Arid Diagonal
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The Arid Diagonal (Spanish: diagonal árida/arreica) is a contiguous zone of arid and semi-arid climate that traverses South America from coastal Peru in the Northwest to Argentine Patagonia in the Southeast including large swathes of Bolivia and Chile.[1] The Arid Diagonal encompasses a number of deserts, for example: Sechura, Atacama, Monte and the Patagonian Desert.
The Arid Diagonal acts to isolate the temperate and subtropical forests of Chile and southern Argentina from other forests of South America.[2] Together with the Quaternary glaciations in the Southern Andes, the diagonal has controlled the distribution of vegetation throughout Chile and Argentina.[3]
The concept of a South American Arid Diagonal was first coined by French geographer Emmanuel de Martonne in his 1935 work Problème des régions arides Sud-Américaines.[4] However, few works dealing with the Arid Diagonal mention this foundational text.[4] The original Arid Diagonal of de Martonne went from Antofagasta in northern Chile to the northern coast of Argentine Patagonia.[4] however, other authors like Margarita González Loyarte (1995) later extended it to the coast of northern Peru.[4]