Estuaries of Argentina: a review

PICCOLO, MARIA CINTIA; PERILLO, GERARDO M. E.

Estuaries of South America: their geomorphology and dynamics.

Springer Verlag

Lugar: Berlín; Año: 1999; p. 101 - 132

Despite of its long and extended coastline (5700 km), the number of Argentine estuariesis relative small compared with other countries of comparable size. Mainly, thedifference strives in the climate and the hydrological regime that characterize thecountry. Whereas the climate in the NE of Argentina is hot and humid with mean annualprecipitation of 1950 mm and maximum of 2437 mm; the NW is relatively dryand hot. In the center of the country the climate is mild with average precipitation onthe order of 1 000 mm, and in the South is dry and cold with annual precipitation of300 mm or less.Based on the pluvial regime, Riggi (1944) defined a series of geohydrographic basins.According to him the rivers that flow into the Atlantic ocean can be classified as:a Parana-Uruguay River system,b rivers that flows along the South of Buenos Aires plains,c steppe basin of the Colorado River, andd the Andean-steppe rivers that flow across Patagonia.Each of these geohydrographic basins has its own physical characteristics but, whenthey are combined with the geomorphology and typical dynamics of the coast differenttypes of estuaries are generated.The regions with more precipitation are concentrated in the same river basin:Parana and Uruguay Rivers basins that discharge into the Rio de la Plata. Other examplesare the rivers that belong to the Salado basip that discharge in Samboromb6nBay (Fig. 6.1). These rivers flow in a region oflow slope and mature relief; thus resultingin a meandering pattern. River discharge is significant and prevents the penetrationof the saline water from the coastal ocean because it is opposed to a microtidalregime. Samborombon Bayis a shallow environment being greatly affected by the highsediment output from Rio de la Plata (Lopez Laborde and Nagy,this book; Framifianet al. 1998).Buenos Aires