The Andes

Question 1

What is the longest mountain range in the world?

Answer 1

The Andes.

Question 2

What is the width and length of the Andes?

Answer 2

They are more than 7,000 km long and up to 320 km wide.

Question 3

How many countries do the Andes run through?

Answer 3

They run through 7 countries along the west coast of South America.

Question 4

What are the features of the Andes mountains?

Answer 4

• The Atacama Desert in Chile, which is one of the driest places on earth.
• Lake Titicaca, on the border between Peru and Bolivia, which is the largest freshwater lake in South America and the highest lake in the world on which ships can sail.
• The source of the River Amazon, the largest river in the world.

Question 5

What type of mountain are the Andes?

Answer 5

The Andes are fold mountains, formed when the earth’s plate that carries the Pacific Ocean pushed into the plate carrying the South American continent.

Question 6

How high are the jagged peaks?

Answer 6

Many of them are more than 6,700 meters high.

Question 7

How many active volcanoes are there?

Answer 7

There are frequent earthquakes and eruptions from 183 active volcanoes, including the highest volcano on earth, Ojos del Salado in Chile, which is 6887 meters tall.

Question 8

Is it easy to live in the Andes?

Answer 8

No, it is not easy to live in the Andes.

Question 9

How is farming difficult in the Andes?

Answer 9

farming is difficult in the Andes because the soil is poor and because of the steep slopes. It is also hard to build roads and railways there.

Question 10

What does high altitude mean?

Answer 10

The high altitude means that there is less air and much less oxygen than at lower levels.

Question 11

Do people live on the plateaux?

Answer 11

Some of the mountain chains are separated by high plateaux. The people who live on the plateaux are able to survive in the thin air because they have extra large lungs and so they can get more oxygen from the air they breathe in.

Question 12

Where do people farm?

Answer 12

The best land for farming in the Andes is found in the valley bottoms. But terraces dug into the valley sides and held up by stone walls are used to grow crops on the lower slopes.

Question 13

What kind of crops are grown?

Answer 13

The main crop is potato and hundreds of different kinds are grown. Other crops grown are soya, maize, rice and cotton.

Question 14

What are the most important animals kept by farmers?

Answer 14

llamas are the most important animals kept by farmers.

Question 15

What are llamas used for?

Answer 15

llamas are used to carry loads and they also provide meat, milk and wool.

Question 16

What are Alpacas kept for?

Answer 16

Alpacas are kept for their meat and their wool.

Question 17

What are the minerals that can be found in the Andes?

Answer 17

A large number of metals and minerals including gold, silver, tin, copper and aluminum can be found in the Andes.

Question 18

What kind of fertilizers can be found in the Andes?

Answer 18

phosphates and nitrates can be used as fertilizers.

Question 19

Where are the largest gold mines located?

Answer 19

The Yanacocha gold mine in Peru is the largest gold mine in south america and the second largest gold mine in the world.

Question 20

What is the population of the Andes?

Answer 20

The Andes contain what many people believe is the highest large city in the world. El Alto in Bolivia is situated 4150 meters above sea level and has a population of about 1.2 million people.