Hydrochemistry of Patagonian Wet Meadows (Mallines) Under Different Geological Frames

ALVAREZ MARÍA DEL PILAR; CAROL, E.; PASQUALE PEREZ M.P; VILLALBA E.

Environmental Assessment of Patagonia?s Water Resources

Springer Nature

Año: 2022; p. 179 - 194

Surface water resources of Extra-Andean Patagonia are scarce, being thelarge rivers that cross the entire territory from the Andean cordillera to the Atlanticcoast the main water supply for human activities. However, the large part of the areawithout permanent watercourses has small springs that give rise to wetlands knownas mallines (wet meadows), of great environmental relevance due to the ecosystemservices they provide. These wet meadows are sustained by groundwater, whichgives them great variations in hydrochemical characteristics. These variations resultfrom groundwater interaction with rocks and sediments through which it flows. Toreflect this variability, four areas with wetmeadows in different geological frames aredescribed within Extra-Andean Patagonia, distributed according to the major geogeomorphologicalregions: one sector in northern Patagonia, within the MountainSector of the Neuquén Embayment (Domuyo area); another in the coastal sector,associated with the Patagonian Tableland (Península Valdés), one on the center associatedwith the Somún Curá Massif (Carri Laufquen sector); and the fourth in southernsector, associated with the Deseado Massif