Pampas: "Becady South American virgin

Or Pampa (Pampa) - steppe area in the south-east of the South American continent, in the mouth area (Sp. Rio de La Plata). From the language "PAMPA" means "plain, steppe." In the mythology of Indians, Pampa associated with infinity of life, they perceived Pamppa almost universe. In the northern part of the South American continent, the word "Pampa" is consumed in a broader sense, meaning any, even a small plain, not only steppe, but also wooded.

In the West, Pampas are limited to Andami, in the East - the Atlantic Ocean. North of Pampas extends Savannai (Span. Sabana Gran Chaco), south.

In the area of \u200b\u200blow pampa, two multi-water rivers flow, (Parana Río Parana) and (Ip. Río Uruguay), which merge in the overall mouth. Moreover, Parana is the second in length (4.7 thousand km) and on the area of \u200b\u200bthe river basin in South America.

When in the XVI century. The Spaniards opened the Pamppa region, they were amazed by extensive extensive open spaces. The development of pamps and adjacent territories went with variable successes, as the aborigines stubbornly restrained the expansion of the Spaniards, more than once running those from the settlements found by them.

For the century, the development of Pampas man, the local flora has changed beyond recognition. These lands were famous for emergency fertility, which was actively used by local residents - huge territories were allocated under the seed pastures and arable land. As a result, today, the natural vegetation of Pamppa is almost completely replaced by the crops of cultural plants - wheat, etc. Even the familiar flame landscape of Pampas was unrecognizable by a person who planted the steppe well-fitting with a maple and a poplar.

Climate

The climate in pampas subtropical, wet and warm, with soft, almost mad winter.

Most of the time the wind is shown here. In the east of the drops of winter and summer temperatures, less significant, in the West, the climate is inherent in a more pronounced continental character.

The average winter temperature (July) in the pampas is about + 8 ° C, the summer (January) is about + 23 ° C. Because moisturizing in the region is mainly due to cyclonic rains, the amount of precipitation in the pampach greatly ranges from year to year. Arid periods here usually come for summer time.

Due to the lack of massive mountain chains, the territory from north to the south is open both to cold southern winds and northern, tropical - this leads to unexpected weather changes. The cold southern winds "Pamperos" sometimes spread to the Grand Charco itself, causing significant cooling - shelled with extraordinary speed, they lead to rapid temperature decreases and caused 2-3 monthly frosts, and sometimes snow dropout. Dry pamperos carry a huge amount of dust, wet - abundant shower and even snowfall; Northern winds (Nortes) bring heat.

From the perfectly level plain, the relief of the PAMPAS smoothly moves to the chains of hills, cutting into a nizenno with lifeless salt marshes, intermittent stony areas covered with spiny shrubs reaching up to 3 m in height. Extensive monotonous plains of the PAPD are violated by several low mountain ranges, which are significant "suppliers" of construction stone: Sierra del Tandal, Sierras de Cordova and Sierra de la Wentana. The highest point of PAMPAS (1300 m) is in the mountainous location Sierra de la Wentana (Span. Sierra de la Ventana).

Pampa is part of the territories of Argentina, and. Moreover, in Argentina Pampa and today is the most important agricultural region and the main economic district of the country: there are over 85% of wheat and corn crops, about 60% of cattle livestock is lined up.

According to the nature of landscapes, the type of vegetation, representatives of the animal world and the nature of the use of the territory of economic purposes, Pampa is similar to the steppes of Eurasia and North American prairies. From the Eurasian steppes, Parasas differ, perhaps, only the lack of winter negative temperatures.

Despite the fact that most of the Pampas has long been mastered by a person, in the hard-to-reach places in some places there are "islands" of virgin nature. Small sections of wild vegetation also remained in the strips of alienation of automotive trails, railways and on the banks of the rivers.

Population

In the XVII century In the pampas, a special type of local population was formed: shepherd-gaucho (descendants from the mixed marriages of Europeans with Indians, with a significant predominance of Indian blood). These were primitive shepherds engaged in the grazing of the semi-rock livestock and conducting their entire life riding. Permanently living in nature, Gaucho (Gaucho) are distinguished by incredible strength and endurance, they are also inherent in pride, bordering climbing.

Nowadays, Pampas are quite tightly populated: almost ¾ of the population of Argentina is concentrated here. The largest city located in the middle of the Argentine Pampas is (Sp. Rosario; 3rd in terms of the city in Argentina) is an important railway node and seaport. Moreover, Rosario is known as the city, where Born (Iz. Ernesto Che Guevara; 1928-1967) - the famous Comandante of the Cuban Revolution.

The next largest is Argentinean (Span. La Plata), the Capital Center for the province of Buenos Aires. In the city of Luhhan (Sp. Lujan), which is popularly called "the capital of faith", every year there is up to 6 million pilgrims from all over South America, because the Basilica of the Virgin Mary Luhanskaya, the Heavenly Patron of Argentina is located here.

The third largest city in Pampas - Santa Fe (Sp. Santa Fe). This is a financial, transport and shopping center of a rich agricultural region, which specializes in the production of beef, grain and vegetable oil.

Flora and fauna

A set of varieties of animals and plants living in pampas had to be adapted to the peculiar conditions of this region.

Natural Pamppace vegetation is a subtropical swollen steppes, in the west, passing in dry cereal-shrub steps. In Pamppa, there is a well-pronounced long-term zonality: distinguish the eastern (more humid) "low Pamppa" and Western, "High Pamppa" (dry). With the forests of Brazilian Highlands, Pampa is connected by a forest-steppe zone, where the herbs are interspersed with thickets of evergreen shrubs.

Pamppa vegetation is mainly represented by rare plants, characteristic exclusively for South America. Mainly, these are unique types of herbs and south-American varieties of cereals, widespread in moderate belts of European steppes, such as oatmeal, Kovyl, Bearded. The cultivation area of \u200b\u200bpampas vegetation is basically wet areas of meadow zones on the territory of Argentina. A stunning feature of the plants of Parasov is that they have adapted to live almost in any conditions. Steppe herbs for rarity Luggles, these amazing plants here can be found everywhere: on the sun, dry, stony areas, along the streams of streams and in wet, wetlands.

Among the most common plants in pampas can be noted aquatic lily and reed, the usual habitat for which are reservoirs or wetlands, but they have been remarkably adapted to dry meadows. Trees in the local places are not very often found, because because of the heat and lack of water in the pampas, fires often occur. A happy exception is the American (Lat. Phytolacca Americana), who managed to adapt and protect himself from fires.

The herbal cover of pampas fires of special harm does not cause - plants that adopted to such behavior of the climate are rapidly restored.

All animals living in Pampa can be divided into 3 main groups:

• those who are in search of moisture and food can quickly move: Pampus deer, Pampas Cat and Ostrich Nanda (type of flashing bird);
• those that can live, burning in Dern and Earth (rodents of the Nutria, Viskysha and armadioles);
• the horses and cattle delivered by the Spaniards, which were completely different and extremely multiplied.

Because of the continuing winds, many animals are hidden in high grass, or buried to the ground. In the pampas, even owls, who arrange their nests, roe underground holes. Many birds (several types of finch and reel) and animals Pampas feed on plant seeds. Pampas also became the native home for Nanda of the ordinary - the nearest relative of the African Ostrich and the Australian Emeu. Along with rare birds, there are no less wonderful mammals in the pampas, whose bright representative is a wild cat Joffroy (Lat. Leopardus Geoffroyi). An animal is characterized by a characteristic gray color of the back with dark stripes and black legs, practically devoid of wool. Such "disguise" allows the South American cat to remain among the steppe herbs almost invisible.

Among the endless pampas expanses, the Cat Joffroy is from a few predators, the only competitor is the Chilean cat. Although, in the full sense, it is possible to call them competitors only with difficulty, since Joffroa cat loves to live in thick thickets of grass, and the Chilean cat prefers outdoor terrain, that is, there is no reason pushing these animals to fight for the territory. The main source of danger for the Cat Joffroy, unfortunately, is a man who is mercilessing these animals because of their valuable fur (about 150 thousand animal skins are sold annually). Environmental organizations are concerned with this fact, in 1992. Sale of Skuff Cat Joffwru was prohibited in Europe.

Another representative of mammals Pampas is a grivy wolf. In the process of evolution, the animal acquired long strong legs, helping him to track prey in high herbs.

Lama Guanaco (Lat. Lama Guanicoe; Latt. Lama Guanicoe; Labor. "Wanaku"). This animal belongs to the family of the camel and well adapted to the arid climatic periods of South American pampas. Among other things, more than 15 types of mammals live here, about 20 species of birds and 15 species of plants located on the verge of extinction.

Wet pampas are one of the best pastures on the planet. Due to the moderate climate and generous, fat soil, most of the pampas were turned into agony. Unfortunately, excessive grazing of cattle and the active development of agriculture with the use of fertilizers fertilically affected the pampas ecosystem, becoming a serious threat to the region. To date, only a few islands of the legendary, existing once in the Pampass of the Ocean of Grass remained untouched.