El aluvión del Río Colorado de 1914: primera contribución geológica de Groeber desde su llegada a la Argentina

Abstract

The Colorado River flood of 1914: Groeber's first geological contribution since his arrival in Argentina It is analyzed the report made by Pablo Groeber a few months after the catastrophic collapse of the Carri Lauquén paleolake developed in 1914 in the Main Cordillera between Mendoza and Neuquén. He presented the topographic survey of the area occupied by the paleolake, analyzed the causes of its formation, and estimated the volume of water released during the disaster. This was the highest known flood of the Colorado River, reaching its waters through more than 1000 km to the Atlantic.Groeber discussed the reasons for its outburst and the sudden flood produced downstream. The results obtained are evaluated by specific works carried out in the region over the past one hundred years, and it is emphasized the validity of his conclusions on the genesis of the paleolake, the causes of its rupture, the volume of the flood produced and the processes involved. Supplementing Groeber's observations on the headwaters of the Barrancas River, are discussed the disasters produced downstream by the outburst flood in the Colorado River valley. This allows recording the variations of the height of the flood peak, decreasing from 32 to 3 meters, and the slowdown of the speed from 20 to 11 km per hour from the natural dam collapse to almost its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. The analysis confirms the validity of the reconstruction of the processes described by Groeber one hundred years ago, and once again highlights the capacity and knowledge of this young geologist recently arrived in Argentina in his first published work in our country.