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Neuquen River
The Neuquen River is the second most important river of the province of Neuquen in the Argentine Patagonia, after the Limay River.
The river is born at the northwest of the province at an altitude of 2,300 metres, to be feed by a number of streams through valleys of the lower Andes while advancing diagonally in southeast direction. Among these streams, some of them from draining of small lakes, are the Trocoman, Reni Leuvu, Agrio and Nahueve.
Further down, its main tributaries are the rivers Varvarco, and Agrio, who provides almost a third of the Neuquen flow. Along its way the river receives some sediments from volcanoes Copahue and Domuyo that might sometimes affect the clarity of the otherwise clean waters.
After meeting the Agrio, the Neuquen river has no natural lakes that could regulate its flow, which results in sharp raises of level during thawing and rainy periods. A derivative channel towards the Pellegrini Lake in Rio Negro Province has been built to compensate for abrupt changes in the flow, as well as the Cerros Colorados Complex, also used to generate hydroelectricity.
The average flow of the river is of 308 m/s (measured at Paso de Indios), and its surface is around 50,774 km. At its end, the Neuquen meets the Limay River near the city of Neuquen, to form the Rio Negro, which continues its way east towards the Atlantic Ocean.
Although not as famous as other fishing rivers in Patagonia, the river is also visited by fly fishing and spinning enthusiasts, as well as the two artificial lakes named Los Barreales and Mari Menuco, located by the river near the border with Rio Negro Province. The main catch are trouts and Patagonian pejerrey.
References
Subsecretaria de Recursos Hidricos "Cartografia Hidrica de Neuquen" - pdf
Monografias.com "Region patagonica"
Ministry of Environment Hydrological basins of Argentina.
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Neuquen River
