Climate:
warm temperate; freezing temperatures almost unknown
Terrain:
mostly rolling plains and low hills; fertile coastal lowland
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Cerro Catedral 514 m
Natural resources: arable land, hydropower, minor minerals, fisheries
Land use: arable land: 7.43% permanent crops: 0.23% other: 92.34% (2001)
Irrigated land:
1,800 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
seasonally high winds (the pampero is a chilly and occasional
violent wind which blows north from the Argentine pampas), droughts,
floods; because of the absence of mountains, which act as weather
barriers, all locations are particularly vulnerable to rapid changes
from weather fronts
Environment - current issues: water pollution from meat packing/tannery industry; inadequate solid/hazardous waste disposal
Environment - international agreements: party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation
Geography - note:
second-smallest South American country (after Suriname); most of
the low-lying landscape (three-quarters of the country) is
grassland, ideal for cattle and sheep raising