The Magdalena River Valley ( es, Valle del Río Magdalena) is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

located within the Colombian

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 ...

. The valley is specifically situated between the

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team in the NAB League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. The club is a founding member of the competition (1992) and has produced several players for the Australian Football Leag ...

and crossed by the river of the same name, the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

Geology

The Magdalena River Valley was formed after a series of tectonic formed depressions that filled up with continental sediment in the

Tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

period. These sediments came from the

Central Ranges Central Ranges (code CER) is an Australian bioregion, with an area of 101,640.44 square kilometres (39,244 sq mi) spreading across two states and one territory: South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory.Upper (VSM), Middle (VMM) and

Lower Magdalena Valley Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Lower Wick is a small hamlet located in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is situated about five miles south west of Dursley, eig ...

s (VIM), is an important area for oil exploration in Colombia.

Flora and fauna

Flora

The first recorded European contact with the

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

was in 1537 in the Magdalena Valley. The Spanish invaders became familiar with the crop and it was probably around 1570 when a Spanish ship first introduced potatoes to Europe.

Fauna

The Magdalena River Valley is home to a species of

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

Magdalena Valley ringlet ''Splendeuptychia ackeryi'', the Magdalena Valley ringlet, is a species of butterfly first classified in 2009. Its distinguishing feature is unusually hairy mouthparts, which have been compared to a moustache. The specimen was initially collect ...

or ''Splendeuptychia ackeryi'', first identified in 2009. There are many endangered mammals and birds found in the region, including the

brown spider monkey The brown spider monkey or variegated spider monkey (''Ateles hybridus'') is a critically endangered species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, from forests in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela. Like all spider monkeys, it ...

and the endemic

blue-billed curassow The blue-billed curassow (''Crax alberti'') is a species of bird in the family Cracidae, the chachalacas, Guan (bird), guans, and curassows. It is endemic to Colombia. Taxonomy and systematics The blue-billed curassow is monotypic. However, i ...

and

white-mantled barbet The white-mantled barbet (''Capito hypoleucus'') is a species of bird in the family Capitonidae. It is endemic to Colombia. Its natural habitats are tropical moist montane forests, pastureland, and plantations. It is threatened by habitat loss. ...

. These species are threatened by habitat loss, among other factors.

References

Valleys of Colombia River valleys of Colombia

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between Hill, hills or Mountain, mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers ...

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