The Andes is the source of the astounding Amazon River The mountains act as a wall which blocks frigid Pacific winds, and this has created the arid landscapes of the western side of the Andes (like the Atacama Desert) and the tropical lusciousness of the eastern slopes, like in the Amazon rainforest.
What is special about the Andes mountains?
The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world and boasts some of the highest peaks. The range is also known for its volcanoes, ruins of long-ago civilizations and the source of a malaria treatment.
Why are the Andes mountains important to South America?
The Andes play a vital part in national economies, accounting for a significant proportion of the region’s GDP, providing large agricultural areas, mineral resources, and water for agriculture, hydroelectricity (Figure 1), domestic use, and some of the largest business centres in South America.
Where are the Andes mountains located Why are they important?
The Andes Mountains line the western edge of South America, from Venezuela all the way along Chile to South America’s southern tip (about 9,000 km in all), making them the longest mountain range in the world. Along that route, they cross through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
What are 3 interesting facts about the Andes mountains?
Andes Mountains: Facts & Related Content
The summit of Mount Chimborazo in the Andes is the planet’s tallest point when measured from the Earth’s center. The Andes are the longest mountain chain in the world. Potatoes and tomatoes originated in the Andes.
Why Andes is known as the backbone of South America?
Extending through 7 South American nations – Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, the Andes is the longest continental mountain range in the world. The terrain is of immense scale and variation – the Andes are the highest mountain range outside of Asia.
What natural resources are available in the Andes mountains?
The principal minerals are copper in Chile and Peru; tin in Bolivia; silver, lead, and zinc in Bolivia and Peru; gold in Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Chile, and Colombia; platinum in Colombia; bismuth in Bolivia; coal in Colombia; and iron in Chile, Peru, and Colombia.
How do the Andes mountains help to feed the world?
The Andes help feed the world
Potatoes and tomatoes, two of the most widespread crops on our planet, originated from the Andes. Over 3,800 different types of potatoes are grown in Peru alone. Coca leaves also famously originate from the western slopes of the Andean mountains.
How do the Andes mountains affect the climate of South America?
The Andes have a direct mechanical influence on the climatology of South America by forcing orographic precipitation along the eastern flanks of the Andes, and blocking westerly flow from the Pacific.
How did the Andes mountains protect the Incas?
The Andes created a natural barrier between the coastal desert on one side and the jungle on the other. The snow-capped mountains were full of deep gorges. The Inca built bridges across the gorges so that they could reach all parts of their empire quickly and easily.
What is the longest mountain in the world?
The mid-ocean ridge is the longest mountain range on Earth.
The mid-ocean range stretches around the globe like the seam of a baseball. The longest mountain range on Earth is called the mid-ocean ridge. Spanning 40,389 miles around the globe, it’s truly a global landmark.
How do you pronounce Andes mountains?
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What is meaning of Andes?
Andes in British English
(ˈændiːz ) plural noun. a major mountain system of South America, extending for about 7250 km (4500 miles) along the entire W coast, with several parallel ranges or cordilleras and many volcanic peaks: rich in minerals, including gold, silver, copper, iron ore, and nitrates.
What is the best description of the location of the Andes mountains?
Where are the Andes Mountains located? The Andes Mountains are a series of extremely high plateaus surmounted by even higher peaks that form an unbroken rampart over a distance of some 5,500 miles (8,900 kilometres)—from the southern tip of South America to the continent’s northernmost coast on the Caribbean.
What features formed Andes mountains?
The Andes were formed by tectonic activity whereby earth is uplifted as one plate (oceanic crust) subducts under another plate (continental crust). To get such a high mountain chain in a subduction zone setting is unusual which adds to the importance of trying to figure out when and how it happened.
What are two geographic features you find in the Andes mountains?
In southern Chile part of the cordillera descends beneath the sea and forms numerous islands. The Andes are studded with a number of volcanoes that form part of the Circum-Pacific chain known as the Ring of Fire. The Andes mountain system is the source of many rivers, including the Amazon and Pilcomayo.
Why is it difficult to live in the Andes mountains?
The Andes mountains has the longest mountain ranges in the world.It is very high in the sky and nearly to the clouds. People in the Andes mountains have to adapt to the life style.In the Andes mountains it so high up there is not that much oxygen to inhale. This is a very hard environment to live in.
Are the Andes still growing?
About another 1.3 inches (35 mm/yr) per year is locked up at the plate boundary, squeezing South America, and is released every hundred years or so in great earthquakes. The about final half inch (10 mm/yr) per year crumples South America permanently, building the Andes.
Are the Andes growing or shrinking?
Andean glaciers — from the small icy regions of Colombia and Venezuela in the north all the way to Patagonia’s glaciated expanses in the south — are rapidly shrinking.