Artificial lakes management in the estuarine plain of the Río de la Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Several urban undertakings have been developed in the southern coast of the Río de la Plata estuary, northern Buenos Aires, during the last three decades. Many of the urban projects used to dredge land material to generate an artificial lake and deposited the sediments on the adjacent lands, to obtain elevations above the levels of ordinary and extremes floodings of the Río de la Plata. This procedure is employed in order to generate suitable zones for urban developments on the low estuarine plain.The case study corresponds to an artificial lake that share the Náutico Escobar Country Club (NECC) and the Centro Urbano Barrancas de Escobar (CUBE), southern Lujan river.This study determined that the lake margins were gradually adjusted to the natural lake dynamics and to the conditions induced by the man. Two coastal types were defined considering their origin: natural and nourished coasts. According to their stability coastal lagoons were classified as erosive, neutral and accretive coasts.Some recommendations for the management of the lake coast, involve tools tending to control nautical activities, artificial nourishment and the possibility of carrying out structural or not structural reconstruction of the erosive margins.

► Alteration of wetlands ecosystems in Rio de La Plata estuarine coast.
► Management of new coastal ecosystems.
► Coastal erosion caused by vessel-waves.
► Dissipation techniques of erosion in artificial coastal lakes.