Dust storms, drought and desertification in the Southwest of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina | Land Portal

Información del recurso

Date of publication: 
Diciembre 2016
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
LaReferencia:AR_376d4c40eb6d68ed403fc569e9d9c2db
License of the resource: 
Copyright details: 
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess : Open Access, this refers to access without restrictions, and without financial incentives. Access to the resource is gained directly, without any obstacles.

The study region is one of the most endangered area from wind erosion in the country. This process, coupled with recurrent droughts in last decades and the mishandling of productive practices have generated desertification. This study presents a review of the interaction of these processes based on literature, field survey and perception of producers. Recommendations for rehabilitation are proposed. The area covers 6.5 million hectares, hosting in 2002: 550,000 people and 7,825 farms in irrigated and non-irrigated lands. Irrigated lands are devoted to agricultural production. Non-irrigated have a mixed production system (beef cattle-wheat). Mean annual rainfall in 1940-2014 was 407 mm. In 60% of these years, rainfall was below the mean. Desertification in the area is a consequence of drought and mismanagement. In wet cycles, producers increase stocking rate and wheat-sown area using the same practices of the humid pampa. As a consequence of dry cycles, land is abandonment and fields covered by sand and invasive plants. Over 20 cm of soil has blown away and sand accumulates in fences and stays suspended in the atmosphere, reaching Bahía Blanca city and up to 400 km into the Atlantic Ocean. The area requires deep structural changes in production systems and their management. Emphasis should be on sustainable management, which involves a mentality change of producers and decision makers. Recommendations were made for cleared and non-cleared lands.

Autores y editores

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Abraham, Elena María
Guevara, Juan Carlos
Candia, Roberto Juan
Soria, Nelson Darío

Publisher(s): 

La Universidad Nacional de Cuyo es el mayor centro de educación superior de la provincia de Mendoza, República Argentina. Fue creada en 1939 en respuesta a los requerimientos de Mendoza, y de las provincias de San Juan y San Luis, que conforman la región de Cuyo. Ese enlace regional se mantuvo hasta 1973, año en que cada provincia constituyó su propia Universidad (la Universidad Nacional de San Juan y la Universidad Nacional de San Luis respectivamente), quedando la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo exclusivamente para Mendoza y el Instituto Balseiro.

Proveedor de datos

The Federated Network of Institutional Repositories of Scientific Publications (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas), or simply LA Referencia, is a Latin American network of open access repositories. Through its services, it supports national Open Access strategies in Latin America through a platform with interoperability standards, sharing and giving visibility to the scientific production generated in institutions of higher education and scientific research.


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