Tamá Massif

Tamá Massif
Macizo del Tamá
El Tamá viewed from San Cristóbal, Táchira
Highest point
Elevation	3,613 m (11,854 ft)
Coordinates	7°25′37″N 72°17′35″W / 7.427°N 72.293°W / 7.427; -72.293Coordinates: 7°25′37″N 72°17′35″W / 7.427°N 72.293°W / 7.427; -72.293
Geography
Tamá Massif Location in Venezuela
Parent range	Cordillera Oriental (Colombia)

The Tamá Massif (Spanish: Macizo del Tamá) is a group of mountains on the border between Colombia and Venezuela to the south of Lake Maracaibo. It contains evergreen rainforest and cloud forest at the lower levels, and páramos (high moors) at the highest levels.

The Tamá is a prolongation of the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. It is separated from the Cordillera de Mérida in the Venezuelan Andes by the Táchira depression, which more than 50 million years ago was a strait that connected Lake Maracaibo with the Orinoco basin. Elevations range from 320 to 3,329 metres (1,050 to 10,922 ft). Average annual temperature is 25 °C (77 °F). Average annual rainfall is 2,300 millimetres (91 in). The Tamá National Natural Park in Colombia and the El Tamá National Park in Venezuela protect parts of the Tamá Massif. The two parks together form a protected area of 1,390 km² (540 sq mi).

The Tamá massif is a set of folded mountain ranges with extremely steep topography. It contains the El Tamá páramos (high moors) at an elevation of 3,320 metres (10,890 ft), Cerro El Cobre at 3,613 metres (11,854 ft) and Cerro Judío at 3,372 metres (11,063 ft). The mountains are mainly of limestone or sandstone rock, typical of the Guiana Shield. The Tamá National Natural Park contains an 820-metre-high (2,690 ft) waterfall one of the world's highest. The páramos give rise to rivers such as the Carapo, Chiquito, Quinimarí, Quite, Burguita, Burga, Nula, Nulital, Sarare, Cutufí, Oirá, Frío and Negro, which drain into the Orinoco basin or into Lake Maracaibo. The Táchira River, which drains into Lake Maracaibo, forms part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela.