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The
reservation is located 200 kilometres southwest of the
city of Mendoza, within the department of San Carlos. It
was declared a preservation area in 1994. It has about
110000 hectares and protects an important sector of the
crest of the Cordillera Principal, in the central Andes,
which covers the Volcano Maipú of 5323 metres and the
lake itself, which is at the altitude of 3300 metres.
This lake is one of the main reservoirs of fresh water
in the province.
There are guanacos, red foxes and ducks, among other
wildlife.
Volcanism in the high Cordillera
At the beginning of the Quaternary period there was the
collapse of a huge volcanic caldera of 14 to 17
kilometres in diameter, where nowadays the lake is
located. The calderas can resemble huge pots caused by
subsidence or collapse of a volcano. There were also
large eruptions of volcanic ash-rich in silicon.
The lake is fed by water from the ice and snow melting
and is the Diamante riverhead.
The most important rocks after the formation of the
caldera are lava from the Maipo volcano. Its eruptions
constructed a building of approximately 5200 metres.
This volcano presents a typical triangular shape that
reflected in the lake creates the image of a Diamond,
which refers to the name of the lake.
One aspect to be highlighted is the effects of seasonal
freezing. The action of the cold and the snow covering
cause various processes, cryoclasm is one of them, it is
the fracturing of rocks because of the expansion of ice
in the cracks and also by extreme temperature variations.
The flows of sediments along the slopes are very common
in large areas covered with volcanic materials,
pyroclasts, one of the main characteristics of the area
of the reservation.
It is interesting to point out, the effects on
vegetation, where clumps of grasses generally acquire
the form of circles or polkrogoma. The geocryology is
the science that studies the effects of low temperatures
on the earth's surface. The freezing and thawing of soil
exerts a major effect on the materials from the crust
and therefore determines the distribution of plants and
animals. A very important condition is the time during
which these layers at the top of the crust remain frozen
and the time during which they are subjected to
continuous cycles of freezing and thawing. All the Andes
are regarded as cold land or cryogenic.
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