The water resource associated with lakes in the Central Andes of Argentina (31°-36° S)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48162/rev.40.008Keywords:
lakes origin, lake inventory, mountain lakes, high mountains,, natural damsAbstract
Lakes are valuable natural resources since they can be used as freshwater reserves and tourist attractions while allowing the development of natural high-altitude ecosystems. In the context of Global Climate Change, an increase in the number,
size, and volume of these lakes is expected due to glacier melting. Many lake inventories have been done in the world in order to know the evolution of these water bodies, although they were mostly done from a hazard approach. This study aimed to identify, inventory, and classify existing lakes in the Central Andes of Argentina (31 – 36º S) according to their damming process and quantify their volume to evaluate the existing water reserve. For this purpose, we processed Landsat satellite images from the year 2020 in a GIS environment. Lakes were identified utilizing the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and visual interpretation,
and we digitalized them with a manual approach. Volume estimation was done using area-volume empiric relations. Our results reveal a total of 641 lakes whose total volume has been estimated at 1,345.6 hm3. This water resource preserved in the
high mountain is not exclusively related to glacier lakes. Different types of water bodies prevail in each region according to their inner characteristics. Thus, morainedammed lakes and landslide-dammed lakes are more critical in terms of volume contribution between 31º - 32º S, while at ~33º S, small glacial lakes linked to thermokarst facies over debris-covered glaciers prevail. At ~34º S, the Laguna del Diamante lake represents more than four-fifths of the total volume estimated; while between 34º to 36º S water bodies seem to be forced by geology, presenting a wider lake’s type diversity and significant volumes.
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