Neuquén River

The valley of the Neuquén and the Pellegrinisee, photographed from the ISS

Canyon of the Rio Neuquén

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Río Neuquén Río Limay is after the second most important river in the Argentine province of Neuquen in Patagonia. He is using two different data 400 or 420 miles long.

The Neuquén River rises in the Andes in the northwest of the province at an altitude of 2300 meters above the sea. After that, he has a number of tributaries from lower valleys of the Andes and turns in a southeasterly direction in a straight line. Among the tributaries, some of which come from small lakes are Trocomán Rio, Rio Reni Leuvü and Río Nahueve. Below are its main tributaries Río Varvarco and Río Agrio, which contributes to nearly a third of the amount of water of the Río Neuquén. On his way forward he receives sediments of the volcanoes Copahue and Domuyo, sometimes affecting the clarity of the otherwise clean water.

After the confluence with the Rio Agrio the Neuquén River flows through any lakes that could regulate its outflow, causing the water level can rise strongly during the Tauzeit and rainy periods. A drainage channel for Pellegrinisee in the province of Río Negro was therefore built to exclude rapid changes in discharge, as well as the complex Cerros Colorados, which also serves to generate electrical energy from hydropower. There the Neuquén is successively accumulated in two large reservoirs: Los Barreales with the Loma de la Lata dam and Mari Menuco with the dam Planicie Banderita.

The average outflow of Neuquén is 308 m³ / s, measured at Paso de Indios, and the surface of its catchment area is about 50,774 km ². Finally, the flows near the city of Neuquén Neuquén along with the Río Limay and forms the Río Negro, which flows eastwards and finally flows into the Atlantic Ocean.