Relationships between landforms, soils and vegetation in the River Plate coastal plain, Argentina

The River Plate coastal plain is a 160-km-long, 3-10-km-wide strip, located to <5ma.s.l. on the right bank of the estuary. It is formed by sediments and landforms generated by the littoral transport and marine ingressions and regressions during the Holocene. The coastal plain faces heavy pressure...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Giménez, J.E., Hurtado, M.A., Kalesnik, F., Martínez, O.R.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_17476585_v25_n3_p366_Gimenez
Aporte de:
Descripción
Sumario:The River Plate coastal plain is a 160-km-long, 3-10-km-wide strip, located to <5ma.s.l. on the right bank of the estuary. It is formed by sediments and landforms generated by the littoral transport and marine ingressions and regressions during the Holocene. The coastal plain faces heavy pressures from Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, with about 13 million inhabitants, industrial, mining and rural activities. Here, we analyse the relations existing between landforms, soils and vegetation. Despite the anthropogenic influence, the natural landscape is more or less preserved in some areas, such as patches of the southernmost gallery forest in the world in natural levees, the xerophytic forests located in well-drained soils of beach ridges and other units such as Inland and Coastal Mudflats with wetland soils and vegetation, Tidal Flats with contrasting soils and plant communities among others. © 2010 The Authors. Water and Environment Journal © 2010 CIWEM.