Geography of the Bahía Blanca Estuary

Abstract

The Bahía Blanca Estuary is an environmental complex that was shaped during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. The fluvial discharge along a series of axes lined up of depressions areas, between the Colorado River and the Principal Channel, developed the initial stages of the estuarial formation. Regarding island morphology, two different zones can be distinguished. North of the Bahía Falsa Channel, mudflats of considerable extension cover most of the estuarine area, and plentiful isles of variable sizes form disaggregated clusters. South of the Bahía Falsa Channel, single larger isles conform geomorphic units instead of groups. The higher elevations and sandy soils allow the formation of sand dunes and sand flats. The Puerto Rosales area is located in the transition between tide- and wave-dominated systems. Since Bahía Blanca City was founded in 1828 until the present, the urban, industrial, and port activities were carried out only along the north coast of the Principal Channel, between Puerto Cuatreros and Puerto Rosales, which has allowed the development of a complex port system. The space organization is managed in three provincial districts, with different economy and land uses—rural use in Villarino, industrial and port activities in Bahía Blanca, and oil port and defense in Coronel Rosales.