Geography of the Bahía Blanca Estuary

WALTER DANIEL MELO

The Bahía Blanca Estuary Ecology and Biodiversity

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2021; p. 17 - 40

The Bahía Blanca Estuary is an environmental complex that wasshaped during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. The fluvial dischargealong a series of axes lined up of depressions areas, between theColorado River and the Principal Channel, developed the initial stagesof the estuarial formation. Regarding island morphology, two differentzones can be distinguished. North of the Bahía Falsa Channel,mudflats of considerable extension cover most of the estuarine area,and plentiful isles of variable sizes form disaggregated clusters. Southof the Bahía Falsa Channel, single larger isles conform geomorphicunits instead of groups. The higher elevations and sandy soils allowthe formation of sand dunes and sand flats. The Puerto Rosales area islocated in the transition between tide- and wave-dominated systems.Since Bahía Blanca City was founded in 1828 until the present, theurban, industrial, and port activities were carried out only along thenorth coast of the Principal Channel, between Puerto Cuatreros andPuerto Rosales, which has allowed the development of a complex portsystem. The space organization is managed in three provincialdistricts, with different economy and land uses?rural use in Villarino,industrial and port activities in Bahía Blanca, and oil port and defensein Coronel Rosales.