page_title: Paraguana xeric scrub
section_title: Terrain
hierarchical_section_title: Paraguana xeric scrub / Geography / Terrain
caption_attribution_description: Español: Estado Falcón
context_page_description: The Paraguana xeric scrub is an ecoregion in Venezuela to the north and east of Lake Maracaibo along the Caribbean coast.
  The region holds flora and fauna adapted to the very dry conditions of the coastal dunes and inland areas of bush, scrub, briars and cacti.
  There are several endangered species of animals and birds.
  Efforts at protecting the environment have been ineffective.
  Most of the original trees have been cut down, dunes are being destabilized by loss of vegetation, scrub is replaced by farmland and vegetation is destroyed by grazing goats.
context_section_description: The ecosystem includes the valleys of the Lara–Falcón depression in the coastal plains north of the foothills of the Venezuelan Andes, and the Paraguaná Peninsula.
  In the Pliocene epoch the peninsula was an island
  Paraguana has four marine terraces at 6 metres (20 ft), 15–20 metres (49–66 ft), 40–50 metres (130–160 ft) and 80 metres (260 ft) surrounding the Cerro Santa Ana inselberg.
  The 830 metres (2,720 ft) Cerro Santa Ana is the highest point in the hills of the center of the former island.
  The long, narrow and low Médanos Isthmus that joins Paraguana to the mainland was formed about 3,000 years ago by tectonic uplift.
  A 32 kilometres (20 mi) long ledge of exposed beach rock protects the eastern shore from strong wave action.
  The shoreline mainly consists of sandy or sand and silt beaches, with murky waters.
  Dunes have formed recently from sand that continues to arrive from the Gulf of Venezuela.
  The valleys of the Lara–Falcón depression contains ancient Quaternary rocks and recent sediments, and include plains and hills between the Andes and the Venezuelan Coastal Range.
  The soils are high in salt, mainly calcite.
  Soils are sandy along the coast and sandy with clay content further inland.
  The soils are all low in organic matter and phosphorus, and have pH close to neutral.
  The Paraguaná peninsula has only intermittent streams.
  On the mainland the Mitare River divides into the Pedregal and Paraíso rivers, which empty into the gulf of Coro. 
  The Tocuyo River, which crosses the Lara–Falcón dry forest ecoregion, is formed by the confluence of the Morere, Barigua and Bucares rivers.
  It empties into the Caribbean near the Triste Gulf. 
  The Turbio River is the largest in the Lara Falcón depression.
caption: Cerro Santa Ana on Paraguana
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