Abstract:

South American hydrology is characterized, among many other particular features, by its enormous fluvial network, integrated into the regional ecology and, even in certain cases such as the Amazon, with important planetary projections. The most important factors which determine the characteristics of this fluvial network are the vast size of the tropical rain forest (Hylaea), adjusted to the centre line of the Amazon River, and the extraordinary extension and relevance of the Andes Mountain Range, which borders the entire American continent on the West. In many cases, the austral basins of South America receive very heavy rainfall, as in the sources of the headwaters of the Parana and in its most easterly and austral tributaries of the upper reach such as the Iguazu. The hydrology of these rivers is described. (from Author)