Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana Volumen 66, núm. 2, 2014, p. 235-245 http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2014v66n2a2

Caracterización morfométrica de la Cuenca del río Seco a propósito de las fuertes precipitaciones de enero de 2013, Departamento Sarmiento, San Juan, Argentina

María Yanina Esper Angillieri¹, Laura P. Perucca¹

¹ CONICET- Gabinete de Neotectónica y Geomorfología, INGEO. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de San Juan. Av. José I. de la Roza y Meglioli. Rivadavia. San Juan (5400).

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Abstract

In this paper we evaluate hydrological aspects of the Seco River basin and the relationship with damages that occurred in the town of Los Berros, south of the city of San Juan, in the Sarmiento department, during the torrential rains of January 2013. One of the main geological hazards that affect the Sarmiento department is flash floods, produced by heavy seasonal rains, characterized by their high velocities and destructive power

Several morphometric characteristics of the basin are analyzed and some basic parameters (area, perimeter, length, altitude and slope of the main channel, etc.) are calculated. These calculations are the basis for roughly predicting the behavior of the basin in the presence of torrential rainfall, resulting in large volumes of water with peak flows capable of generating significant floods. On the basis of the January 2013 rainfall (84 mm/h), the estimated peak flows demonstrated the basin behavior, which during the exceptional rainfalls becomes a potentially dangerous area with high levels of destruction.

Furthermore, a description is included of the landforms identified in the drainage basin, whose axes are the eastern piedmont of the Loma Redonda and the cerro Pedernal de Los Berros. The study allowed explanation of the relief features of the region and recognition of several geomorphological units generated by various geomorphic processes that have determined the complex nature of the regional landscape.

Keywords: Morphometry, Seco river basin, peak discharges, Los Berros, Argentina.