DEFINITION OF PATAGONIA

A vast, gently east-sloping windswept, semiarid

plateau located primarily in southern Argentina. It is located

south of the Rio Negro east of the Andes and includes a

300,000-square-mile (776,996-km2) area that also includes

parts of southeast Chile and northern Tierra del Fuego. It is

located east of the Andes Mountain range and terminates in

cliffs on the Atlantic Ocean. The region is known for sheep

raising and tourism in its lake region but also has mineral

wealth including petroleum production and deposits of coal

and iron ore. Geologically, Patagonia is probably most famous

for its rich paleontological record and has been explored for its

diverse fossils since the region was visited by Charles Darwin.

It is home to the legendary Patagonian Giants (the Tehuelches),

later found to be not so giant by Spanish conquerors.

Early explorers of Patagonia include Amerigo Vespucci in

1501 and Ferdinand Magellan in 1520. In the late 1800s an

Argentine general named Julio A. Roca led campaigns against

the local Indians, leading the way for Argentine ranchers to

move into the area. The area is also inhabited by guanaco, rhea,

puma, and deer, including the pudu, the world’s smallest deer

species. Bird life is also common among Patagonia’s forests and

waters and ranges from the Andean condor, the world’s largest

land bird, to hummingbirds and parakeets. Some of the world’s

oldest trees stand in Parque Nacional Los Alerces.

Patagonia has several large rivers that flow through it to

the Atlantic, and one river, the Manso, forms a natural pathway

of water cutting across the barrier of the Andes to the

Pacific Ocean. Along its shores, animals and travelers formed

paths allowing for cultures to spread and cities to develop.

The Manso headwaters lie high in the Cordillera Patagonica

in Argentina and descend southeast into several lakes. The

river turns and then cuts through a gorge to the west, passing

through Lago Tagua-Tagua, then reaches the Pacific Ocean.

Charles Darwin described many details of the landscape

of Patagonia. He noted that the surface is quite level (a pene-

plain) and is composed of a well-rounded mix of gravel and

white soil, where scattered tufts of brown wiry grass have

established a shaky foothold. Standing in the middle of the

desert plains Darwin noted another, second and higher escarpment

marking a higher plain, equally level and desolate.

The western side of Patagonia is marked by the Andean

Mountain range, where subduction to the west has produced

a series of volcanic-intrusive magmatic pulses. The southern

Andes and Patagonia are host to a number of precious base

metal deposits related to this magmatism. A lucrative belt of

epithermal gold deposits and subvolcanic porphyry coppergold

deposits is found in southern Chile and Argentina.

Deposits in Patagonia are associated with the Somuncura and

Deseado volcanic massifs and include Anglo Gold’s Cerro

Vanguardia deposit (9.1 million tons of open-pit mineable

ore, with 9.7 grams per ton gold and 113 grams per ton silver),

and Meridian’s Esquel deposit (3.8 million ounces gold

at 8 grams per ton and 6.4 million ounces of silver).

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