Hydrologic Study of Mar Chiquita System, R. Argentina

A RODRIGUEZ; CAAMAÑO NELLI G; G HILLMAN; M PAGOT; I BERNASCONI; J WEBER; S MENAJOVSKY

Beijing

Congreso; XXIX IAHR World Congress; 2001

IAHR

The hydrological system of Mar Chiquita and the Wetlands of Dulce River is a uniqueecosystem in the Latin-American region. It is constituted by the biggest salt lake of SouthAmerica - Mar Chiquita or Mar de Ansenusa - and Wetlands of Dulce River ? with an extensionof around 10,000 km². This system is complex and its hydrologic knowledge is still insufficient.A wide quantity of hydro-meteorological information have been gathered, previously depuratedand used to simulate Mar Chiquita evolution during a period of thirty years between 1967 and1997. It has been used a model of hydrologic balance specifically developed for the study of thelake conduct before hypothetical flow extractions in the main tributary. This model has beenused with six months and annual intervals, involving recent details such as taking into accountthe variability of the losses (evaporation y evapotranspiration) in function of the salinity,considering separately the lake and the wetlands, and the precipitation contributions by the levelsof the lake. The analysis of the results shows the importance of the regimen of Dulce River as themain tributary and the effective evaporation. The impact in the lake of flows extractionsupstream and the natural flow reduction of the Dulce River through the wetlands have beenmodelled.