Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean,
between Chile and Uruguay

34 00 S, 64 00 W

South America

total: 2,766,890 sq km
land: 2,736,690 sq km
water: 30,200 sq km

slightly less than three-tenths the size of the US

total: 9,665 km
border countries: Bolivia 832 km, Brazil 1,224 km, Chile 5,150 km,
Paraguay 1,880 km, Uruguay 579 km

4,989 km

contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

mostly temperate; arid in southeast; subantarctic in
southwest

rich plains of the Pampas in northern half, flat to rolling
plateau of Patagonia in south, rugged Andes along western border

lowest point: Salinas Chicas -40 m (located on Peninsula Valdes)
highest point: Cerro Aconcagua 6,960 m

fertile plains of the pampas, lead, zinc, tin,
copper, iron ore, manganese, petroleum, uranium

arable land: 9%
permanent crops: 1%
permanent pastures: 52%
forests and woodland: 19%
other: 19% (1993 est.)

17,000 sq km (1993 est.)

San Miguel de Tucuman and Mendoza areas in the Andes
subject to earthquakes; pamperos are violent windstorms that can
strike the Pampas and northeast; heavy flooding

environmental problems (urban and rural)
typical of an industrializing economy such as soil degradation,
desertification, air pollution, and water pollution
note: Argentina is a world leader in setting voluntary greenhouse gas
targets

party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life
Conservation

second-largest country in South America (after
Brazil); strategic location relative to sea lanes between South
Atlantic and South Pacific Oceans (Strait of Magellan, Beagle Channel,
Drake Passage)