Malargüe () is a city in the southwest part of

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

of Mendoza, Argentina, about 370 km south of the provincial capital Mendoza. It is the head town of the

Malargüe Department Malargüe is a Departments of Argentina, department located in the south west of Mendoza Province in Argentina. Its borders are San Rafael Department, San Rafael in the north, La Pampa Province in the east, Neuquén Province in the south and Chil ...

, and it has about 27,000 inhabitants as per the .

Overview

The city is located in a semi-arid area. Agriculture is focused on the production of

seed potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unite ...

, along with minor crops such as alfalfa,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the oni ...

and

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northe ...

. In the past, the local industries included oil exploration and production (now almost completely deactivated) and

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weakly ...

mining. As a touristic area, Malargüe provides hotels and cabins for visitors interested in

eco-tourism Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide fund ...

in the summer and skiing in the winter at the nearby resorts of Las Leñas and

Los Molles LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to: Science and technology * Length of stay, the duration of a single episode of hospitalisation * Level of service, a measure used by traffic engineers * Level of significance, a measure of statistical significanc ...

. The city is known for its traditional dish, the ''chivito'' (baby goat). It hosts the annual National Festival of the Goat and the Provincial Festival of the Lamb, during the second week of January. File:Reloj del cincuentenario Malargüe.jpg, Clock tower in the city center File:Pozo de Las Animas Mendoza Argentina.jpg, Las Animas well

History

1972

On 13 October 1972 the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

, in the municipal territory of Malargüe ().

Climate

Malargüe's climate is dry and relatively cold. It is a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...

under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

. Summers bring very warm days (the average high is ) and cool nights (), with sporadic thunderstorms occurring. By March or early April, frost is to be expected, and during the winter (May to September), wild fluctuations of temperature can occur: the average high is and the average low is , but northwesterly winds that blow downslope from the Andes can bring temperatures of , and extreme Antarctic outbreaks will bring periods of snow, daytime highs well below and night lows well below .

Transport and infrastructures

Transportation

Malargüe is linked to the north of Mendoza by National Route 40. This route continues south, entering Neuquén Province, but is only partially built and not well maintained beyond Malargüe City. Air traffic in the area (only local flights) is served by the Comodoro D. Ricardo Salomón Airport. Aerolíneas Argentinas and

American Jet American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

offer services, as of 2021, to this airport.

Astronomic and space center

Malargüe is also home to the

Pierre Auger Observatory The Pierre Auger Observatory is an international cosmic ray observatory in Argentina designed to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays: sub-atomic particles traveling nearly at the speed of light and each with energies beyond 1018 eV. In Ear ...

, an international physics experiment searching for ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. The

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

began construction of a deep space ground station 30 km south of Malargüe in 2010.ESA to build its third deep space ground station in Argentina
/ref> It became operational in early 2013

Malargüe Station Malargüe Station (also known as DSA 3 or Deep Space Antenna 3) is a 35-metre ESTRACK radio antenna in Argentina. It enables the European Space Agency (ESA) to communicate with spacecraft in deep space. It is located south of the town of Malar ...

and is the third 35m dish in its

ESTRACK The European Space Tracking (ESTRACK) network consists of a number of ground-based space-tracking stations belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA), and operated by the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany. The station ...

network.

References

External links

*
Municipality of Malargüe
— Official website.
Pierre Auger Observatory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malargue Populated places in Mendoza Province Uranium mines Mining in Argentina