The basin of the Claromeco Creek in Argentina

CARBONE, M ELIZABETH; PICCOLO, M CINTIA; PERILLO, GERARDO M. E.

Bahia Blanca

Congreso; 4th LOICZ Open Science Meeting,; 1999

LOICZ

The main objective of the present study is to analyse the characteristics of the Claromeco basin,which is located in the south-east of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It is a creek resultingfrom the confluence of three courses – Orellano Creek or 3rd branch in the west, Medio Creek or2nd branch in the centre, and Seco Creek or 1st branch in the east – that runs across a plain. Theaforementioned creeks have their source in the plain called “pampa de Juarez”. ClaromecoCreek presents a predominant N-S direction and after flowing 35 km it discharges into theArgentine Sea, to the west of Claromeco town. Topographic maps in 1:50,000; 100,000 and250,000 scales were used to define the main hydrological characteristics of the creeks. Satellitegeneratedmaps in 1:100,000 and 250,000 scales were utilised to update the informationregarding the use of the soil and the present state of the watercourses. The measurementmethods employed include: planimetry, weighing, greaseproof paper and a curvometer. Thebasin was defined following the direction of the slopes. Field research was undertaken in themiddle basin and in the area of the estuary. The basin of Claromeco Creek has an area of3,017.18 km2, its perimeter is 285km and the principal creek is 135 km long. Two differenttypes of drainage were identified: dendritic and anarchic.