Ecuador: Geography#
| Location | Western South America, bordering the Pacific Ocean at the Equator, between Colombia and Peru |
|---|---|
| Geographic Coordinates | 2 00 S, 77 30 W -2.0,-77.5 |
| Area | total: 283,561 sq km land: 276,841 sq km water: 6,720 sq km note: includes Galapagos Islands We are unable to verify those figures from Factbook, since the 6 main sources we used for checking give different figures as follows: Factbook: 283561 DBpedia: 258237 Geoname: 283560 Infoplease: 283560 Britannica: 256370 Wolfram: 283561 Attempted Explanation: Please help us to try to explain the discrepancies by sending us helpful information to office nospam@TUGraz.at @global-geography.org |
| Land boundaries | total: 2,237 km border countries: Colombia 708 km, Peru 1,529 km |
| Coastline | 2,237 km |
| Elevation Extremes | lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Chimborazo 6,267 m note: due to the fact that the earth is not a perfect sphere and has an equatorial bulge, the highest point on the planet furthest from its center is Mount Chimborazo not Mount Everest, which is merely the highest peak above sea-level |
| Highest Mountains | Due to difference in mountain rankings taken from two data sources we are listing here both lists : According to Wolfram: Chimborazo 6267 m; Cotopaxi 5897 m; Cayambe 5786 m; Antisana 5753 m; El Altar 5320 m According to Geonames: Iliniza 5248 m; Carihuairazo 5018 m; Cotacachi 4944 m; Corazón 4790 m; Guagua Pichincha 4784 m Attempted Explanation: Please help us to try to explain the discrepancies by sending us helpful information to office nospam@TUGraz.at @global-geography.org Important Mountains |
| Terrain | coastal plain (costa), inter-Andean central highlands (sierra), and flat to rolling eastern jungle (oriente) |
| Natural Hazards | frequent earthquakes; landslides; volcanic activity; floods; periodic droughts volcanism: volcanic activity concentrated along the Andes Mountains; Sangay (elev. 5,230 m), which erupted in 2010, is mainland Ecuador's most active volcano; other historically active volcanoes in the Andes include Antisana, Cayambe, Chacana, Cotopaxi, Guagua Pichincha, Reventador, Sumaco, and Tungurahua; Fernandina (elev. 1,476 m), a shield volcano that last erupted in 2009, is the most active of the many Galapagos volcanoes; other historically active Galapagos volcanoes include Wolf, Sierra Negra, Cerro Azul, Pinta, Marchena, and Santiago |
| Natural Resource | petroleum, fish, timber, hydropower |
| Land Use | arable land: 4.51% permanent crops: 5.38% other: 90.11% (2011) |
| Climate | tropical along coast, becoming cooler inland at higher elevations; tropical in Amazonian jungle lowlands |
| Irrigated Land | 8,534 sq km (2003) |
| Renewable Water Resources | 424.4 cu km (2011) |
| Environment_CurrentIssues | deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; water pollution; pollution from oil production wastes in ecologically sensitive areas of the Amazon Basin and Galapagos Islands |
| Environment - international agreements | party to: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
| Large Cities | Guayaquil; Quito; Cuenca; Santo Domingo; Machala [Verified] Important Cities |
| Geography-note | Cotopaxi in Andes is highest active volcano in world |