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| Precordillera | |
|---|---|
| Name | Precordillera |
| Location | Argentina, Chile |
| Range | Andes |
Precordillera is a term used in Argentina and Chile to denote foothill or outlying mountainous zones adjacent to the Andes. The term appears in regional cartography, stratigraphic literature, and conservation planning, and relates to physiographic provinces that interface with the Pampa, Patagonia, and Andean cordillera sectors. Studies by institutions such as the Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino and the Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería integrate Precordillera units into maps alongside provinces like the Sierras Pampeanas and basins such as the Cuyo Basin.
The Spanish word "precordillera" derives from Latin-rooted morphology similar to terms used in toponymy across Spain and Latin America, appearing in administrative gazetteers of Buenos Aires Province, Mendoza Province, San Juan Province, La Rioja Province, and Catamarca Province. Historical cartographers including those associated with the Instituto Geográfico Nacional (Argentina) and explorers linked to the Real Academia de la Historia used the term in conjunction with named ranges such as the Aconcagua sector, the Famatina Range, and the Sierra de Velasco. Linguistic discussions cite parallels in toponyms compiled by the Oxford English Dictionary translators and by scholars at the National University of Córdoba.
Precordillera regions lie east of the main Andean crest and west of lowland provinces including the Pampa Húmeda, forming topographic steps between the Andean orogeny highlands and interior basins like the Mendoza Basin and Tuina Basin. Administrative regions encompassing Precordillera terrain include Mendoza Province, San Juan Province, La Rioja Province, and adjacent Atacama Region sectors of Chile. Notable nearby geographic features and localities include Aconcagua Provincial Park, Valle de Uco, Río Mendoza, Río Tunuyán, Villa Unión, Chilecito, and transport corridors like the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores and national routes managed by the Dirección Nacional de Vialidad (Argentina).
Geologists classify Precordillera sequences using stratigraphic frameworks developed by the Servicio Geológico Minero Argentino, the US Geological Survey, and universities such as Universidad Nacional de La Plata and Universidad de Buenos Aires. The Precordillera hosts sedimentary successions, synorogenic clastic wedges, and volcanic units that document Ordovician to Cenozoic events tied to plates including the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate. Tectonic models reference the Gondwana assembly, the Famatinian orogeny, the Pampean orogeny, and later Andean orogeny stages with processes like accretion, thrusting, folding, and basin inversion. Researchers from the Geological Society of America and the European Geosciences Union have compared Precordillera blocks to terranes such as the Cuyania Terrane and to paleogeographic reconstructions involving the Río de la Plata Craton and the Falkland Islands correlation debated in journals associated with the Sociedad Geológica de España.
Fossiliferous sequences in Precordillera-affiliated strata have yielded marine invertebrates, trilobites, brachiopods, and ichnofossils studied in relation to global biostratigraphic zones curated by museums like the Museo de La Plata and the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales Bernardino Rivadavia. Ordovician fossils link to assemblages documented in the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, with taxa comparable to collections at the Natural History Museum, London and the Smithsonian Institution. Paleontologists from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas and international teams have published correlations with the Siberian Platform, the Avalonia terrane literature, and Devonian vertebrate records akin to findings near Catamarca and La Rioja.
Precordillera zones exhibit climatic gradients influenced by the Andes rain shadow and dry air masses from the Atacama Desert, resulting in semi-arid to temperate climates mapped by agencies such as the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (Argentina) and the Dirección Meteorológica de Chile. Vegetation communities range from Monte Desert scrub and xerophytic shrublands to montane woodlands with species documented by the National Parks Administration (Argentina) and botanical inventories at the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural (Chile). Faunal records reference endemics cataloged by the World Wildlife Fund ecoregion initiatives and by conservation lists at the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Human settlement in Precordillera-adjacent valleys includes urban centers such as Mendoza (city), San Juan (city), La Rioja (city), San Rafael, Mendoza, and historical mining towns like Belén, Catamarca and Famatina. Land use includes viticulture in the Mendoza wine region, pastoralism on estancias registered in provincial cadastres, irrigation projects tied to the Canal Cañada, and mining operations under permits regulated by the Secretaría de Minería (Argentina) and the Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN). Infrastructure projects link to national initiatives by the Ministry of Transport (Argentina) and bilateral corridors connecting to Santiago, Chile.
Conservation efforts encompass protected areas and reserves such as Aconcagua Provincial Park, Los Cardones National Park, and provincial reserves administered in coordination with the National Parks Administration (Argentina) and Chilean counterparts like the Corporación Nacional Forestal. Scientific collaboration involves universities including Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and international programs by the United Nations Environment Programme and NGOs like Conservation International. Management plans address biodiversity hotspots cataloged by the IUCN and Ramsar designations where wetlands interface with Precordillera foothills near river corridors such as the Río Desaguadero and Río Grande (San Juan).
Category:Geography of Argentina Category:Geography of Chile Category:Andes