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General Chile Overview

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The Soils of Chile

Part of the book series: World Soils Book Series ((WSBS))

Abstract

Chile, described as the skinniest country in the world, has great forestry, livestock, and agricultural potential, thanks to a diverse range of soil types and climate conditions, as well as to the presence of strong natural barriers against pests and diseases offered by a harsh desert to the north (the Atacama Desert), the Andes Mountains to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Antarctic territory to the south. Chile provides the most varied natural sceneries in the world and their mountains and Pacific littoral are a true laboratory of geomorphology, with a total length of 35,000 km when all of the inlets and islands are considered. Therefore, this chapter is oriented to describe in general the geology and geomorphology, climate, vegetation and land use aspects of this tricontinental country (American, Oceanic and Antarctic territory) of startling contrasts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil & Engineering, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Manuel Casanova, Osvaldo Salazar, Oscar Seguel & Walter Luzio

Authors
  1. Manuel Casanova
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  2. Osvaldo Salazar
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  3. Oscar Seguel
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  4. Walter Luzio
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Correspondence to Manuel Casanova .

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Casanova, M., Salazar, O., Seguel, O., Luzio, W. (2013). General Chile Overview. In: The Soils of Chile. World Soils Book Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5949-7_1

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