The Orinoco Delta is the delta formed by the mouth of the Orinoco River, one of the largest in the world. Its extension suggested to the early Spanish explorers that it was a sea. It is considered a place of natural beauty by the great variety of flora and fauna it. It is located in the state Amacuro Delta , east of Venezuela . Inspired by the thought of Herodotus, the Sunday deltano Ordaz said that the delta is a “present Orinoco,” referring to the group of islands and channels located in the area near the mouth. Consider the delta of the Orinoco as this serves not only metaphorically, but in reality plasma as most of the islands that comprise it, are the product of the steady accumulation of material that has dragged the Orinoco through its millennial existence, with input from its tributaries and to the extent that the sea was retiring from the foothills of the Sierra Imataca, where he had penetrated, forming an immense gulf with a mouth about 350 km. Not all islands are the result of accumulation of sediments, but were also formed by the accumulation of mud from mud volcanoes eruptions such as the hill located in Capure Cedral and on the island and Silver Parrot, located at North of Pedernales. The formation of delta goes back in time to the Tertiary, thousands of years before was a geographical area covered by the sea, but due to the action of ocean currents was the withdrawal of the sea producing the delta.

Orinoco Delta

The climate is characterized by an average temperature of 26.7 ° C, the mean maximum of 32.3 ° C and the average low is 23 ° C. Rainfall ranges from 900 to 2500 mm, between minimum and maximum respectively. Trade winds from the northeast and southeast, the land contact deltanas produce the east-west wind moves through the bed of the Orinoco. During the flood shows the presence of wind called Barinas, which moves along the direction of the Orinoco. At the time of least rainfall in the area act winds called “northers.” Due to the influence of the tides that occur in the Atlantic, rises and low water flow of the Orinoco River delta and the pipes. The action by which the tide comes in and changes the direction of the river and its network of pipes is called flow, and the output or decrease in water allowing the flow of the river and streams take their normal direction is called reflux. When the flow reaches its maximum level enables saltwater to move into the delta for their pipes, which overflow and inundate adjacent land to facilitate the formation of large mangroves, located in areas near the Atlantic coast. [click to continue…]

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