E-Book Overview
The Physical Geography of South America, the eighth volume in the Oxford Regional Environments series, presents an enduring statement on the physical and biogeographic conditions of this remarkable continent and their relationships to human activity. It fills a void in recent environmental literature by assembling a team of specialists from within and beyond South America in order to provide an integrated, cross-disciplinary body of knowledge about this mostly tropical continent, together with its high mountains and temperate southern cone. The authors systematically cover the main components of the South American environment - tectonism, climate, glaciation, natural landscape changes, rivers, vegetation, animals, and soils. The book then presents more specific treatments of regions with special attributes from the tropical forests of the Amazon basin to the Atacama Desert and Patagonian steppe, and from the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Pacific coasts to the high Andes. Additionally, the continents environments are given a human face by evaluating the roles played by people over time, from pre-European and European colonial impacts to the effects of modern agriculture and urbanization, and from interactions with El Ni?o events to prognoses for the future environments of the continent.
E-Book Content
The Physical Geography of South America Thomas T. Veblen Kenneth R. Young Antony R. Orme, Editors OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS The Physical Geography of South America This page intentionally left blank The PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY of SOUTH AMERICA Edited by Thomas T. Veblen Kenneth R. Young Antony R. Orme 1 2007 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2007 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The physical geography of South America / edited by Thomas T. Veblen, Kenneth R. Young, and Antony R. Orme. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-0-19-531341-3 1. South America—Geography. I. Veblen, Thomas T., 1947– II. Young, Kenneth R. III. Orme, A. R. F2211.5.P49 2007 918.02—dc22 2006016266 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper To Leal Anne Kerry Mertes Geoffrey O. Seltzer Distinguished Scientists and Friends This page intentionally left blank Foreword The Physical Geography of South America is the seventh in a series of advanced books that is being published by Oxford University Press under the rubric of Oxford Regional Environments. The aim of the series is to provide a durable statement of physical conditions on each of the continents. Each volume includes a discussion of the systematic framework (for instance, tectonism, climate, and biogeography), followed by an evaluation of dominant environments (such as mountains, forests, and deserts) and their linkages, and concludes with a consideration of the main environmental issues related to the human use and misus