Pampean Wetlands

DOFFO, NELSO; DEGIOVANNI, SUSANA; SANTINELLI, MARÍA; ECHEVARRIA, KARINA; ANDREAZZINI, JIMENA; BENITO, EUGENIA

Pampean Lakes

Springer

Año: 2024;

ACEPTADO.The main Pampean wetlands of Southern Córdoba province have three kinds of origins such as tectonic depressions with overlapping fluvial and eolian processes, fluvial paleobelts and finally, deflation hollows. For this reason, the wetlands develop shallow lakes, overflow fans, floodplains and deltaic forms. Hydrologically, they are linked to surface and groundwater systems, whose preferential recharge zone is located in the Eastern Pampean Ranges. The wetlands located in the upper basins, particularly in the piedmont and in the plains, are characterized by low salinity waters (~0.02-0.05 g/L), while other wetlands developed in middle basins have salinity ~1 g/L. Finally, the wetlands located in discharge zones (surface and groundwater) of the depressed plain of eastern Córdoba have salinity between 1 and 19 g/L. Three discharge wetlands (Saladillo, Tigre Muerto and La Amarga) were characterized, considering aspects such as natural morpho-hydro-sedimentological dynamics (seasonality) and, on the other hand, anthropic forcings direct (dams, channelizations, transfers, drainage) as well as indirect (changes in land use, deforestation). To sum up, anthropogenic changes in the wetlands of southern Córdoba, since the beginning of the 20th century, produced a considerable reduction in their surface area and transformed their natural function from water and sediments receptors to transit of hydric excesses.