Landforms of South America

Beginning high in the Sierra Parima Mountains of Venezuela and Brazil, the Orinoco River flows in a giant arc before discharging in the Atlantic Ocean in Venezuela. Its tributaries are the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela and the llanos of Colombia.

The Paracas National Reserve is a protected area in Peru that protects desert and marine ecosystems, including the Paracas Peninsula. The Ballestas Islands are a group of small islands off the coast of the peninsula that are an important sanctuary for marine fauna.

The Paraguay River is South America's fifth largest river, running from the Brazilian state of Mato Grasso to its confluence with the Paraná River in Argentina, of which it is the main tributary. It serves as part of the Paraguayan border with Argentina as well as with Brazil.

The Paraná River is the second longest river in South America. Running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, it becomes an alluvial basin before emptying into the Río de la Plata. The Paraná Delta consists of several islands known as the Islas del Paraná.

The Patagonian Desert, also known as the Patagonian Steppe, is a semiarid scrub plateau. The Patagonian steppe ecoregion, also known as the Magellanic Steppe, mainly covers the Patagonia region of Argentina to barely across the border into Chile.

The Peruvian Andes, part of the greater Andes system of South America, are formed by three main cordilleras that traverse the entire country. The Sierra natural region features fertile river valleys, high plains, deep canyons and the Altiplano plateau.

The Peru–Chile Trench, also known as the Atacama Trench, is an oceanic trench in the eastern Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru and Chile. It delineates the boundary between the subducting Nazca Plate and the overriding South American Plate.

Quebrada de Humahuaca, a natural valley corridor in northwestern Argentina, has been used over the past 10,000 years as a passage for the transport of people and ideas from the high Andean lands to the plains. Its settlements and field systems form a dramatic addition to the outstanding landscape.