The River Plate

Discovered by Juan Díaz de Solís in 1516, this river "large as a sea" is located at the East coast of South America, between parallels 34° and 36° South and meridians 55° and 58° West.

The River Plate is the outlet to the sea of the River Plate basin which includes 5 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and contains the most important waterways of  

the area: the Paraguay River, the Parana River and the Uruguay River, receiving from the last two rivers an average flow of 20.000 m3 per second. It is the second largest basin of the continent.

The River Plate spreads over about 320 km from the Parallel of Punta Gorda (latitude 33°55' South) down to its mouth into the Atlantic Ocean situated at the imaginary line that unites Punta Rasa de Cabo San Antonio (Argentina) with Punta del Este (Uruguay). Its width ranges from 2 km at its origin up to 220 km at the imaginary line that marks its mouth. The total surface of the River Plate is aprox. 30.000 km2.

Physically, the River Plate has been divided into three geographical zones:

Interior Zone, from Punta Gorda down to the line Colonia-La Plata distinguished by a substratum of fine sand.

Middle Zone, from the line Colonia-La Plata down to the line Montevideo-Punta Piedras, where the tidal influence of the Atlantic Ocean is more important.

Exterior Zone, from the line Montevideo-Punta Piedra to the outer limit, where the water is salty showing different levels of salinity.

The coasts of the river show different characteristics. The uruguayan coast pertains to the geological formation of the Brazilian Shield, with high coasts and sandy beaches bordered by dunes separated by rock outcrops. The argentinian coast pertains to the Pampa's sedimentary  bowl, formed by silty mesetas that alternate with muddy-swampy plains.
 
River Plate basin
     

Martín García Island

 		 THE MARTIN GARCIA AREA

The morphology of the specific area of Martín Garcia is distinguished by the presence of a shallow bank (the Playa Honda formation) crossed by channels and composed of grey-brown sediments, sandy towards the north, silty sands towards the south and clayey silt (muds) towards the argentinian coast. The delta suffers a continuous advance of 15 meters per year and the consistent decrease of the depth which leads to the formation of sandbanks that later will become islands. This process is present and very active in the area close to the Martín García Island (which has a rocky core) producing the growth of the island Timoteo Domínguez and of the sandbanks such as Santa Ana and Del Medio.

 

   
     

 

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