Semi-arid Pampas

The Semi-arid Pampas, also known as the Dry Pampas, is a temperate grassland ecoregion of central Argentina.

The Semi-arid Pampas cover an area of 327,000 square kilometers (126,000 sq mi), including western Buenos Aires Province, southern Cordoba and San Luis Provinces and most of La Pampa Province. The area is, in all, home to no more than a million people, who generally enjoy some of the nation's lowest poverty rates.

The Humid Pampas grassland lies to the east, while the drier Argentine Espinál (thorny) grassland lies to the west. The soil tends to be sandier in this region than to the east, though both regions are characterized by their mostly minimal incline and frequent finger lakes. Generally more similar than not, these two biomes are mostly distinguished by their contrasting rainfall quantities, soil quality and land use; this section of the pampas typically sees about a third less rainfall (700 mm, 27 in) than the humid pampas.

Not unlike the more humid pampas to the east, this area is characterized by its extensive grasslands. This groundcover, however, tends to be closer to long-grass varieties found in the world's steppes. Its landscape punctuated by relatively few trees (mostly imported ombúes, alders and Italian cypresses planted to provide wind breaks or landscaping), the region is home to intermittent shrublands, therein particularly carquejilla and caldén (prized for their medicinal qualities), as well as the shady algarrobo, common to much of Argentina.

In part owing to its sparse landscape and unreliable rains, the area's fauna rather resembles much of neighboring Patagonia's. Perhaps the most common natural inhabitant to the region is the ñandú, or, Darwin's rhea. Nearly ubiquitous to the region in the early 19th century, vast herds were often observed at the time and, indeed, they and their eggs had for centuries provided the Puelches and the area's other indigenous peoples with much of their protein needs. Targeted during successive genocidal campaigns between 1830 and 1880, however, these inhabitants lost most ñandús to massacres by Argentine armies, who believed that in so doing, the indigenous tribes could be starved into surrender.

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