flow into the Desaguadero, all of these being Andean snow-fed rivers. The Desaguadero also receives the outflow of the Laguna Bebedero, an intensely saline lake of western San Luis. The lower course of the Desaguadero is known as the Salado because of the brackish character of its water. Another considerable river flowing into the same great morass is the Atuel, which rises in the Andes not far south of the Diamante. (A description of the Patagonian part of Argentina will be found under Patagonia.)
Rivers and Lakes.—The hydrography of Argentina is of the simplest character. The three great rivers that form the La Plata system—the Paraguay, Paraná and Uruguay—have their sources in the highlands of Brazil and flow southward through a great continental depression, two of them forming eastern boundary lines, and one of them, the Paraná, flowing across the eastern part of the republic. The northern part of Argentina, therefore, drains eastward from the mountains to these rivers, except where some great inland depression gives rise to a drainage having no outlet to the sea, and except, also, in the “mesopotamia” region, where small streams flow westward into the Paraná and eastward into the Uruguay. The largest of the rivers through which Argentina drains into the Plata system are the Pilcomayo, which rises in Bolivia and flows south-east along the Argentine frontier for about 400 m.; the Bermejo, which rises on the northern frontier and flows south-east into the Paraguay; and the Salado del Norte (called Rio del Juramento in its upper course), which rises on the high mountain slopes of western Salta and flows south-east into the Paraná. Another river of this class is the Carcarañal, about 300 m. long, formed by the confluence of the Tercero and Cuarto, whose sources are in the Sierra de Córdoba; it flows eastward across the pampas, and discharges into the Paraná at Gaboto, about 40 m. above Rosario. Other small rivers rising in the Córdoba sierras are the Primero and Segundo, which flow into the lagoons of north-east Córdoba, and the Quinto, which flows south-easterly into the lagoons and morasses of southern Córdoba. The Luján rises near Mercedes, province of Buenos Aires, is about 150 m. long, and flows north-easterly into the Paraná delta. Many smaller streams discharge into the Paraguay and Paraná from the west, some of them wholly dependent upon the rains, and drying up during long droughts. The Argentine “mesopotamia” is well watered by a large number of small streams flowing north and west into the Paraná, and east into the Uruguay. The largest of these are the Corrientes, Feliciano and Gualeguay of the western slope, and the Aguapey and Miriñay of the eastern. None of the tributaries of the La Plata system thus far mentioned is navigable except the lower Pilcomayo and Bermejo for a few miles. These Chaco rivers are obstructed by sand bars and snags, which could be removed only by an expenditure of money unwarranted by the present population and traffic. In the southern pampa region there are many small streams, flowing into the La Plata estuary and the Atlantic; most of these are unknown by name outside the republic. The largest and only important river is the Salado del Sud, which rises in the north-west corner of the province of Buenos Aires and flows south-east for a distance of 360 m. into the bay of Samborombon. On the southern margin of the pampas are the Colorado and Negro, both large, navigable rivers flowing entirely across the republic from the Andes to the Atlantic. Many of the rivers of Argentina, as implied by their names (Salado and Saladillo), are saline or brackish in character, and are of slight use in the pastoral and agricultural industries of the country. The lakes of Argentina are exceptionally numerous, although comparatively few are large enough to merit a name on the ordinary general map. They vary from shallow, saline lagoons in the north-western plateaus, to great, picturesque, snow-fed lakes in the Andean foothills of Patagonia. The province of Buenos Aires has more than 600 lakes, the great majority small, and some brackish. The La Pampa territory also is dotted with small lakes. The Bebedero, in San Luis, and Porongos, in Córdoba, and others, are shallow, saline lakes which receive the drainage of a considerable area and have no outlet. The large saline Mar Chiquita, of Córdoba, is fed from the Sierra de Córdoba and has no outlet. In the northern part of Corrientes there is a large area of swamps and shallow lagoons which are believed to be slowly drying up.
Harbours.—Although having a great extent of coast-line, Argentina has but few really good harbours. The two most frequented by ocean-going vessels are Buenos Aires and Ensenada (La Plata), both of which have been constructed at great expense to overcome natural disadvantages. Perhaps the best natural harbour of the republic is that of Bahia Blanca, a large bay of good depth, sheltered by islands, and 534 m. by sea south of Buenos Aires; here the government is building a naval station and port called Puerto Militar or Puerto Belgrano, and little dredging is needed to render the harbour accessible to the largest ocean-going vessels. About 100 m. south of Bahia Blanca is the sheltered bay of San Blas, which may become of commercial importance, and between the 42nd and 43rd parallels are the land-locked bays of San José and Nueva (Golfo Nuevo)—the first as yet unused; on the latter is Puerto Madryn, 838 m. from Buenos Aires, the outlet for the Welsh colony of Chubut. Other small harbours on the lower Patagonian coast are not prominent, owing to lack of population. An occasional Argentine steamer visits these ports in the interests of colonists. The beet-known among them are Puerto Deseado (Port Desire) at the mouth of the Deseado river (1253 m.), Santa Cruz, at the mouth of the Santa Cruz river (1481 m.), and Ushuaia, on Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego. North of Buenos Aires, on the Paraná river, is the port of Rosario, the outlet for a rich agricultural district, ranking next to the federal capital in importance. Other river ports, of less importance, are Concordia on the Uruguay river, San Nicolás and Campana on the Paraná river, Santa Fé on the Salado, a few miles from the Paraná, the city of Paraná on the Paraná river, and Gualeguay on the Gualeguay river.
Geology.—The Pampas of Argentina are generally covered by loess. The Cordillera, which bounds them on the west, is formed of folded beds, while the Sierras which rise in their midst, consist mainly of gneiss, granite and schist. In the western Sierras, which are more or less closely attached to the main chain of the Cordillera, Cambrian and Silurian fossils have been found at several places. These older beds are overlaid, especially in the western part of the country, by a sandstone series which contains thin seams of coal and many remains of plants. At Bajo de Velis, in San Luis, the plants belong to the “Glossopteris flora,” which is so widely spread in South Africa, India and Australia, and the beds are correlated with the Karharbári series of India (Permian or Permo-Carboni-ferous). Elsewhere the plants generally indicate a higher horizon and are considered to correspond with the Rhaetic of Europe. Jurassic beds are known only in the Cordillera itself, and the Cretaceous beds, which occur in the west of the country, are of freshwater origin. As far west, therefore, as the Cordillera, there is no evidence that any part of the region was ever beneath the sea in Mesozoic times, and the plant-remains indicate a land connexion with Africa. This view is supported by Neumayr’s comparison of Jurassic faunas throughout the world. The Lower Tertiary consists largely of reddish sandstones resting upon the old rocks of the Cordillera and of the Sierras. Towards the east they lie at a lower level; but in the Andes they reach a height of nearly 10,000 ft., and are strongly folded, showing that the elevation of the chain was not completed until after their deposition. The marine facies of the later Tertiaries is confined to the neighbourhood of the coast, and was probably formed after the elevation of the Andes; but inland, freshwater deposits of this period are met with, especially in Patagonia. Contemporaneous volcanic rocks are associated with the Ordovician beds and with the Rhaetic sandstones in several places. During the Tertiary period the great volcanoes of the Andes were formed, and there were smaller eruptions in the Sierras. The principal rocks are andesites, but trachytes and basalts are also common. Great masses of granite, syenite and diorite were intruded at this period, and send tongues even into the andesitic tuffs.
Silver, gold, lead and copper ores occur in many localities. They are found chiefly in the neighbourhood of the eruptive masses of the hilly regions. (See also Andes.)[1]
Climate.—The great extent of Argentina in latitude—about 33°—and its range in altitude from sea-level westward to the permanently snow-covered peaks of the Andes, give it a highly diversified climate, which is further modified by prevailing winds and mountain barriers. The temperature and rainfall are governed by conditions different from those in corresponding latitudes of the northern hemisphere. Southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, for instance, although they correspond in latitude to Labrador, are made habitable and an excellent sheep-grazing country by the southerly equatorial current along the continental coast. The climate, however, is colder than the corresponding latitudes of western Europe, because of the prevailing westerly winds, chilled in crossing the Andes. In the extreme north-west an elevated region, whose aridity is caused by the “blanketing” influence of the eastern Andean ranges, extends southward to Mendoza. The northern part of the republic, east of the mountains, is subject to the oscillatory movements of the south-east trade winds, which cause a division of the year into wet and dry seasons. Farther south, in Patagonia, the prevailing wind is westerly, in which case the Andes again “blanket” an extensive region and deprive it of rain, turning it into an arid desolate steppe. Below this region, where the Andean barrier is low and broken, the moist westerly winds sweep over the land freely and give it a large rainfall, good pastures and a vigorous forest growth. If the republic be divided into sections by east and west lines, diversities of climate in the same latitude appear. In the extreme north a little over a degree and a half of territory lies within the torrid zone, extending from the Pilcomayo about 500 m. westward to the Chilean frontier; its eastern end is in the low, wooded plain of the Gran Chaco, where the mean annual temperature is 73° F., and the annual rainfall is 63 in.; but on the arid, elevated plateau at its western extremity the temperature falls below 57° F., and the rainfall has diminished to 2 in. The character of the soil changes from the alluvial lowlands of the Gran Chaco, covered with forests of palms and other tropical vegetation, to the sandy, saline wastes of the Puna de Atacama, almost barren of vegetation and overshadowed by permanently
- ↑ For the geology of Argentina, see Stelzner, Beiträge zur geologie der argentinischen Republik (Cassel and Berlin, 1885); Brackebusch, Mapa geológico del Interiore de la República Argentina (Gotha, 1892); Valentin, Bosquejo geológico de la Argentina (Buenos Aires, 1897); Hauthal, “Beiträge zur Geologie der argentinischen Provinz Buenos Aires,” Peterm. Mitt. vol. 1., 1904, pp. 83-92, 112-117, pl. vi.
