March 16th, 2010
Category: Lakes, Rivers
Argentina - February 25th, 2010
Several artificial reservoirs created by dams on the Limay River lie across this image of Argentina’s Neuquén Province: (from lower left to upper right) the Piedra del Águila Reservoir, the Ezequiel Ramos Mejía Reservoir and the Los Barreales Reservoir.
The Piedra del Águila Dam, is the second of five dams on the Limay River in northwestern Argentine Patagonia (the Comahue region). It is situated at 590 m above mean sea level, downstream from the confluence of the Limay and the Collón Curá River.
The dam, inaugurated in 1993, is used for the generation of hydroelectricity and the regulation of the flow of the river. Its reservoir has an area of 305 km², a mean depth of 41.3 m (maximum 120 m), and a volume of 1.26×1010 m³.
Moving to the northeast, the El Chocón Dam is the fourth of five dams on the Limay River, at 381 m above mean sea level. While the formal name of the project is Embalse Ezequiel Ramos Mexía, in common use it ended up acquiring the name of the settlement that served as the construction’s base of operations, Villa El Chocón.
El Chocón is part of a larger engineering scheme that also includes the Cerros Colorados Complex, on the Neuquén River. Los Barreales Reservoir is part of that complex, situated in a natural depression in Patagonia that was converted into a lake upon receiving the diverted waters of the Neuquén River.
Tags: Argentina Cerros Colorados Complex Collón Curá River El Chocón Dam Ezequiel Ramos Mejía Reservoir Limay River Los Barreales Reservoir Neuquén Neuquén River Patagonia Piedra del Águila Dam Piedra del Águila Reservoir South America | Comments
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