Coastal Geology and morphology of Patagonia and the Fuegian Archipelago

Abstract

The World is not a perfect sphere and continents are not proportionally distributed in it. The Northern Hemisphere is dominated by land and the Southern Hemisphere is so by oceans. Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego are the only regions to test the wind-blown belt effects at high latitudes of the Oceanic Hemisphere. Interannual effects (El Niño- Southern Oscillation cycles) may affect significantly the areas of recharge of their watersheds. Quaternary marine terraces are witness of the interaction between plates, and the climatic changes that caused different distribution of oceans and glaciers. Patagonian climate does not respond to latitude because of the topographic effects of the Andes: precipitation diminishes towards the Atlantic Ocean. In Tierra del Fuego, the trend is latitudinal: precipitation diminishes from south to north, with the mountainous effect of the Darwin Cordillera. If the Buenos Aires coastline is microtidal and subject to storm effects, the Patagonian coastline is dominated instead by tides increasing their effects inside gulfs and embayments.