Читать книгу Torres del Paine. Chile's Premier National Park and Argentina's Los Glaciares National Park онлайн

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The Andes are rich in mineral resources, and mining is extensive – with Chile ranking as the world’s largest copper producer, supplying a third of the world’s copper consumption. Argentina is also a major copper producer, while the Bolivian Andes are particularly rich in tin; and historically, it was the mineral wealth of the Andes which supplied the Inca civilization – and later the Conquistadors – with silver and gold.

Torres del Paine national park lies a little under 2000km south of Santiago on the edge of the vast Campo de Hielo Sur or Southern Ice Field, fingers of which (the Grey, Tyndall and Dickson glaciers) penetrate deep into the national park. These feed the lakes and rivers which, in their turn, drain southward into the Seno Ultima Esperanza or Last Hope Sound. The lakes and rivers carry large volumes of suspended particles of rock produced by the action of glaciers (‘glacial milk’), and it is this which gives many of the lakes (such as Lago Pehoé and Lago Nordenskjöld) their vivid turquoise hue.