NASA Photo ID: STS055-152-153      File Name: 10073200.jpg
  Film Type: 4x5                     Date Taken: 05/06/93
  Title: STS-55 Earth observation of agricultural development in northern Argentina
  Description:
  STS-55 Earth observation taken aboard Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102,
  is  of agricultural development in northern Argentina. This photograph is
  from a  mapping strip of photographs acquired by the STS-55 crew. This
  mapping strip  runs from the "eyelash forests" of the Bolivian Andes,
  southeast across the  Chaco Plains, and into the upper Parana River Basin
  of north-central  Argentina. The formerly densely forested areas between
  the upper Rio  Pilcomayo and the Rio Teuco of NW Argentina rest on deep,
  rich alluvial and  loess deposits. These modern soils were carried into the
  region by rivers  from the Andes and by dust storms from large playa areas
  of the Altiplano  (high plains) of Peru and Boliva. In this scene,
  representative of the long  mapping strip, the process of converting
  forests to agriculture is far  advanced. The original road network, a
  series of grids laid out in the  forest, has nearly coalesced into a farm
  and ranch landscape. Some few relict  forests are still visible as distinct
  units and along road and field edges.  Some of the smoke plumes in this
  scene are from continuing conversion of  forests. Others are biomass burns
  along the edges of swamps in the Rio  Pilcomayo Basin. Of particular
  interest in this scene are the newest  agricultural colonization grids,
  which are seen as markedly bright areas of  yellow-brown soil.  In the
  rapidly changing landscape of the tropics, such  documentation of
  environmental change as provided by this photograph is  important to update
  maps and warn of developing ecological problems. The  center point of the
  photograph is about 23.2 South, 62 West.