Monitoring of Mountain Permafrost in the Central Andes, Argentina

DARIO TROMBOTTO; ENRIQUE BUK; JOSÉ HERNÁNDEZ

Permafrost and Periglacial Processes

John Wiley & Sons

Lugar: Chichester, West Sussex, UK.; Año: 1997 p. 123 - 129

Sixty per cent of the Río Blanco basin (54 km2), located between 32° 54’ and 33° 01’ S and between 69° 27’ and 69° 15’ W, in the Cordón del Plata, Frontal Cordillera, can be considered to be periglacial. The most important forms in the area are rock glaciers, two of which, Morenas Coloradas and El Salto, are active down to 3400 and 3600 m ASL respectively. The rock glaciers are not in equilibrium with the present climate since the mean annual air temperature is 1.6 °C at 3560 m ASL and the 0 °C air isotherm is calculated to be at 3860 m ASL. A third landforms is the cryoplanation surface Lagunita del Plata which, at an elevation of approximately 4000 m ASL, has a mean annual temperature of –2 °C and contains bodies of insular permafrost.