Ongoing mass wasting processes in the Traful lake area, Argentinean Patagonia

Abstract

The Patagonian Andes are characterized by a high relief, with numerous confined lakes in deep glacial valleysthat currently experience minor rock falls. Although, there is a poorly known historical and post-glacial registerof mass wasting phenomena and a complete absence of monitoring for potential future processes. In particular,the area called Los lagos, in Argentina, which is located south of latitude 35° S, where the glacial erosion shapedseveral valleys on both sides of the Andean range. The Andean area between 35° and 42° S has been releasingalmost 25% of the world´s total seismic energy from the adjacent subduction zone. The objective of this work isto analyze, a sector, in the northern margin of the Traful Lake, called Bosque Sumergido. The name of BosqueSumergido was given because of the presence of an area of submerged dead trees in life position where part ofthe wood can be found underwater. In this work, we evaluate the potential risk for the city of Traful, located infront of it. We described this area in the context of mass wasting processes, the coastal morphological changesthat occurred in the last 22 years and even some underwater features and bathymetry and analyzed the potentialrisk of tsunamis due to material falling into Traful Lake.