SPACEPHOTOS

Cerros Colorados Reservoir, Argentina January 1997 The large double water body in the center of the image, the Cerros Colorados Reservoir, is located on the Patagonian Plateau in south-central Argentina. The reservoir was formed in a natural depression in the plateau by diverting water from the Río Neuquén for flood control purposes. The two lakes identified with this reservoir are Lago Barriales (larger) and Lago Mari Menuco. Cultivated fields (vegetation) on the floodplains of the Neuquén and Limay Rivers appear as dark corridors crossing the pale brown, semiarid, shrubby landscape. Eastward from the junction of these two rivers, the river is known as the Negro. The kidney-shaped feature along the right edge of the image is Lago Pellegrini, a eutrophic lake. The light-colored areas around Lago Pellegrini are sandy, saline soils. Note the well-defined, dense pattern of gullies along the flank of the plateau (brownish feature top left) west of the Cerros Colorados Reservoir