The Orinoquía region is one of the six
natural regions of Colombia that belongs to the
Orinoco River watershed. It is also known colloquially as the Eastern Plains (). The region covers most of the area of the departments of
Arauca,
Casanare,
Meta, and
Vichada and small parts of the
Boyacá,
Norte de Santander, and
Cundinamarca departments.
Biogeographical subregion
The Orinoquía region has the following subregions:
* Plains Foothills: in between the
East Andes and the Eastern Plains; elevations ranges between and ; mostly covered by dense tropical humid forest
*
Meta River
The Meta River is a major left tributary of the Orinoco River in eastern Colombia and southern Venezuela, South America. The Meta originates in the Cordillera Oriental (Colombia), Eastern Ranges of the Andes and flows through the Meta Department ...
Plain
*
Arauca Marshlands
*
Serranía de la Macarena
Biodiversity
The ecosystems of the region are
tropical savanna with
gallery forests and
wetlands
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
along the rivers.
Protected areas
*
PNN Serranía de la Macarena
*
PNN El Tuparro
*
PNN Morichales de Paz de Ariporo
See also
*
Llanos, vast plain situated to the east of the Andes in
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
and
Venezuela
Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orinoquia natural region
Natural regions of Colombia
Llanos