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The shore line is the limit that separates the public water domain from the property of individuals, the criterion for its delimitation is stated by law, both in Argentina and in other countries of the world. But its practical analysis remains a matter of current discussion. In this paper, a geomorphological interpretation of the established criterion is proposed as well as a methodology for its delimitation. To achieve this, different international, national, provincial and papers on shore line works were analyzed, which allowed to establish a criterion adjusted to the natural form of the channel and to cartographically define the shore line by using products of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). If the waterfront is delimited on the basis of natural facts, its indubitable mark on the ground will be close to what actually belongs to the public water domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Argentina, after the 2001 crisis, there was high economic growth, which resulted, among other improvements, in a significant decrease in the proportion of poor households in the 2001-2010 intercensal period - measured by the indicator of unsatisfied basic needs (UBN). The aim of this paper is to analyze the incidence of UBN on different types of households - using the variable "household types", composed of thirteen household types - as well as the changes in the relative share of each household type during the sharp decline in UBN between the 2001 and 2010 census years. To account for spatial inequality in the concentration of households and poverty in the territory, the variables are disaggregated at the provincial level and by districts/departments/communes. The results obtained show the importance of considering changes in the composition of household types in the analysis of the incidence of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The community-based modality is consolidating as a way of organizing tourism in rural areas, although its conceptualization and implementation is diverse. The State has a relevant role in the promotion, planning and extension of tour-ism in a territory. For this reason, we are interested in analyzing how the notions of community tourism are constructed -and regulated- from public policies based on regulatory frameworks. Thus, this paper analyzes the course of the institutionalization of community tourism in Argentina based on its existing national and provincial legislation. As a result, we observe a diversity of ways to define rural tourism and the participation of communities based on what is meant by rural tourism and which sectors of the communities are involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The energy transition process is reflected in the transformation of landscapes. The progressive incorporation of increasingly more modern energy technologies opens debates in European countries related to their landscape integration and the social perception. In Argentina, the energy landscapes have not been relevant enough as to be a subject of analysis in the academic field. Based on the lack of antecedents, this exploratory paper aims at considering the landscape as a geographical analysis category about the past and present use of wind energy. The objective is to study the patrimonial worthiness and the socio-environmental challenges, as the result of the transformation of the landscapes, by the materialization of the energy transition. To achieve this, it applies a qualitative methodology and different space-time analysis scales. The work reconstructs the heritage legacy of the wind from old low-power facilities for milling, water pumping and electricity production that are revalued by society. It also makes a preliminary analysis of the emerging wind landscapes after the start-up of large wind farms in certain regions of the country. The new landscapes created by the installation of wind turbines produce very diverse reactions in communities, ranging from acceptance to social rejection, including neutrality or indifference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public green spaces (PGS) on the shores of the Limay River in Neuquen Metropolitan Area (AMN, for its acronym in Spanish) can represent tools for water management. For the design of such instruments, it is important to know the local dynamics of hydrometeorological threats. The aim of this paper is to analyze, from a historical perspective based on the digital written press, the occurrence of events related to hydrometeorological threats in the AMN and, most precisely, around the PGS located on the coast of the Limay River for the period 1999-2020. 131 journalistic articles were surveyed and the information collected was validated through hydrometeorological databases. The methodology classifies events according to origin and nature, as well as characterizing them according to their physical characteristics; consequent damages in urban, periurban and rural areas; actors from different jurisdictions and adopted actions. Before and during the events soft measures prevailed while hard measures prevailed after them. Specifically, the consequences in EVP result in hindrances for its exploitation by users. Historical records provide initial, useful and comprehensive information for the analysis of the incidence of water processes in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the academic field has been improved by numerous contributions related to the concept and measurement of population well-being. Among such improvements, the concept of living conditions has played a central role. In this paper we observe the associations between living conditions and relate this concept to the notion of health contexts based on an eco-epidemiological model. For this purpose, a methodological proposal was developed and applied to the Argentine population, identifying areas of improvement, worsening and persistence of living conditions between 2001 and 2010. Finally, the proposal was validated with a classic indicator of poverty measurement and the course of living conditions was analyzed in the most critical jurisdictions of the territory through the use of an infant mortality indicator that operates on the concept of "poverty diseases". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, transformations in the rural sector set out challenges to think the current dynamics that underlies it; among other things, related to the production model that has been defined, to the processes that different stakeholders directly related to the activity have gone through, and to the socio-economic dynamics linked to the rural sector that unfold and their impact on local spaces. This paper reflects on what has happened in rural Argentina, particularly in the Pampas Region, in relation to these problems. The paper starts by considering some transformation processes that have taken place in the rural sector at a global level to analyse, then, the dominant trends of the rural sector in the Pampas region that allow us to affirm that a new model of agricultural development has been introduced. On the basis of various antecedents, the paper will then present a conceptual proposal to address the problem of the territorial dynamics of the rural actors, the economic aspects and their incidence on local spaces. This dynamics has not been studied specifically from this perspective, and emphasizes the economic-productive elements implied in the constructions, deconstructions and reconstructions of territories, resorting to the notion of capital circulation of the rural actors which constitutes a relevant point to understand the processes that emerge today in agricultural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of rural women in the organization and creation of collective participation spaces, not only as a way of earning a living that may improve the living conditions of small family farmers but also as a way of resisting the territorial expulsion and the loss of their socio - cultural identity. To achieve this purpose, the paper analyzes a case study: The Steppe Crafts Market, an example of Supportive and Social Economy, which is located in the Pilcaniyeu Department, province of Rio Negro. The analysis is based on the life-storytelling technique, starting from a thorough interview of one rural craftswoman. The results allow for understanding the way in which women create a working space and a income source that tend to the social reproduction of the household unit, combining production and reproduction and, at the same time, increasing self - esteem, the re-appraisal of their own culture and ancestral knowledge, the motivation for training in the craftsmanship art, in issues related to social and family economy, and in communal participation, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The methodological integration of different values in relation to the ecosystem services (ES) is a methodological challenge to be solved. This paper aims at integrating market and cultural values associated with the ES which can be found in the Mar Chiquito Biosphere reserve in the southeast of the province of Buenos Aires. This methodological approach allowed us to identify and assess the local benefits of the wetland, and to detect that they are equal to the budgetary allocation in social services such as health care, education, and the promotion of tourism of the homonymous municipality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Zanja de Alsina" (Alsina´s trench) (1876-1879) was a milestone in the border dynamics with the autonomous indigenous groups of Pampa and Patagonia. Its establishment was the initial action that led to the transformation of the frontier world into a rural one, integrated with global capitalist dynamics. This trench - 3 m wide x 2 m depth - was conceived and projected from the Ministry of War and Marine Affairs established in Buenos Aires). The trench was planned to have an ideal extension of 600 km but only 400 km were made. In this paper, and from an interdisciplinary approach, we will present the first results of the analyses carried out through satellite images, historical cartography and information provided by an archaeological work in order to locate the aforementioned trench as well as the adjacent military settlements (Machado, Alsina and Alvear - located in the northeastern part of the Pampas). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Neuquén province, important oilfields, gas and mining sites are located. Although hydrocarbons remain central as part of economic development, nowadays the mining industry became a strong business vector, as it happens in the rest of Argentina. In this respect, the exploitation of the underground resources is an attribution that the State of Neuquén grants to individuals and it has been regulated by laws and administrative provisions, none of which recognizes the right to the previous consultation to the Mapuche communities who live within the exploited territories. The consequence of this situation is an increasing number of conflicts between the communities and the State of Neuquén as province, in different areas of the territory where the extractive activities try to advance. The particular case that is analyzed in this paper refers to a conflict in which a Mapuche community resisted the settlement of a mining corporation of Chinese origin in their territories. Even though the project was finally dismissed in the middle of a legal controversy after a provincial referendum that rejected this development, a whole process of conflicts and disputes between local actors took place. For some of them the project meant "the beginning of a new dignified life with a job" whereas for others the project was synonymous with "invasion, destruction and pollution". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at analyzing and comparing two textbooks designed for the third year of High School as regards the way in which they approach the agricultural border advance in Argentina. Both textbooks express the points of view of academic writers, mainly from the field of Geography but also from other Social Sciences as well. Our purpose is to analyze whether the relationship between the type of knowledge proposed by the curriculum of the province of La Pampa and the proposals introduced by the textbooks through the authors’ perspectives is made evident. Departing from this premise, then, we can introduce the following question: Will it be possible to teach and learn this topic from different perspectives and approaches based on the tenets of Social and Critical Geography, taking into account what the National Law of Education (LEN) prescribes? In reference to the proposed aim it will be of crucial importance to promote a comprehensive approach which might lead to a better understanding of the territorial logic of the social subjects. This will in turn lead to understand the different points of view and the multiple dimensions: economic-productive, political, socio-demographic, cultural and environmental which play different roles in the process of soybean production in Argentina’s rural areas, known in Spanish as “sojización.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities grow and expand, transition zones called peri - urban areas are created, which present several difficulties for local administration. Mar del Plata peri-urban areas are not an exception, as they constitute a dynamic territory, which is subject to a number of territorial transformations. The southern area of this territory (the study area) has shown a high dynamism, especially during the last 4-5 years, although this has not been properly recorded in previous papers. It also presents a wide range of activities and significant socio-territorial imbalances and environmental impacts. Within this context, this paper analyzes the territorial transformations in the mentioned area since the 1990s up to present day, taking into account the main stages of urban development (expansion, consolidation and densification). On the basis of previous studies, it comprehensively analyzes the transformations based on the definition of territorial spheres (concept of regime), which symbolize the main uses of the area lands and, at the same time, it qualitatively assesses the intensity of changes produced in each territorial sphere (concept of rupture). An in-depth knowledge about the sector's dynamics and the territorial transformations will constitute the basis to generate territorial ordering strategies for the area, methodology which could be applied later to other peri-urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present paper is to determine, from a spatial and temporal perspective, the distribution patterns of drought, obtaining areas of extreme hydrological risk in the departments of the Buenos Aires province (Argentina). The hydrologic constants (Field Capacity and Permanent Wilting Point) are analyzed and a synthesis map elaborated. Then, the relationship with data from agricultural emergencies caused by drought is established. As drought is highly related to climate variability and its influence over soils, an analysis which might allow to identify temporal and spatial patterns of drought and so risk areas is considered hereby relevant. The obtained results show the drought-affected areas distributed by department, the relationship with the hydrologic constants and their risk with respect to the analyzed event. The present paper belongs to the research project: "Water , development and uncertainty. The reduction of availability a paradigm of inequity" which is in process at UNLP-FAHCE-CIG since 2008. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the province of Salta has strengthened its presence in the Argentine tourist map. This involved, among other things, the increase of tourist offers to enjoy the province of Salta. In this paper, we aim to address tourist diversity in Salta, especially observing how the Calchaquíes Valleys, a traditional destination in the Argentine northwest, is redefined through new attractions and tourist services based on some local distinctive features. This work specifically approaches the way in which the tourist proposal in this area is renewed considering the creation of a rural and touristic organization-the Rural Tourism Network-that offers tourist services under the form of community-based tourism. It also aims at focusing attention on the social and territorial changes that the presence of this new actor, central to the diversification of tourist options in this destination, has introduced into the local scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social, economical and environmental situation of the West of the province of La Pampa has been, during the last decades, a matter of concern for the citizenship and also an area of political and state intervention. The idea of analyzing those decades from a territorial and genre perspective led to a preliminary research on the population living conditions. This paper presents both theoretical and methodological approaches that contribute to identify the power rationale and relations, which are recreated in the institutional actions and intentions regarding the vulnerable population of two settlements in the West of the province. More specifically, the issue focuses on identifying the multiple dimensions constituting the social vulnerability conditions of women living in the Departments of Limay Mahuida, La Pampa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades there was a boom of studies and debates dedicated to the question of memory. In this context, the "geography of memory" (Foote y Azaryahu, 2007) contributed to analyze the spatial dimensions and explore the relationships between collective memory, places and national identities. The objective of this paper is to explore the role of historical monuments with a nationalistic sense in the town of Puan (Buenos Aires), in the constitution of local identities, in this case linked to the origins of the town under the advance over the "desert". For this, the conflict around the maintenance of the "Plaza de la Patria", a public space dedicated to the commemoration of the "Desert Campaign" where the monument of the Unknown Soldier is located, will be analyzed. The dispute began in 2012 when the Municipal Government and a group of investors announced the construction of a hotel in the proximity of this historical monument. Immediately, a group of neighbors, the so called "Group Plaza de la Patria as it is" began to demonstrate against the hotel's future location, arguing that the place is important to preserve the "heroic" past of the town. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural processes together with human activities represent necessary variables for the changes affecting different environments in coastal areas. The aim of this paper is to identify, through the use of geo-technologies, the environmental processes that affect the natural area in the San Antonio Bay, which includes the cities of San Antonio Oeste, San Antonio Este and Las Grutas. Satellite images (Spot and Landsat 5 and 7) of different tide states, aerial photographs, topographic and nautical charts were processed. All the information obtained was systematized and integrated in a GIS (Geographic Information System). The morphology of the area under study consists of tidal plains and tidal channels, spits, dunes and cliffs. This ecosystem undergoes natural processes such as: eutrophication in the channel of La Marea in San Antonio Oeste, sedimentation of tidal channels in San Antonio Este and in the Villarino peninsula, accretion in coastal areas and sandbanks displacement. Likewise, the urban growth of San Antonio Oeste directly affects the natural environment of the protected area as well as the industrial activities and urban wastes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the deepening capitalist nature of agricultural production in the pampas region, family farms have had to deal with bigger demands in order to continue working as commodity producers. Even though stressful tendencies have prevailed, the process has not led to the disappearance of this type of production units. This brings up the question about how they have managed to deal with increasingly hostile contexts. In order to answer that question, and trying to find out the clues to their persistence, in this paper we analyze the economic and productive strategies carried out by a group of eleven farmer families of Puan and Adolfo Alsina districts (located in SouthWest Buenos Aires), between the late 1980s and today. Using a qualitative and exploratory approach, we study their economic and productive options taking into account both structural factors - such as labour force organization and land and capital integration- and subjective and cultural aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the female workers' share in the fruit and vegetable labour market in the district of General Pueyrredon, and its articulation with their domestic work, taking into account the characteristics of the workers' households. In this productive space, the transitional female work done in the intensive vegetable crops, which is practiced in the fields and under cover can be proved, as well as in non-traditional fruit crops. Women participate in basic cultural works, especially, in harvesting and selection, conditioning and packing of fruits and vegetables. It is observed how women develop different strategies in order to make both work and family worlds compatible, without disregarding the responsibilities related to the domestic and reproduction duties that determine their possibilities of labour insertion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper results from a research project of wider scope, Rural Territorial Development. Territorial management in the Guatraché Department, La Pampa, which shows the findings of research carried out in the Guatraché Department, in the Province of La Pampa. The project aims at producing a panorama of the agricultural activity of this area from the beginnings of the process of colonization in 1879 -which marks the occupation of the territory after the clearing of the aborigines, coinciding with the end of the “Desert Campaign"-, until the present time –which is framed by the complexity of globalization. The province of La Pampa, at that time Territory of Central La Pampa, with its East and South East areas showing climate and soil parameters suitable for the above-mentioned activities, turned into the setting of an intense colonization sustained by various railway companies, pillars of the economic system prevailing in the Argentine Republic in late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As part of this territory, the Guatraché Department was the scenario of an important agricultural and stockbreeding activity -this being so at least until the start of severe climate crises which, along with international events (the Second World War) disrupted the model. After the former, the diversification of farming complemented with stockbreeding, where sheep were gradually replaced by cattle, characterized the activity until the nineties. At that time, a new international scenario marked by globalization, with the liberation of the markets and state decentralization, formed part of the neo-liberal politics of the times. The rural sector was also part of the process and its consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas are spaces where biodiversity is preserved. They are designed to maintain the balance in natural ecosystems, to protect the species developed in the area and to preserve natural resources, cultural and environmental services. The Parque Luro Reserve is a protected area located at the centre-east of the department of Toay, La Pampa Province. The purpose of the reserve is to protect a small area of calden forest. The aim of this paper is to analyze the vegetation pattern in the Parque Luro Reserve. To achieve this, two tasks were carried out: the identification and the characterization of the representative vegetation of the calden forest in Parque Luro. The description of the vegetation allows for the comparison and classification of different vegetation units. The survey of floristic composition established its spatial distribution in different sectors of the area of study. The quantitative methods applied were Braun Blanquet scale and Dansereau's scheme based on transects. In addition, the quantitative technique of nearest neighbor was used. Through this study, two dominant forms of distribution of the vegetation were distinguished, one associated with the calden open savannah and the other with a closed calden area with presence of shrubbery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid changes in the economic, political, social and technological fields during the last years have had a great impact on the way we do and think geography. This has favored the adoption of different approaches to this object of study from new theoretical and methodological conceptions. Consequently, the agenda of subjects and issues are integrated in school contents, which are included in the curricular designs that constitute an important support for the teaching practice as they are a tool that allows teachers to select, organize and sequence the contents to be taught in an annual plan. In the province of La Pampa, curricular design is based since 2006 on CBC (Basic Core Contents) developed by the National Ministry of Education and on the NAP (Priority Core Learning). To these basic contents we have to add the curricular materials of the Core Curriculum for Secondary School framed in the New Law of Education implemented in our province since 2010. This paper aims at analyzing the role of Geography in the curricular proposals designed for the Province of La Pampa, taking into account the following key concepts: environment, society and territorial organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chos Malal, a site located in the west end of La Pampa, constitutes the place where, along the twentieth century, the social reproduction of groups was intimately related to activities such as cattle raising, hunting for home consumption, and the production of handicrafts for the market. Knowledge inherited from ancestors, and passed from generation to generation among women, has allowed the practice of weaving to persist over time, and has also been in some cases, an important source of income. Within this framework, the aim of this paper is to examine the continuities and changes regarding the fabrics' production process in Chos Malal and the ways in which this production had an impact on the public policies aimed at promoting the activity, as well as to consider the steps involved in the process, the elements implicated in the social spaces and the ways in which the identities of the women involved in the textile production were affected. The questions posed will be answered from the perspective of the involved subjects, framed within qualitative research. We resorted to the interpretation of oral stories by "crianceros" - craftsmen settled in Chos Malal- and to an analysis of audiovisual materials, technical reports and photographs from a variety of files. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most prominent aspects of Bahía Blanca's urban structure is the availability of urbanizable land within the city's beltway, even though the city has expanded beyond that artificial "boundary." A mere glance at satellite imagery of the city provided by Google Earth, confirms the presence of a considerable amount of unoccupied land capable of accommodating future growth. Taking into account the significance of the land market in urban development and the new urban scenario that results from the recent approval of Bahía Blanca's Urban Fringe Action Plan (Plan Director del Periurbano), the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the physical availability of vacant land and to draw a conclusion about what social sectors may have access to it, according to the current urban land price structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore the usefulness of social perception of risk as a theoretical-methodological framework, both in risk assessment and in the design of problem management strategies. The work includes the review and inquiry of social perception of risk theoretical as well as conceptual frameworks, and presents a case study: perception of coastal issues and vulnerabilities in Playa Magagna. Two different diagnoses were carried out: a technical and a perceived one. The first diagnosis was based on the identification of problems, conflicts, coastal attributes and vulnerability conditions regarding the risk of coastal erosion, by means of field observations and bibliographic investigation. Perceived diagnosis consisted in analyzing perceptions shared by local residents, which were built on these same variables and using in-depth interviews to key informants. The finding of discordant results between both diagnoses indicates the need for the inclusion of the imaginary of risk built by the community, in order to arrive at a comprehensive diagnosis of the problem, and at the same time, promote its articulation in management processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the city of Monte Hermoso has experimented a marked process of urban expansion, mainly as a response to the growth of tourism. The aim of this paper is to analyze the above-mentioned process through the role that the urban land market exerts on the urban configuration, emphasizing the role of estate agents which operate in this market, thus generating a differential valuation of certain areas of the urban space. The methodology used is based on fieldwork, the implementation of semi-structured interviews with key informants and the preparation of thematic mapping for the analysis of data and the communication of results. The most remarkable result of spatial land market performance is the creation of a series of urban areas, which acquire properties that differ from each other and that are directly influenced by the price of the lots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Argentina, some works imply, as an unavoidable process, the disappearance of the rural towns, mainly in the "Pampa" region. Although this statement is true, it does not mean that the tendency is unambiguous; on the contrary, differentiated demographic dynamics of rural towns can be identified, which are strongly linked to the characteristics of production systems and the possibilities of non - agrarian jobs, with a combination of incomes and a seasonal / temporary working mobility. Within the framework of this discussion about the rural world, the need to understand the processes of change that are taking place emerges, which rescues the social, cultural and production realities of the rural communities. Therefore, this paper aims at understanding the changes that are affecting the towns and rural population in an extensive "rionegrino" territory: "La Linea Sur" (The South Line). Through the assessment of case studies, the differentiating tendencies are analysed in order to prove the growth or decline of towns, the development of pluri - activity forms of development and their connection with de - agriculturization processes of the rural world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The productive exploitation of the "territorial near west" since the end of the nineteenth century was based on the natural supply according to the priority bestowed by the prevailing development model, within the framework of the insertion of the Argentine Republic in the international division of labour. This paper determines the production cycles defined from the use and transformation of the ecosystems (pasture, forest extraction) or their substitution by farming, and holds the hypothesis that the former was limited with regard to the process of exploitation and plundering to which it was subjected. Overloading the fields with livestock, as if they were the rich grasslands of the province of Buenos Aires, agricultural practices and deforestation caused, within a few years, soil exhaustion and erosion resulting from trampling and dryness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post structuralism is a term that refers to a phase of philosophical thought that emerged in the mid-to-late 1960s, which reviews some key issues regarding Structuralism: the sign theory, formalism, the metaphysics of presence. This trend intended to go beyond the limits of structuralist thought, introducing the concepts of discontinuity, difference, dissemination. Thus, the philosophy of Deleuze and Guattari is called by the same authors as a "theory of multiplicities", located among the writers associated to the philosophies of difference that give their distinctive characteristic to the so-called post-modernity. In this context it is necessary to highlight the strong relation between the work of Deleuze and Guattari and the ield of Geography, particularly through the concept of deterritorialization. Territorialization, and the related terms, deterritorialization and reterritorialization, must be viewed as concomitant processes, essential for a better understanding of human practices. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and articulate the basic concepts in Deleuze-Guattari's thought that will enrich geographical thinking by developing the concepts of de-territorialization/reterritorialization within the framework of the research project El desarrollo local en la gestión del territorio. La sinergia entre lo agropecuario y el caldenal. Departamento Loventué. La Pampa, Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper consists in the hydrogeological study of a region of about 20.000 Km2 in the middle west of the province of La Pampa in the Argentine Republic, between parallels 36° and 37° 45', S latitude, and meridians 66° and 67° 30' W (approximately the "Atuel" river cliffs). Cattle breeding is the major activity of the region, limited by water availability. The region is crossed diagonally by the "Chadileuvú or Salado" river and its affluent "La Barda" stream. The water regime of both rivers is determined by consumption in the upper parts of the basin that turned, with the passing of years, from an original simple snow regime into an antropic one. Their water volume and salt content are variable. Both streams are of effluent nature, except for La Barda, which sometimes presents a reverse regime. The weather of the region is dry; its mean rainfall is about 350 mm/year. Approximately 50% of its surface is covered by eolic sand, without soil profile, and therefore it has a low retention capacity. In that way, effective infiltration is possible. It has been inferred, from standardized water balances containing available climatic information, that when rainfall is near the historical average, recharge is negligible, but it is significant when rain is over. To this direct recharge, indirect recharge is added in some areas, generated by runoff from outcrops of hydrological basement, as much as, from the high slopes in the far west of the region. Regarding underground water resources, the probable presence of deep confined aquifers is analyzed first, and then, in particular, that of the phreatic ones. Chemical composition presents a wide range of variability, derived from the different formations on which they are contained. On the other hand, it is very interesting to notice, the close correlation between geomorphologic environment and chemical nature of phreatic waters, what together with the flow pattern, makes it possible to determine five hidrogeological environments with common characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]