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Spatial Distribution of Lakes in the Central Andes (31°–36°), Argentina: Implications for Outburst Flood Hazard

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Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk (WLF 2020)

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Abstract

This paper presents an inventory of lakes in the Central Andes region (31°–36° S) of Argentina by using high resolution satellite images. Lakes were classified according to the damming processes or associated landforms. Statistical analysis of main lakes attributes was carried out showing that larger lakes are associated with volcanic and karstic landforms, while smaller ones correspond to thermokarst supraglacial lakes. Lake distribution is forced by the regional topography being mainly located in the periglacial and glacial environment (above the 3730 m a.s.l.). Moreover, latitudinal distribution of different types of lakes differs. Larger water bodies in the Argentinean Central Andes are landslides dammed except to the 34°–35° S volcanic region. These findings set the first step in hazard analysis and highlight the need for carrying out further research to assess outburst flood hazard in the Arid Central Andes of Argentina.

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Acknowledgements

This research is part of the PhD thesis of M. Correas Gonzalez who is granted by CONICET. Funding research was get from the ANLAC Program of the University of Cuyo leaded by Moreiras.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA). CONICET, Avda. Ruiz Leal s/n. Parque General San Martín, 5500, Mendoza, Argentina

    Mariana Correas-Gonzalez & Stella Maris Moreiras

  2. Departamento de Agrícola Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Almirante, Brown 500, M5528AHB Chacras de Coria-Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

    Stella Maris Moreiras

  3. Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, The Czech Academy of Sciences, V Holesovickach 41 182 09, Prague 8, Czech Republic

    Jan Klimeš

Authors
  1. Mariana Correas-Gonzalez
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  2. Stella Maris Moreiras
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  3. Jan Klimeš
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stella Maris Moreiras .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Geography and Geoecology Faculty of Science, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

    Vít Vilímek

  2. College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

    Fawu Wang

  3. Geodynamics Research Center LLC, Moscow, Russia

    Alexander Strom

  4. International Consortium on Landslides, Kyoto, Japan

    Kyoji Sassa

  5. Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

  6. Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability (Shishu-kan), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Kaoru Takara

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Correas-Gonzalez, M., Moreiras, S.M., Klimeš, J. (2021). Spatial Distribution of Lakes in the Central Andes (31°–36°), Argentina: Implications for Outburst Flood Hazard. In: Vilímek, V., Wang, F., Strom, A., Sassa, K., Bobrowsky, P.T., Takara, K. (eds) Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk. WLF 2020. ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60319-9_9

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