Aerial view of Maracaibo: landscapes, oil and mountains in the region

NASA. View from Earth. Lake Maracaibo region, Venezuela. Maracaibo, Venezuela's second most populous city with over 1.5 million inhabitants, is located along the western edge of the strait linking Tablazo Bay to the northern end of Lake Maracaibo. The short-flowing Palmar River and its delta are visible on the north-western side of Lake Maracaibo. The Gulf of Venezuela, represented by sediment eddies immediately north of Tablazo Bay, forms a natural waterway to the Caribbean Sea. Sandy beaches stretch along the southern margin of the Gulf of Venezuela. Most of the landscape around the Maracaibo region is classified as lowland. The darker, densely vegetated area, partially obscured by clouds to the west of Maracaibo, corresponds to the Perijá mountains, part of the northern extension of the Andes cordillera. These mountains, some of which rise to over 3050 metres above sea level, form part of the border between Venezuela and Colombia. The very thin line running along the north-western edge of the photograph appears to be a railway right-of-way running north-east-south-west across Colombia's Guajira peninsula. Since the early 1900s, oil production has been Maracaibo's main economic asset. Most of the oil comes from Lake Maracaibo and, to a lesser extent, from the Gulf of Venezuela. 1990. Vintage chromogenic print. Numbering in the margin on the front. Legend on back label. 40.6 x 40.6 cm with margins.