Continental relief
Mountains:
It has a lot of mountains, and volcanoes; specially is characterized for the Andes Mountain Range. Which is part of the largest mountain system around the world.
Also the volcanoes in the Galápagos Islands which were active a few years ago.
We also have the Chimborazo Volcano which is the highest peak in the world from the core.
Also the Cayambe, which is the highest point in the Equator, and the only glacier point in the Equator line.
Plateaux:
Most of the land in the highlands are plateaux, because they are at the bottom of the mountains, usually where cities are located even though there are places where the cities rest in the lowest part of the mountain's slope.
One example of it, is Quito which is a large plateau.
Plains:
Most of our plains are in the coastal region, including Galapagos because of the beaches and shores where it is barely higher from the sea level.
In the coastal region they are mainly in the seashore and river basins , etc.
In the amazon region it's mainly in the borders of the Amazon Region.
Depressions:
Well, we basically don't have real depressions, but many people think that some old Inca structures still exist and they are underground and as they are all around the country in some parts they maybe under the sea level. Also in Galapagos people have discovered underground caves, but a lot of the as they are in contact with the sea or they are fragile because of their light structure, there have been a lot of collapses, so scientists can not really measure their depth.
Submarine Relief:
Continental shelves:
In fact we do have a continental shelve which is in some part of 200 nautical miles from the Ecuadorian shores, even from the continental and insular surroundings because that's Ecuador's maritime territory.
Continental slopes:
We have a continental slope just when the continental shelve is over because depth is needed for the underwater volcanoes which have formed the Galapagos. I'm very sorry, but I haven't find any picture about it.
Oceanic basins: (Deep-sea trenches)
We do have ocean basins, as flat areas but we don't have any trenches of what I have investigated.
Oceanic ridges:
I investigated but I did not find any clear information about them but it's really probable because of the rocks and isles we can find in the ocean.
How is the relief formed?
In what tectonic plate is Ecuador located?
Continental Ecuador is located in the South American Plate, but Insular Ecuador (Galapagos) is located in the Nazca Plate. The theories say that probably Galapagos will move away to far in a couple of hundred years because of the movements of the plates.
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
It has a lot of volcanoes and some of them are still active, while others are dormant, but the thing is that as they form the Ring of Fire, also the Belt of Fire many scientists think that if an important and/or big volcano erupts it will cause a chain effect and may cause all the volcanoes to erupt and as a lot of those volcanoes are in our country and they form "hoyas" around the highlands it will be really dangerous for us.
The Andes were formed by the fold of the collision of the South American Plate and the Nazca Plate. But there's still movement in that union because each year the Andes get one centimeter bigger.
The most recent eruption was of the Tungurahua Volcano on April the 26th in 2011.
Ecuador has suffered from a lot of earthquakes along its history, and many of them have caused the destruction of various cities. We have also suffered from marine earthquakes in less than the last 100 years, my own great grand mother and grand parents have lived some of those events.
Why does the relief change?
How has Ecuador has been modeled?
Temperatures:
We don't have the 4 seasons to affect us regularly, but we have a lot of abrupt temperature changes in a day, don't say in a longer period of time. So, as the temperature is so unstable it causes erosion by freezing and freaking rocks. Also by causing changes in the glaciers, etc.
Water:
As we have large amounts of water, glaciers, underground water, lakes, the sea and heavy rains, it's a very important modeling agent in all the aspects of dissolution, fluvial erosion by the rivers and glaciers, and of the seas and salty water we also have marine erosion. Almost everyday, we can see the effects of the rain of the previous day, as more ice in the tops of the mountains, or mud puds in all the ground, or really blossoming flowers, trees, etc.
Wind:
We don't have much wind erosion, but it can be considerable because we do have an unusual force of wind, which mainly affects the arid parts of Ecuador as the coast and Galapagos and not much in the Higlands.
Human Beings:
This is mainly every where in the highlands, much of the coast, partly of Galapagos and almost nothing in the amazon region which is luckily the largest part of Ecuador. We affect the environment by building roads, cities, digging, deforestation, reforestation, etc.
Plains:
Most of our plains are in the coastal region, including Galapagos because of the beaches and shores where it is barely higher from the sea level.
In the coastal region they are mainly in the seashore and river basins , etc.
In the amazon region it's mainly in the borders of the Amazon Region.
Depressions:
Well, we basically don't have real depressions, but many people think that some old Inca structures still exist and they are underground and as they are all around the country in some parts they maybe under the sea level. Also in Galapagos people have discovered underground caves, but a lot of the as they are in contact with the sea or they are fragile because of their light structure, there have been a lot of collapses, so scientists can not really measure their depth.
Submarine Relief:
Continental shelves:
In fact we do have a continental shelve which is in some part of 200 nautical miles from the Ecuadorian shores, even from the continental and insular surroundings because that's Ecuador's maritime territory.
Continental slopes:
We have a continental slope just when the continental shelve is over because depth is needed for the underwater volcanoes which have formed the Galapagos. I'm very sorry, but I haven't find any picture about it.
Oceanic basins: (Deep-sea trenches)
We do have ocean basins, as flat areas but we don't have any trenches of what I have investigated.
Oceanic ridges:
I investigated but I did not find any clear information about them but it's really probable because of the rocks and isles we can find in the ocean.
How is the relief formed?
In what tectonic plate is Ecuador located?
Continental Ecuador is located in the South American Plate, but Insular Ecuador (Galapagos) is located in the Nazca Plate. The theories say that probably Galapagos will move away to far in a couple of hundred years because of the movements of the plates.
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
It has a lot of volcanoes and some of them are still active, while others are dormant, but the thing is that as they form the Ring of Fire, also the Belt of Fire many scientists think that if an important and/or big volcano erupts it will cause a chain effect and may cause all the volcanoes to erupt and as a lot of those volcanoes are in our country and they form "hoyas" around the highlands it will be really dangerous for us.
The Andes were formed by the fold of the collision of the South American Plate and the Nazca Plate. But there's still movement in that union because each year the Andes get one centimeter bigger.
The most recent eruption was of the Tungurahua Volcano on April the 26th in 2011.
Ecuador has suffered from a lot of earthquakes along its history, and many of them have caused the destruction of various cities. We have also suffered from marine earthquakes in less than the last 100 years, my own great grand mother and grand parents have lived some of those events.
Why does the relief change?
How has Ecuador has been modeled?
Temperatures:
We don't have the 4 seasons to affect us regularly, but we have a lot of abrupt temperature changes in a day, don't say in a longer period of time. So, as the temperature is so unstable it causes erosion by freezing and freaking rocks. Also by causing changes in the glaciers, etc.
Water:
As we have large amounts of water, glaciers, underground water, lakes, the sea and heavy rains, it's a very important modeling agent in all the aspects of dissolution, fluvial erosion by the rivers and glaciers, and of the seas and salty water we also have marine erosion. Almost everyday, we can see the effects of the rain of the previous day, as more ice in the tops of the mountains, or mud puds in all the ground, or really blossoming flowers, trees, etc.
Wind:
We don't have much wind erosion, but it can be considerable because we do have an unusual force of wind, which mainly affects the arid parts of Ecuador as the coast and Galapagos and not much in the Higlands.
Human Beings:
This is mainly every where in the highlands, much of the coast, partly of Galapagos and almost nothing in the amazon region which is luckily the largest part of Ecuador. We affect the environment by building roads, cities, digging, deforestation, reforestation, etc.
