113 - CONFLUENCE OF THE RIO URUGUAY AND A TRIBUTARY, Misiones, Argentina. (S 27°15' W 54°03').

Drastically cleared to make way for farming, the Argentine tropical forest is today a less effective defense against erosion than it was in the past. Heavy rains falling in the province of Misiones (79 inches, or 2,000 mm, per year) wash the soil and carry off significant quantities of ferruginous earth into the Río Uruguay, turning the waters a dark, reddish ocher. Swollen by tributaries bearing vegetal debris, the Río Uruguay (1,000 miles, or 1,612 km, long) empties into the Atlantic Ocean in the area of the Río de la Plata—forming the earth’s largest estuary (125 miles, or 200 km, wide)—where the river dumps the sediment it has carried. The sediment accumulates in the access channels to the port of Buenos Aires, which must be dredged regularly to remain navigable. Deposits built up at the mouths of rivers can change landscapes by forming deltas or extending land into the sea.

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