noun
definition
A rugged range of mountains.
definition
The letter S in the ICAO spelling alphabet.
definition
A scombroid fish.
definition
A relatively low-quality grade of Spanish saffron.
Examples of sierras in a Sentence
The basins of the Parana and Paraguay are separated by low mountain ranges extending north from the sierras of Paraguay.
The apparently uniform level of the pampas is much broken along its southern margin by the Tandil and Ventana sierras, and by ranges of hills and low mountains in the southern and western parts of the territory of La Pampa.
Other small rivers rising in the Cordoba sierras are the Primero and Segundo, which flow into the lagoons of north-east Cordoba, and the Quinto, which flows south-easterly into the lagoons and morasses of southern Cordoba.
The Cordillera, which bounds them on the west, is formed of folded beds, while the Sierras which rise in their midst, consist mainly of gneiss, granite and schist.
In the western Sierras, which are more or less closely attached to the main chain of the Cordillera, Cambrian and Silurian fossils have been found at several places.
The Lower Tertiary consists largely of reddish sandstones resting upon the old rocks of the Cordillera and of the Sierras.
During the Tertiary period the great volcanoes of the Andes were formed, and there were smaller eruptions in the Sierras.
Besides the rivers mentioned, the chief streams are the Santa Lucia, which falls into the Plata a little west of Montevideo; the Queguay, in Paysandu; and the Cebollati, rising in the sierras in Minas and flowing into Lake Mirim.
None of the sierras or mountains in Uruguay exceeds (or perhaps even attains) a height of 2000 ft.; but, contrasting in their tawny colour with the grassy undulating plains, they loom high and are often picturesque.
Mining attracts much attention in the sierras, and its mineral deposits are rich.
A small part bordering the Venezuelan sierras is elevated and mountainous, but the greater part forms an immense alluvial plain, densely wooded, traversed by innumerable rivers, and subjected to extensive annual inundations.
When the Orinoco is reached its lower basin is contracted between the Guiana highlands and the northern sierras, and its tributaries begin to come in more nearly at right angles, showing that the margins of the actual valley are nearer and higher.
Some of the culminating points in these ranges are the Cerros Yaparana (7175 ft.) and Duida (8120 ft.) in the Parima sierras near the upper Orinoco, the Sierra de Maraguaca (8228 ft.), and the celebrated flat-topped Mt Roraima (8530 ft.) in the Pacaraima sierras on the boundary line with Brazil and British Guiana.
The Orinoco is supposed to have 436 tributaries, of which, among the largest, the Caroni-Paragua, Aro, Caura, Cuchivero, Suapure, Sipapo and Ventuari have their sources in the Guiana highlands; the Suata, Manapere and Guaritico in the northern sierras; and the Apure, Uricana, Arauca, Capanaparo, Meta, Vichada and Guaviare (the last three being Colombian rivers) in the llanos and Andes.
The Apure receives two large tributaries from the northern sierras - the Guarico and Portuguesa.
South of the sierras, however, the climate is much drier and hotter.
There are two general classes - the costenos or those of the coast, and the serranos or those of the sierras.
In the sierras they have the same general occupations, but there are no social bars to their advancement, and they become lawyers, physicians, priests, merchants, officials and capitalists.
Potatoes are grown everywhere in the sierras, and with quinua are the only crops that can be raised for human food above 13,000 ft.
There are good pastures in the sierras, and cattle have been successfully reared in some of the departments since the early years of Spanish occupation, chiefly in Ancachs, Cajamarca, Junin, Ayacucho, Puno, and some parts of Cuzco.
The labourers are commonly obtained from the Cholos, or Indian inhabitants of the sierras, who are accustomed to high altitudes, and are generally efficient and trustworthy.
The principal right-hand tributaries, besides the Gallo and Zezere, are the Jarama, descending from the tableland of New Castile a little below Aranjuez, the Alberche and the Tietar, which collect their head waters from opposite sides of the Sierra de Gredos, and the Alagon, from the rough and broken country between the Sierras de Gredos and Gata.
These sierras lying near the coast have an imposing appearance from the lowlands, but when seen from the plateau their general elevation is so dwarfed as to render them comparatively inconspicuous.
The lowland or tierra caliente region, which lies between the sierras and coast on both sides of Mexico, consists of a sandy zone of varying width along the shore-line, which is practically a tidewater plain broken by inland channels and lagoons, and a higher belt of land rising to an elevation of about 3000 ft.
The principal watershed is formed by the sierras of the state of Mexico, from which streams flow north-east to the Gulf of Mexico, northwest to the Pacific and south-west to the same coast below its great eastward curve.
Nearly all the Gulf coast rivers, however, are obstructed by bars owing to the quantity of silt brought down from the sierras and the prevailing winds and currents on the coast.
On the lower terraces of Michoacan are Patzcuaro and Cuitzeo lakes, and elsewhere among the sierras are numerous other small bodies of water.
In the sierras, above the tierras frias, which are not " cold lands " at all, are the colder climates of the temperate zone, suitable for cereals, grazing and forest industries, and, farther up, the isolated peaks which rise into the regions of snow and ice.
In general, the aspect of the great central plateau north of the Anahuac sierras is that of a dusty, treeless plain.
In the intermediate zones between the higher sierras and the tierras calientes the flora is very largely composed of species characteristic of the bordering hot and cold regions.
The lower slopes of the sierras, especially those of southern Mexico, are well forested and include an immense number of species.
On the southern slopes of the Ajusco and other sierras considerable forests of the " ahuehuete " or cypress (Taxodium distichum) are to be found.
The Otomis comprise a large number of tribes occupying the plateau north of the Anahuac sierras.
Large masses of the metal are also said to exist in the sierras of Lower California.
On the western side of the sierras the versant is short, and the streams, while very numerous, are consequently small and rapid; but on the eastern side a number of the rivers attain a very considerable development.
The first notable folding of the Sierras that has been definitely determined dates from this time, and many other mountains of the west were begun or rejuvenated.
The close of the period, too, saw the exclusion of the sea from the Pacific coast east of the Sierras, and the disappearance, so far as the United States is concerned, of the great north-western bay of the late Jurassic. Before the close of the period, the aridity which had obtained during the Permian, and at least a part of the Triassic, seems to have disappeared.
The Comanchean formations are found (I) on the inland border of the coastal plain of the Atlantic (Potomac series) and Gulf coasts (Tuscaloosa series at the east and Comanchean at the west); (2) along the western margin of the Great Plains and in the adjacent mountains; and (3) along the Pacific coast west of the Sierras.
In the United States, marine Shastan beds are restricted to the area west of the Sierras, but they here have great thickness.
On the Pacific coast the marine Eocene lies west of the Sierras, and between it and the Cretaceous there is a general, and often a great, unconformity.
It was common to those tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, in the south-west and upper Columbia; but unknown apparently among the Eskimo, along the northwest coast, and on the Pacific coast west of the Cascade range and the Sierras, except among some few Californian tribes, or here and there in Mexico and southward.
The southern division is one mass of rugged granitic sierras, interspersed, however, with sheltered and well-watered valleys, abounding with rich vegetation.
The Copiapo and Huasco have comparatively short courses, but they receive a considerable volume of water from the higher sierras.
In the valleys of the Copiapo and Huasco rivers a meagre vegetation is to be found near their channels, apart from what is produced by irrigation, but the surface of the plateau and the dry river channels below the sierras are completely barren.
Near the sierras where irrigation is possible, fruit-growing is so successful, especially the grape and fig, that the product is considered the best in Chile.
While the supply had been furnished by a private corporation, the city was in 1910 planning for the ownership of its water-system, the supply to be drawn from the Sierras at a cost of some $45,000,000.
The electric power and light are drawn from the Sierras, 140 m.
They are known as the Sierras de Chiquitos, and are geologically interesting because of their proximity to the eastern projection of the Andes.
Between the Chiquitos sierras and the Andes are the Llanos de Chiquitos, which have a higher general elevation and a more diversified surface.
The principal tributaries of the Guapay are the Mizque, Piray or Sara and Yapacani, the last rising on the east slopes of the Cordillera Real, flowing east by Cochabamba to the sierras of that name where it breaks through with a great bend to the north.