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Argentina Geography 1999

    Location: Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile and Uruguay

    Geographic coordinates: 34 00 S, 64 00 W

    Map references: South America

    Area:
    total: 2,766,890 sq km
    land: 2,736,690 sq km
    water: 30,200 sq km

    Area—comparative: slightly less than three-tenths the size of the US

    Land boundaries:
    total: 9,665 km
    border countries: Bolivia 832 km, Brazil 1,224 km, Chile 5,150 km, Paraguay 1,880 km, Uruguay 579 km

    Coastline: 4,989 km

    Maritime claims:
    contiguous zone: 24 nm
    continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
    exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
    territorial sea: 12 nm

    Climate: mostly temperate; arid in southeast; subantarctic in southwest

    Terrain: rich plains of the Pampas in northern half, flat to rolling plateau of Patagonia in south, rugged Andes along western border

    Elevation extremes:
    lowest point: Salinas Chicas -40 m (located on Peninsula Valdes)
    highest point: Cerro Aconcagua 6,962 m

    Natural resources: fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin, copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium

    Land use:
    arable land: 9%
    permanent crops: 1%
    permanent pastures: 52%
    forests and woodland: 19%
    other: 19% (1993 est.)

    Irrigated land: 17,000 sq km (1993 est.)

    Natural hazards: San Miguel de Tucuman and Mendoza areas in the Andes subject to earthquakes; pamperos are violent windstorms that can strike the Pampas and northeast; heavy flooding

    Environment—current issues: erosion results from inadequate flood controls and improper land use practices; irrigated soil degradation; desertification; air pollution in Buenos Aires and other major cities; water pollution in urban areas; rivers becoming polluted due to increased pesticide and fertilizer use

    Environment—international agreements:
    party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
    signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life Conservation

    Geography—note: second-largest country in South America (after Brazil); strategic location relative to sea lanes between South Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel, Drake Passage)

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Revised 1-Mar-99
Copyright © 1999 Photius Coutsoukis (all rights reserved)