Snowmelt contribution to the sustainability of the irrigated Mendoza’s Oasis, Argentina: an isotope study

Massone, Héctor; Martínez, David Luis La Red; Vich, Alberto Ismael Juan; Londoño, Orlando Mauricio Quiroz; Trombotto, Dario; Grondona, Sebastián

doi:10.1007/s12665-015-5141-9

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…These depleted values are due to the altitude effect. This effect has already been pointed out in the Mendoza northern basin by Panarello and Dapeña for the Mendoza and Tunuyán rivers and by Massone et al . for the Blanco River (a tributary of the Mendoza River).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 63%

Periglacial water paths within a rock glacier‐dominated catchment in the Stepanek area, Central Andes, Mendoza, Argentina

Liaudat

Sileo

Dapeña

2020

Permafrost & Periglacial

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In the region of the Stepanek rock glacier (69 19 0 /69 26 0 W, 32 55 0 /32 59 0 S), in the Province of Mendoza, Argentina, seasonal hydrochemical monitoring was carried out between 2013 and 2017. This paper describes underground and surface water flow, and their hydrochemistry, and provides an overview of how groundwater interacts with the rock glacier. The cryogenic basin of the study area where the hydrological flows originate has a surface area of 11.5 km 2 . The Stepanek rock glacier fills the valley and its permafrost influences water flow. Isotopic analyses of surface ephemeral streams and groundwater were made. Characteristic, naturally occurring δ 2 H and δ 18 O signatures of these samples indicate strongly that they are fed from within permafrost from the rock glacier, in response to the degradation of permafrost and melting of ground ice. Elevated values of Ni 2+ , Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ were detected in the meltwater runoff. Due to lithological factors, the Andean periglacial environment may indicate altitudinal differences in the hydrogeochemical results. Our hydrogeochemical research allows the interpretation of different water flows, directly observed or indirectly deduced, which cross the rock glacier. The new information allows for the development of a new conceptual rock glacier model that includes different flow paths. It is expected that this will become more important due to ongoing climate change.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 63%

Periglacial water paths within a rock glacier‐dominated catchment in the Stepanek area, Central Andes, Mendoza, Argentina

Liaudat

Sileo

Dapeña

2020

Permafrost & Periglacial

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“…The slopes are steep, and the peaks reach to more than 5,000 m asl; the elevations drop gradually to the north (Figure 1). The basin is drained by the Blanco River and its tributaries (Angostura and Vallecitos rivers), and the southern Alto Las Vegas sub-catchment is drained by the Mulas River (Drovandi et al, 2010;Massone et al, 2016) (Figure 1). The Blanco River, with a mean annual flow of 1 m 3 /s (Massone et al, 2016), has season variability due to snowmelt during late spring and summer.…”

Section: Setting Of the Blanco River Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Plata Rock Avalanche: Deciphering the Occurrence of This Huge Collapse in a Glacial Valley of the Central Andes (33° S)

Moreiras

2020

Front. Earth Sci.

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This paper reviews the genesis of a chaotic deposit in the Blanco River basin (BRB) in the Argentine Andes that has been interpreted to be either of debris flow or glacial origin. A detailed sedimentological and geomorphic study of the deposit was undertaken to determine its origin. Glacial landforms in the source area of the deposit contrast markedly to those in neighboring valleys of the BRB. The lack of moraines and the presence only of rock glaciers in the headwaters of the Angostura Valley suggest that a glacier might have been destroyed by a rock avalanche in the Late Pleistocene. The deposit itself has the characteristics of rapid deposition by a huge (≤10 5 m 3) rock avalanche sourced on the eastern slope of Mount Plata (5,956 m asl). The rock avalanche traveled a distance of 26.6 km and descended 4,700 m in altitude. The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages on alluvial sediments associated with the landslide deposits suggest that the rock avalanche occurred ∼35-39 ka ago. The rock avalanche may have been triggered by an earthquake, given that the active Carrera fault system extends across the basin and there is a cluster of seven Late Pleistocene rock avalanches in the region.

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“…Large artificial oases are located in the region, with vineyards, olives, and fruit trees being the main crops (Contreras et al, 2011). A large fraction of the water used for irrigation is generated through snowmelt (Massone et al, 2016), with a future contribution that will be determined by the projected increases in temperature and decreases in snow amount. Moreover, the projected changes in precipitation over the Western Lowlands have large uncertainty in their sign (Figure 3), making more complicated the quantification of future water availability for agricultural purposes.…”

Section: Evaluation Of Ipsl-cm6a-lr Model Performance: 1981-2010mentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Resources Change in Central-Western Argentina Under the Paris Agreement Warming Targets

2020

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This study documents the projected changes in several components (precipitation, runoff, snow cover and depth, soil moisture) of the hydrological cycle in Central-Western Argentina (CWA) based on the simulations from the IPSL-CM6A-LR model for the warming levels proposed in the Paris Agreement. These warming levels represent the future increase in mean annual temperature of 1.5 and 2°C compared to pre-industrial conditions. A novel regional approach, that uses a set of low-emissions shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP) compatible with the Paris Agreement goals, has been applied here for the evaluation of the potential impacts of temperature increase in both the mountainous areas of the Andes and the lowlands on the eastern portion of CWA. Our results show that the timing of reaching the 1.5°C warming level would be between 2032 and 2036 in the CWA lowlands east of the Andes, while this warming level in the Andes mountains of CWA would be 10–15 years earlier as result of the stronger warming with elevation. The higher 2°C warming level would be reached before 2050 in the Andes mountains. Even using the more aggressive mitigation pathways available in the scientific literature (SSP1-1.9 and SSP1-2.6), the IPSL-CM6A-LR model ensemble shows a robust drying signal in the wintertime precipitation over the Andes mountains, which is a concerning result because it implies a reduction of the already scarce water resources draining to the adjacent semi-arid foothills. Our results also show that this drying should be linked to the poleward expansion of the Hadley Circulation. In the lowlands farther east from the Andes, the summertime monsoonal precipitation provides the water resources that are projected to increase under the selected emissions pathways. The expected changes in the analyzed components of the hydrological cycle would be strengthened under the 2°C warming level, particularly the decline of snow amount and surface runoff in the Andes. The results of this study provide insights into the expected impacts of the 1.5 and 2°C warming levels in the CWA regional water resources, which may set the stage for the new discussions of possible options to mitigate them at country and regional levels.

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Snowmelt contribution to the sustainability of the irrigated Mendoza’s Oasis, Argentina: an isotope study

Cited by 12 publications

References 20 publications

Periglacial water paths within a rock glacier‐dominated catchment in the Stepanek area, Central Andes, Mendoza, Argentina

Periglacial water paths within a rock glacier‐dominated catchment in the Stepanek area, Central Andes, Mendoza, Argentina

The Plata Rock Avalanche: Deciphering the Occurrence of This Huge Collapse in a Glacial Valley of the Central Andes (33° S)

Water Resources Change in Central-Western Argentina Under the Paris Agreement Warming Targets

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