Atuel River Mendoza Argentina by PabloBD

The Atuel River is a river located mainly in the south of the Argentine

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 ou ...

of Mendoza, with its last part in

La Pampa La Pampa () is a sparsely populated province of Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it ...

. It is a tributary of the Desaguadero River. The Atuel is the longest river in Mendoza. It is born 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 ...

range, at

above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...

, from the

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

Atuel Lake. It has a mean flow of , and its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

covers . Its volume increases from November to March (around the summer).

Canyon

As it approaches the city of

San Rafael, Mendoza San Rafael is a city in the southern region of the Mendoza Province, Argentina. With more than 118,000 inhabitants (), it is the largest city in and the seat of San Rafael Department. The city is located 240 km from the provincial capital ...

, from the southwest, the Atuel is turned into a reservoir with an area of by the El Nihuil Dam. Immediately after El Nihuil, the river becomes entrenched along a canyon and forms rapids. The canyon is about long, and during its course the river falls from above sea level. This level difference is taken advantage of by four hydroelectric

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many ...

s (Nihuil I, II, III and IV). Most of the Atuel's flow at this point has been redirected through a system of tunnels inside the mountains, connecting the chain of reservoirs. The Atuel Canyon area is a major tourist attraction, featuring hotels, camping sites, country clubs and other lodging facilities. The rapids are employed for

rafting Rafting and whitewater rafting are recreational outdoor activities which use an inflatable raft to navigate a river or other body of water. This is often done on whitewater or different degrees of rough water. Dealing with risk is often a ...

and canoeing; they are classified between class II (novice) and IV (advanced) in the International Scale of River Difficulty. The canyon ends at Rincón del Atuel. From there on the river flows along a plain, becoming wider and

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

ing until reaching the Desaguadero River.

References

* El Baqueano, San Rafael
Río Atuel
* WelcomeArgentina

Rivers of Mendoza Province Rivers of La Pampa Province Rivers of Argentina {{Argentina-river-stub