Bardas Blancas

Bardas Blancas is an Argentine locality located in the Río Grande district of the Malargüe Department in the Province of Mendoza. It is situated along National Route 40, 66 km south of the city of Malargüe and 180 km north of Buta Ranquil, being the only locality between both populations; in this locality, National Route 145 begins, which leads to Chile via the Pehuenche pass. It is located in a small valley of the Grande River.

The arrival via National Route 40 is a tourist attraction in itself, and in the locality, one can visit the petrified forest and the Caverna de las Brujas, a system of interconnected underground caves with curious figures. The Vuelta del Veranador is a typical festival of the Malargüe department that takes place in this locality, where the arrival of goat breeders from the mountainous areas is celebrated at the end of the summer period.

Topographically, it constitutes an elevated area, of which there is still no precise information regarding its formation and evolution.

The electrical network arrived only in 2009 and is expected to be the basis for the construction of the Portezuelo del Viento Dam.

Seismicity
The seismicity of the Cuyo area (central-western Argentina) is frequent and of low intensity, with a seismic silence of medium to severe earthquakes every 20 years.

Earthquake of 1861
Although such catastrophic geological activity has been occurring since prehistoric times, the earthquake of March 20, 1861 (153 years) marked an important milestone in the history of seismic events in Argentina as it was the strongest recorded and documented in the country. Since then, the policies of successive Mendoza and municipal governments have been increasingly careful and restricting building codes. And with the 1944 San Juan earthquake on January 15, 1944 (70 years), the San Juan government took notice of the enormous seismic severity of the region.

Southern Mendoza Earthquake of 1929
Very severe, and with no preventive measures developed, it killed 30 inhabitants.

Earthquake of 1985
It was another serious episode, lasting 9 seconds, collapsing the old Hospital del Carmen in Godoy Cruz.

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