Pampas

views updated May 23 2018

Pampas Large, treeless plains in s South America, situated mostly in Argentina. The humid pampas is extremely fertile; dairy farming is practised and cereals are grown. The larger dry pampas to the w, which includes the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba, supports mainly livestock grazing.

pampas

views updated May 21 2018

pampas A temperate South American grassland, the largest continuous area being in the eastern Argentinian province of Buenos Aires, together with parts of the adjacent provinces. Much of the moister sector of the pampas is now cultivated, but formerly it was covered by bunch grasses, in between the individual tussocks of which the soil lay bare. To the west and south-west drier conditions prevail, and here the pampas comprises a mixture of short grasses and xerophytic shrubs.

pampas

views updated Jun 11 2018

pampas A temperate S. American grassland, the largest continuous area being in the eastern Argentinian province of Buenos Aires, together with parts of the adjacent provinces. Much of the moister sector of the pampas is now cultivated, but formerly it was covered by bunch grasses, in between the individual tussocks of which the soil lay bare. To the west and south-west drier conditions prevail, and here the pampas comprises a mixture of short grasses and xerophytic shrubs.

pampas

views updated May 23 2018

pam·pas / ˈpampəz; -pəs/ • n. [treated as sing. or pl.] extensive, treeless plains in South America.