What is the Pampas of South America?

There are places that we've heard a lot about, but we have little idea what it is. The same can be said about pampas in South America. An interesting name is known to many in the lines from the song. But only, as it turned out, there are no bison in the pampas, but there are many other interesting animals and plants.

What is Pampas?

Under such an interesting name lies a quite common for us concept - the steppe. They, in fact, are the pampas. The only difference is that they are located only in one place on the planet - in South America. The Pampa extends in the southern part of the meridional trough between the Brazilian highland and the Andes. It surrounds the estuary of La Plata from all three sides, and in the southeast and east it extends to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the territory of the pampa is in Uruguay, as well as the north-eastern region of Argentina and southern Brazil.

Relief and geological structure

Steppes (pampas) are flat or hilly flat terrain. The relief is characterized by the alternation of meridional Hercynian and Precambrian ridges, which is expressed in a combination of deep basins and flat plains. The eastern pampa gradually merges with the so-called Western, or Dry, which is bounded from the west by the blocky ridges of the Precordiller. They are separated from each other by understated sections of the earth's crust (grabens). Their bottom falls to a depth of 2000 meters, they can be completely or partially filled with salt marshes, salt lakes or swamps.

Climatic conditions

The pampas of South America are located in the subtropical climate zone, therefore practically throughout the whole year this territory is affected by the air masses coming from the Atlantic Ocean. Falling precipitation (about 2000 mm per year) is distributed evenly, droughts are extremely rare. However, the plains of Dry Pampas begin to experience the influence of the continental climate. Precipitation decreases (300-500 mm), become less uniform, most of them are in summer time.

Having an idea of what a pampa is and where it is, it's easy to guess that the given territory is characterized by a hot summer: the temperature ranges from 25 to 45 ° C. It reaches its maximum value in the interfluve of Parana and Uruguay. The terrain is characterized by hot and humid winds from the north. Average temperatures in winter are also positive, but in some places there may be frosts and even frosts (down to -10 ° C in the wet pampa territory). Snow falls very rarely and immediately melts, no cover is formed.

The territory of the interfluve is well-watered with numerous tributaries of Uruguay and Parana. However, proceeding further, it can be noted that in the wet pampa area the number of rivers is much less, and in dry and at all they are temporary and full of water only in the period of downpours. But many saline reservoirs and groundwater, which could not but affect the plant and animal life.

Vegetable world of pampas

Now the pampas of South America are almost completely used for agricultural purposes (arable land, pastures and villages near them). Natural vegetation and ecosystems are preserved only in a small area. Flora is rich, here the dominant position is occupied by cereals (about 1000 species). Vegetation directly depends on the soil and the amount of precipitation. So in Uruguay and in the south of Brazil forests dominate. They are formed mainly in river valleys. The forest is characterized by evergreen species (araucaria, bamboo, Paraguayan tea, iodine rhomboid, kebracho, etc.) and lianas.

In the open spaces between the rivers they are replaced by cereal plants, and the territory of the wet pampa is completely occupied by them. Particularly worth noting is a species such as pampas grass, or Cortadora Cello (pictured above). This is a perennial plant, reaching a height of up to 4 meters. Forms large turfs resembling bumps. For its high external decorativeness and spectacular flowering (panicles can be white, pink or purple hue up to 40 cm in size) has become very popular among gardeners and flower growers. The dry pampa is characterized by low precipitation, therefore it looks like a typical semi-desert, soils are less fertile, a large number of solonchaks appear. Here the vegetation is very poor and is represented by prickly bushes, cacti.

Animal world of pampas

Fauna has also undergone strong changes in connection with human economic activity. To not the largest group is to include those that are able to move quickly (in search of food, water and shelter). These are a few predators (including puma and Geoffrey cat), pampas deer, Mustangs (imported once by the Spaniards and feral horses), Azars opossum, etc.

For the pampas, the abundance of species of birds and rodents is more typical. Most of the birds are classified as migratory. They fly into the pampas for nesting and hatching chicks. We mention only some species: Ipikaha, ibis, tinamu, etc. The last species looks like a familiar partridge, only the color of the feathers is brighter. One of the ancient birds also belongs to the inhabitants of the pampa - the ostrich nandu (pictured). From rodents it is worth noting nutria, viskasu.

Pampa and human activity

For the first time Europeans learned about what a pampa was, in the early 15th century. The local population was engaged in agriculture and cattle-breeding in this area long before that. Around the 16th and 17th centuries a special layer of the population was formed - the Gaucho shepherds. They led a semi-nomadic way of life, and most often they are compared to North American cowboys. The first gauchos were the children of local Indian women from the Spaniards. By now, as already mentioned, human activities have changed the ecosystem beyond recognition, there are practically no untouched corners. Now it is one of the most important agricultural regions, as well as the main economic district of Argentina. Pampa is characterized by its dense population. Thus, 75% of the population of Argentina lives on this territory. The largest cities are Rosario, La Plata, Luhan, Santa Fe.

About 85% of maize and wheat are planted in the pampas area, more than 60% of the total livestock is grown. All these products are mainly exported from Argentina to Europe.

On the question of what pampas are, now you can safely answer: agricultural land. In this connection, two environmental problems arose : the reduction to natural vegetation and the degradation of the steppe from overgrazing of livestock. But the authorities of several countries are trying to improve the situation and save the ecosystem at least in specially protected natural areas, in protected areas.