Patagonian Shelf Patagonian Shelf The Patagonian or Argentine Shelf is part of the South American continental shelf belonging to the Argentine Sea on the Atlantic seaboard, south of about 35°S. It adjoins the coasts of Uruguay, Argentina and the Falkland Islands. Various authorities quote different dimensions of the shelf, depending on how they define its limits. Quoted statistics cites its area as being from 1.2 to 2.7 million square kilometres and its maximum width as being between 760 and 850 kilometres. The shelf itself can be divided into a 100 km band where the seabed slopes at about then a wide plain
Patagonian Desert contributing to the gravel sediments covering parts of the Patagonian. The desert is quite windy as well, a result of the rain shadow effect and descending cool mountain air. This wind helps make the Patagonian one of the largest sources of dust over the South Atlantic Ocean. On the west the Patagonian grasslands portion of the Patagonian Desert are bounded by nothofagus forests of the Magellanic subpolar forests. Volcanic rocks covers more than 120,000 km of the Patagonian Desert, mainly in the "Somun Cura Massif" (i.e. North Patagonian Massif) and the "Deseado Massif". Some other volcanic areas include the Pali-Aike