The Central Valley ( es, Valle Central), Intermediate Depression, or Longitudinal Valley is the depression between the
Chilean Coastal Range
The Chilean Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa) is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, w ...
and the
Andes
The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...
Mountains. The Chilean Central Valley extends from the border with
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
to
Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...
in southern Chile, with a notable
interruption at
Norte Chico (27°20'–33°00' S). South of Puerto Montt the valley has a continuation as a series of marine basins up to the
isthmus of Ofqui
The Isthmus of Ofqui is a narrow isthmus that connects the Taitao Peninsula with the Chilean mainland. The isthmus is bounded in the south by the Gulf of Penas, in the north by the San Rafael Lagoon, in the west by the Taitao Peninsula and in the e ...
. Some of Chile's most populous cities lie within the valley including
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...
,
Temuco
Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...
,
Rancagua
Rancagua () is a city and commune in central Chile and part of the Rancagua conurbation. It is the capital of the Cachapoal Province and of the O'Higgins Region, located south of the national capital of Santiago.
It was originally named Santa ...
,
Talca
Talca () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, Chile, Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the ...
and
Chillán
Chillán () is the capital city of the Ñuble Region in the Diguillín Province of Chile located about south of the country's capital, Santiago, near the geographical center of the country. It is the capital of the new Ñuble Region since 6 Sept ...
.
Northern section (18°30'–27°20' S)
In northernmost Chile the central valley is made up of the Pampitas, a series of small flats
dissected
Dissection (from Latin ' "to cut to pieces"; also called anatomization) is the dismembering of the body of a deceased animal or plant to study its anatomical structure. Autopsy is used in pathology and forensic medicine to determine the cause ...
by deep valleys.
[Börger, p. 40.] Immediately south of the Pampitas, in
Tarapacá Region
The Tarapacá Region ( es, Región de Tarapacá, ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions. It comprises two provinces, Iquique and Tamarugal. It borders the Chilean Arica and Parinacota Region to the north, Bolivia's Oruro D ...
and northern of
Antofagasta Region
The Antofagasta Region ( es, Región de Antofagasta, ) is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is bordered t ...
, the Central Valley is known as
Pampa del Tamarugal
Pampa del Tamarugal ("Plateau of the Tamarugal") is a vast plain encompassing a significant portion of the Norte Grande, Chile, and originally named for the ''Prosopis tamarugo'' trees that used to cover its surface. It is located between the para ...
.
[Börger, p. 41.][Brüggen, p. 6.] Contrary to the Pampitas valleys descending from the Andes do not incise the plains but merge into the surface of Pampa del Tamarugal at a height of ''c''. 1500 m.
[ The westernmost portion of Pampa del Tamarugal has a height of 600 m. This western part contain a series of raised areas called ''pampas'' and basins containing ]salt flats Salt flats, Salt flat, Salt Flats, or Salt Flat may refer to: Geology
*Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals
* Dry lake, an ephemeral lakebed that consists of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali sal ...
.[ Interconnecting basins are important corridors for communication and transport in northern Chile.][Börger, p. 42.]
South of Loa River
The Loa River (Spanish: Río Loa) is a U-shaped river in Chile's northern Antofagasta Region. At long, it is the country's longest river and the main watercourse in the Atacama Desert.
Course
The Loa's sources are located on Andean mountain sl ...
the valley continues, flanked by Cordillera Domeyko
The Cordillera Domeyko is a mountain range of the Andes located in northern Chile, west of Salar de Atacama. It runs north-south for approximately 600 km, parallel to the main chain. The mountain range marks the eastern border of the flat pa ...
to east, until it is ends at the latitude of Taltal
Taltal is a Chilean commune and city in Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta Region. According to the 2012 census, the commune has a population of 11,132 and has an area of .
The commune is home to Paranal Observatory and includes the northern por ...
(25°17' S). It re-appears around Chañaral
Chañaral is a small coastal city and commune in the Atacama Region, Chile and capital of the Chañaral Province. It is largely unknown by tourists, who generally head straight for towns such as San Pedro de Atacama. The town has no high rise bu ...
(26°20' S) as an isolated basin surrounded by mountains and hills.[Börger, p. 43.] This 250 km long and up to 70 km wide basin is called Pampa Ondulada or Pampa Austral.[Börger, p. 47.] As the Pampa Ondulada is extinguished at Copiapó River
Copiapó River is a river of Chile located in the Atacama Region. Starting at the confluence of the ''Jorquera'' and ''Pulido'' rivers, the Copiapó flows for only 2.5 km before receiving the waters of the '' Manflas River''. It flows throu ...
(27°20' S)[ in the Norte Chico region running south of this river there is no proper Central Valley, only a few narrow north-south depressions that align with geological faults.][Brüggen, p. 5.]
In the northern section of the central valley vegetation is extremely scarce as result of conditions of extreme aridity in Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the ...
. Only to the south in Atacama Region does a Chilean Matorral
The Chilean Matorral (NT1201) is a terrestrial ecoregion of central Chile, located on the west coast of South America. It is in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, part of the Neotropical realm.
Matorral is typically character ...
vegetation exist. The northern portion of the matorral is made up by the ''Nolana leptophylla
''Nolana'' (Chilean bell flower) is a genus of hard annual or perennial plants in the nightshade family. The genus is mostly native to Chile and Peru. Species in this genus, especially '' N. paradoxa'', serve as a model system for studies on fl ...
''–'' Cistanthe salsoloides'' association while the southern half by the '' Skytanthus acutus''–'' Atriplex deserticola'' association.[Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 113–114.][Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 123–124.]
Central section (33°00'–41°30' S)
The main portion the Central Valley extends from Tiltil
Tiltil or Til-Til is a Chilean municipality and city, in the Chacabuco Province, Santiago Metropolitan Region. Tiltil is most known for being an execution place for rebels during Chile's independence war against Spain. Manuel Rodríguez was exec ...
(33°05' S) near Santiago to Temuco
Temuco () is a city and commune, capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago. The city grew out from a fort of the same name established in 1881 during Chile's invasion ...
(38°45' S).[Brüggen, p. 4.][ The Coast Range and the Andes almost merge in two locations: one between Santiago and Rancagua and another between San Fernando and Rengo.][ The result is the enclosure of the Central Valley into two smaller basins in the north: Santiago Basin and Rancagua Basin.][Börger, p. 97.][Börger, p. 99.]
The valley runs an un-interrupted length of 360 km from Angostura de Pelequén in the north to Bío Bío River (37°40' S) in the south.[ It broadens from 12 km at Molina (35°05' S) in the north to 74 km in the south at Laja (37°15' S) the relief being gently undulating.][ Conglomerate of Andean provenance cover large swathes of the Central Valley being less common to the west near the Coast Range. Occasionally the valley contains isolated hills and mountains made up of ]basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
rocks.[ At the latitudes of Temuco the Coast Range is subdued to such degree the Central Valley coalesces with the coastal plains.][
In the 110 km between ]Gorbea
Gorbea () or Gorbeia () is a mountain and massif in the Basque Country, Spain. It is the highest summit in Biscay and Álava, with a height of above sea level. The massif covers a wide area between the two provinces. The main summit is a round ...
and Paillaco
Paillaco is a city and commune in southern Chile. It is located in Valdivia Province of Los Ríos Region, and is about 48 km southeast of Valdivia, Chile , Valdivia.
Demographics
According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute ...
(''c''. 39–40° S) the Central Valley is inexistent as the region is instead crossed by a series of east-west mountainous ridges and broad fluvial valleys.[Börger, p. 122.][ South of this region the Central Valley re-appears in the south to extend into Osorno and ]Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...
(41°30' S).[Brüggen, p. 2.] This southern section is 190 km long from north to south.[ The Central Valley south of Bío Bío River has been influenced by volcanism and past glaciations giving origin to the ]ñadi 300px, The archaeological site of Monte Verde is in a zone of ñadi soils.
Ñadi is a type of soil and a phytogeographic zone of Southern Chile. Ñadi soils are located in the Chilean Central Valley of Los Lagos Region, specifically between the ...
s and moraine
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice shee ...
s that cover parts of the valley.[Börger, p. 123.]
The natural vegetation of the central section vary from north to south. To a lesser degree vegetation also vary towards the foothills of the Andes and the Chilean Coastal Range. From Santiago to Linares thorny woodlands of ''Acacia caven
''Vachellia caven'' (Roman cassie, , aromo criollo, caven, , , espinillo, espinillo de baado, espino, espino maulino) is an ornamental tree in the family Fabaceae. ''Vachellia caven'' is native to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Uru ...
'' are dominant.[Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 130–133.] In Ñuble Region
The Ñuble Region ( es, Región de Ñuble), officially the Region of Ñuble ( es, Región de Ñuble), is — since 5 September 2018 – one of Chile's sixteen regions. It spans an area of , making it the smallest region in Chile in terms of area ...
two sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...
vegetation types cover the territory. These are the associations of '' Lithrea caustica''–'' Peumus boldus'' and '' Quillaja saponiana''–''Fabiana imbricata
''Fabiana imbricata'', vernacular names pichi or false heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae, native to dry upland slopes in the foothills of the southern Andes of Chile and Argentina. Growing to tall and wide, it is a ...
''.[Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 144–147.] From Bío Bío River to the south ''Nothofagus obliqua
''Nothofagus obliqua'', commonly known as Patagonian oak, ''roble'', ''pellín'', ''roble pellín'', and ''hualle'' in its early state of growth or roble beech, is a deciduous tree from Chile and Argentina. It grows from 33 to 43° south latitude ...
'' becomes the dominant tree species.[Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 149–150.][Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 157–158.] Only Llanquihue Lake
Lake Llanquihue is the second-largest lake in Chile with an area of about , after Lake General Carrera which shared with Argentina. It is situated in the southern Los Lagos Region in the Llanquihue and Osorno provinces. The lake's fan-like form ...
and the Puerto Montt
Puerto Montt (Mapuche: Meli Pulli) is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region, 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago. The commune spa ...
area are exceptions to this being respectively dominated by ''Nothofagus dombeyi
''Nothofagus dombeyi'', Dombey's beech, coigue, coihue or coigüe (from Mapuche language, Mapudungun ''koywe'') is a tree species native to southern Chile and the Andean parts of Argentine Patagonia. It is a fast-growing species that can live i ...
''–''Eucryphia cordifolia
''Eucryphia cordifolia'', the ulmo, is a species of tree in the family Cunoniaceae. It is found in Chile and Argentina. It is threatened by logging and habitat loss. The natural habitat is along the Andes Range from 38 to 43°S, and up to 700 me ...
'' and ''Nothofagus nitida
''Nothofagus nitida'' (Chiloé's coigue) is an evergreen tree, native to southern Chile and Argentina. It is found from latitude 40° S to Última Esperanza ( 53° S).
Description
Up to 35 m (115 ft) height and 2 m (6.5 ft ...
''–'' Podocarpus nubigena''.[Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 183–186.][Luebert & Pliscoff, pp. 198–200.]
Southern marine basins (41°30'–46°50' S)
South of Puerto Montt the continuation of the Central Valley is made up of a series of marine basins including Reloncaví Sound
Reloncaví Sound or ''Seno de Reloncaví'' is a body of water immediately south of Puerto Montt, a port city in the Los Lagos Region of Chile. It is the place where the Chilean Central Valley meets the Pacific Ocean.
The Calbuco Archipelago com ...
, Gulf of Ancud 250px, Map of the Sea of Chiloé and nearby roads. The Gulf of Ancud is seen in the centre of the upper half.
Gulf of Ancud ( es, Golfo de Ancud) is a large body of water separating the Chiloé Island from the mainland of Chile. It is located nort ...
, and the Gulf of Corcovado
Gulf of Corcovado () is a large body of water separating the Chiloé Island from the mainland of Chile. Geologically, it is a forearc basin that has been carved out by Quaternary glaciers. Most of the islands of Chiloé Archipelago are located in ...
that separates Chiloé Island
Chiloé Island ( es, Isla de Chiloé, , ) also known as Greater Island of Chiloé (''Isla Grande de Chiloé''), is the largest island of the Chiloé Archipelago off the west coast of Chile, in the Pacific Ocean. The island is located in southern ...
from the mainland.[Börger, p. 137.][ Further south the valley runs as the narrow ]Moraleda Channel
Moraleda Channel () is a body of water separating the Chonos Archipelago from the mainland of Chile. It is located at , leading to Gulf of Corcovado. Southward from the mouth of the Aisén Fjord, Moraleda Channel divides into two arms. The east a ...
. Emerged portions include numerous small islands plus the eastern coast of Chiloé Island and Taitao Peninsula
The Taitao Peninsula (Spanish: ''Península de Taitao'') is a westward projection of the mainland of Chile, with which it is connected by the narrow Isthmus of Ofqui, over which the natives and early missionaries were accustomed to carry their boa ...
east of Presidente Ríos Lake
Presidente Ríos Lake () is located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. It lies in the middle of the Taitao Peninsula.
While the lake's existence only became known in Chile in 1945, it appears to have been known ...
, including the Isthmus of Ofqui
The Isthmus of Ofqui is a narrow isthmus that connects the Taitao Peninsula with the Chilean mainland. The isthmus is bounded in the south by the Gulf of Penas, in the north by the San Rafael Lagoon, in the west by the Taitao Peninsula and in the e ...
. (46°50' S).[
]
Notes
References
External links
An aerial Google view of the Chilean Central Valley. Argentina lies to the east of the Andes range
Chilean National Tourism Service
Chilean Meteorological Service
;Bibliography
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Valleys of Chile
Chilean Coast Range
Depressions of Chile
Plains of Chile