JLE

Science et changements planétaires / Sécheresse

MENU

L’aridité sur l’Altiplano bolivien Volume 6, issue 1, Mars 1995

Author
GHSS, Université de Paris-VII, 2, place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France, et Laboratoire de météorologie dynamique du CNRS, École Polytechnique, 91128 Palaiseau, France.
  • Page(s) : 45-51
  • Published in: 1995

Although the Altiplano is a harsh environment (low oxygen and water vapour levels, cold and wind), it is not homogeneous. The reduction of water vapour and rain and increasing coldness from NE to SW are determined by latitude and the shelter effect of the eastern Cordillera of the Andes wich broadens out towards the south. Hydrology, population density, land use and adaptive strategies are all dependent on this gradient. Tin, however, provided a livelihood for the main towns of La Paz and Oruro, and to mining-towns with their few thousand inhabitants on these semi-desert high plateaux.