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Literal y letra

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

zona de tendencia desertica

English translation:

desert climate areas

Added to glossary by Marie Wilson
Apr 19, 2017 08:46
7 yrs ago
1 viewer *
Spanish term

zona de tendencia desertica

Spanish to English Science Geography geographical zones of Chile
This seems to be a standard term in Chilean geography/ecology, which I think must have an English equivalent, but I can't find it. Here is the sentence:

"El área de estudio se enmarca dentro del desierto de Atacama, el más árido del mundo, y se caracteriza por presentar dos zonas de tendencia desértica, que se subdividen en región desértica litoral y región desértica interior."

I am doing all the googling etc., but if you know the answer, please share. :-) Thanks!
Proposed translations (English)
3 desert climate areas
3 +2 desert-prone/desertified area
2 +2 desertification area
4 largely desert area
4 area/region tending to become desertified
2 desertlike area
2 semi-arid region
Change log

May 13, 2017 09:01: Marie Wilson Created KOG entry

Discussion

Muriel Vasconcellos Apr 19, 2017:
-prone I think of 'prone' being associated with an animate creature. I've never seen it in a geological context. Geological formations are acted upon passively. It's a subtle distinction, but meaningful to me.

See this definition:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/prone
having a natural inclination or tendency to something; disposed; liable:
to be prone to anger.
Carol Gullidge Apr 19, 2017:
agree with Marie it seems to me that it is talking about two areas that are mostly/generally characterised as desert.
Not surprising perhaps as - according to the context - they actually form part of the driest desert in the world - which means that anything with "tendency/prone" could sound somewhat odd.
Marie Wilson Apr 19, 2017:
The links you post mention "zona de tendencia tropical" too, so you need something that makes sense in that context also. For me it just seems like a complicated way of saying desert and tropical zones/climates or however you want to say it.
Toni Castano Apr 19, 2017:
True, but in Chile (as per your reference) I must apologize. I am Spanish and obviously speak and use European Spanish. What in Chile or somewhere else in SA might be perfectly okay, it does sound weird in Spain, at least this is my subjective perception.
Barbara Kremeyer (asker) Apr 19, 2017:
It does sound odd at first, but it is actually a thing:

https://tinyurl.com/lc5mhao
https://tinyurl.com/l2jqkz5

So I think they know what they're saying but it is not easy to translate! Maybe the Spanish term needs to be included in italics or similar, to make proper reference to this geography term? What do people think?
Toni Castano Apr 19, 2017:
"Tendencia a la desertificación" "Tendencia desértica" sounds very odd in Spanish. It is a comprehensible wording though, but I assume what the author is actually trying to say is that those two areas, which are IN the Atacama desert (= dentro de), not outside, are becoming drier and drier, thus being subject to a desertification process.
Dominic Islip Apr 19, 2017:
desert like characteristics desert-prone is good, but from what you are saying it is more about the character of the terrain.
Barbara Kremeyer (asker) Apr 19, 2017:
In response to Albion Land, I agree the original sentence is odd, and I am not entirely sure what they mean. From further context, I think that the study area must simply be close to the Atacama, but not formally inside it. So they then go on to say that there are further desertlike areas in the study area itself. "Zona de tendencia desertica" is a standard term used to describe a defined type of ecogeographical system, and all suggestions are good - I am looking to see whether there is a standard term for this in English.
Muriel Vasconcellos Apr 19, 2017:
-ification 'desertification' says it all.

Merriam Webster:
fy = 'make, form into'
-ation = 'action or process'

Proposed translations

3 hrs
Selected

desert climate areas

This is another possibility. I think it's just a way of saying desert climates, to differentiate from tropical climates. The desert climates in Chile are coastal deserts and continental deserts. Desert and tropical climates:

What Are the Four Climate Regions of the Andes? | Sciencing
sciencing.com/four-climate-regions-andes-7198339.html
... region of the Andes Mountains, and comparable areas classified as **desert climates** ... The humid middle latitude climate (C) zone of Chile, South America's long, ... the base of the Andes is further classified as wet-dry tropical climates (Aw) or

"1ª. Zona árida con predominio de vegetación xerófita,
herbácea y de suculentas. Se encuentra ubicada entre
los 17° 30' y los 27° S, en las regiones I, II, III,
las que se pueden subdividir en dos subunidades: de
tendencia desértica y de tendencia tropical.
· Zona de tendencia desértica: Tiene una
aridez imperante en todo el territorio "
http://html.rincondelvago.com/chile_7.html

"The Desert climate (in the Köppen climate classification BWh and BWk, sometimes also BWn), also known as an arid climate, is a climate that does not meet the criteria to be classified as a polar climate, and in which precipitation is too low to sustain any vegetation at all, or at most a very scanty shrub"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_climate

"Norte Grande Macroregion: occurrence of B and E cli-
mates (arid and polar, the latter due to the elevation of
the Andes which is over 3000 m above sea level) with
no occurrence of the C (temperate) climates. The
region is occupied by a higher proportion of arid or
B climates (75%), specifically the desert climates
(BW) typical of the Atacama Desert"
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17445647.2016.125...

Which country is more climatically diverse: Chile or Russia ...
www.city-data.com › City-Data Forum › General Forums › Weather
Chile mainly has desert climates in the north and oceanic climates in the south. Russia has subtropical, continental, subarctic, and arctic/polar ...

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Note added at 3 hrs (2017-04-19 12:10:10 GMT)
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The expression is also used in this sense, "zona de tendencia tropical", so a term is needed that can be used in both examples, "zona de tendencia tropical/desértica".
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "This seems closest to what is meant in this specific context, thanks."
+2
9 mins

desertification area

Suggestion. Low degree of confidence because this is not one of my areas of expertise.

Atacama Desert in northern Peru is known as the "very dry", once from 1845 to 1936 for 91 consecutive years, drops of rain did not record. South American temperate desert in South Argentina, namely Patagonia plateau, its formation is mainly because in the Andean foothills of Shandong westerly leeward rain shadow. The above is a major world desertification area.

https://www.google.pt/search?q="desertification areas"&oq="d...
Example sentence:

The coastal area of Atacama is undergoing a desertification process due to

Peer comment(s):
agree Muriel Vasconcellos
28 mins
Thank you, Muriel!
agree Toni Castano : Since "desertification" is itself a process, I think your option properly reflects what the poor original is trying to express.
3 hrs
Thank you, Toni!
Something went wrong...
+2
11 mins

desert-prone/desertified area

Plant Ecophysiology - Page 146 - Google Books Result
https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=0471131571
M. N. V. Prasad - 1997 - ‎Nature
global climatic change that leads to a more variable or extreme climate, increasing ... Field projects to protect desert-prone/desertified areas against spreading of ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 mins (2017-04-19 08:58:32 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

38% of World's Land in Danger of Turning into Desert : TreeHugger
www.treehugger.com › Science › Natural Sciences
10 Feb 2010 - The term describes the process where land in drier areas. ... rerouting of water from its natural sources to population centers, and yes, warming climate. And a ... According to SD, the 8 areas most prone to turn into desert are:.
Peer comment(s):
agree Cornelius Gillen : ... prone to desertification
15 mins
agree Hernan Casasbuenas : Podría considerarse drough prone. pués se trata de zonas con tendencia a y que no son deserticas
5 hrs
neutral philgoddard : This seems to be two different answers. Desert-prone means it's sometimes desert, which is not the case - it always is. Desertified implies that it was less arid until relatively recently.
6 hrs
Something went wrong...
30 mins

desertlike area

The original construction is odd because it is discussing the Atacama desert but then seems to refer to areas within it that have a tendency toward desertification. Lacking any further context, one might imagine the reference is to areas that have not become totally desert.
Example sentence:

There had been so little rain there in recent years, that the area had become desertlike.

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7 hrs

largely desert area

I think the sentence is repetitive, and wordy even by Spanish standards. It uses variations on the word "desert" four times in one sentence. But I also think the meaning is clear, and "de tendencia desértica" means "largely desert".

Funnily enough, my brother was there a couple of weeks ago, and posted some pictures of surprisingly lush landscapes. It is indeed the driest region in the world, but it also has rivers running through it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rivers_of_the_Atacama_R...

Also, it very occasionally gets rainfall as a result of El Niño:
http://www.dogonews.com/2015/11/16/el-nino-transforms-worlds...


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Note added at 7 hrs (2017-04-19 16:08:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To avoid all that repetition, you could say:

"The study is being/was carried out in the Atacama, the most arid area in the world. It consists of two largely desert regions, one coastal and one inland."
Something went wrong...
10 hrs

area/region tending to become desertified

I do think formulation this covers the objections raised.
Something went wrong...
11 hrs

semi-arid region

Two cpDNA regions were sequenced for 130 individuals in 15 populations of these two closely related species, covering their entire distribution range (1000 km) along the arid to semi-arid Chilean coast.
https://repositorio.uc.cl/bitstream/handle/11534/12983/Phylo...
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