers form the second-largest river system in Latin America. This river system drains the rainy eastern half of South America. The rivers flow through the Pantanal. The Pantanal is one of the world’s largest tropical wetlands.
Where is the Orinoco River basin?
The Orinoco Basin, covering 880,000km2, lies between Venezeula and Colombia. Some 200 major and 600 minor tributaries flow into the Orinoco. Combined, the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers account for 25% of the freshwater discharge to the world’s oceans.
What kind of climate does the Orinoco River basin have?
The climate of the Orinoco basin is tropical, with the seasons marked by differences in rainfall rather than in temperature. The year is divided into two seasons—rainy and dry (locally known as winter and summer)—the former extending from April to October or November and the latter most marked from November through March or April.
Why is the Orinoco River important to Venezuela?
The Orinoco is one of the most important rivers in the world due to its length and flow (2140 km and more than 30000 m 3 /s), the extent of its basin (1 million km 2) and especially its historical importance and economic and the meaning it has had for Venezuela, where most of its basin is spread, with almost two-thirds of it.
Which is the right side of the Orinoco basin?
Between the two sides extends the Venezuelan Guayana on the right bank of the Orinoco and the Llanos, both Colombian and Venezuelan on the left bank.
How big is the Llanos Basin in Colombia?
The Llanos Basin(Spanish: Cuenca Llanos) or Eastern Llanos Basin(Spanish: Cuenca de los Llanos Orientales) is a major sedimentary basinof 96,000 square kilometres (37,000 sq mi) in northeastern Colombia.