Editing Geography of Uruguay (section)

==Topography and hydrography==
[[File:Uruguay fisico.png|thumb|Uruguay]]
Most of Uruguay is a rolling plain that represents a transition from the almost featureless Argentine pampas to the hilly uplands of southern Brazil.<ref name=":0" /> The country itself has flat plains on its eastern, southern, and western edges.<ref name=":0" /> The narrow Atlantic coastal plain is sandy and marshy, occasionally broken by shallow lagoons.<ref name=":0" /> The littorals of the Río de la Plata and the Río Uruguay are somewhat broader and merge more gradually into the hilly interior.<ref name=":0" />

The remaining three-quarters of the country is a rolling plateau marked by ranges of low hills that become more prominent in the north as they merge into the highlands of southern Brazil.<ref name=":0" /> Even these hilly areas are remarkably featureless, however, and elevations seldom exceed 200 meters.<ref name=":0" /> The highest point, the [[Cerro Catedral (Uruguay)|Cerro Catedral]] (513 m), is located in the southeast of the country in the [[Cuchilla Grande]] mountain range.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Suárez |first=Rafael |date=2015-01-01 |title=The Paleoamerican Occupation of the Plains of Uruguay: Technology, Adaptations, and Mobility |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/2055556314Z.00000000010 |journal=PaleoAmerica |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=88–104 |doi=10.1179/2055556314Z.00000000010 |s2cid=128985617 |issn=2055-5563}}</ref>

Uruguay is a water-rich land.<ref name=":0" /> Prominent bodies of water mark its limits on the east, south, and west, and even most of the boundary with Brazil follows small rivers.<ref name=":0" /> Lakes and lagoons are numerous, and a high water table makes digging wells easy.<ref name=":0" />

Three systems of rivers drain the land: rivers flow westward to the [[Río Uruguay]], eastward to the Atlantic or tidal lagoons bordering the ocean, and south to the Río de la Plata.<ref name=":0" /> The Río Uruguay, which forms the border with Argentina, is flanked by low banks, and disastrous floods sometimes inundate large areas.<ref name=":0" /> The longest and most important of the rivers draining westward is the [[Río Negro (Uruguay)|Río Negro]], which crosses the entire country from northeast to west before emptying into the Río Uruguay.<ref name=":0" /> A dam on the Río Negro at Paso de los Toros has created a reservoir—the Embalse del Río Negro—that is the largest artificial lake in South America.<ref name=":0" /> The Río Negro's principal tributary and the country's second most important river is the [[Yí River]].<ref name=":0" />

The rivers flowing east to the Atlantic are generally shallower and have more variable flow than the other rivers.<ref name=":0" /> Many empty into lagoons in the coastal plain.<ref name=":0" /> The largest coastal lagoon, [[Laguna Merín]], forms part of the border with Brazil.<ref name=":0" /> Six smaller lagoons, some freshwater and some brackish, line the coast farther south.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Uruguay T2.png|300px|thumb|right|A satellite image of Uruguay]]
[[File:Uruguay rel 95.jpg|300px|thumb|Shaded relief map of Uruguay]]
[[File:Uruguay pol 95.jpg|300px|thumb|Political map of Uruguay]]