The basins of the Mira and Mataje rivers, located in southwestern Colombia, northwestern Ecuador, are made up of a mosaic of natural landscapes that range from the cold volcanic peaks of the western and eastern mountain ranges of the Andes to the plains and lowlands of origin. Sedimentary bordering the Pacific Ocean. The relief has been shaped through the continuous deposit and erosion of material dragged by rivers that make up the water basins, leaving in evidence different layers witnesses of the geological processes (see more about the geology of the basins).

The soils of the binational basins of the Mira and Mataje rivers are varied, and their differences are the result of the interaction of aspects such as geology, dynamics in the surface movements of the earth, climate, slope, volcanism, action of plants and anthropic management of the resource, among others. For the description and classification of soils in Colombia and Ecuador, the World Reference Base for Soil Resources (WRB) system is mainly used, which constitutes a process of standardization of the nomenclature of the various types of soil. According to the reference nomenclature, within the basin there are 29 suborders grouped into 8 general orders (see more about the soils of the basins).

The waters of the basins of the Mira and Mataje rivers drain into the Pacific Ocean collecting them from the western slopes of the Cordillera Real and the slopes of the Occidental Mountain Range oriented towards the drainage of the Mira River. The Mira River basin has an approximate area of 10,782 km² between Ecuador and Colombia, while the Mataje river basin in the lower part has an approximate area of 345 km². Despite being considered in this study as a unit due to their proximity, the two basins belong to independent systems (see more about the hydrography of the basins).

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Last update: Tuesday February 18, 2025 15:15:56 -05