Pampa de Achala is a region that lies at the heart of the Sierras de Córdoba located within Sierras Pampeanas, and located in central-northwest of Argentina. It is a rugged area with little vegetation, lying over above sea level, and which has distinctive species, ecology, relief and hydrography. The region is a regional water reserve, and the source of the vast majority of streams that run through the Córdoba Province. Quebrada del Condorito National Park is in the region.
Origin of the name The name for the area comes from the Quechua language, and apparently refers to the original inhabitants of the region, the comechingones.
There is no concrete data concerning the origin of the name, merely hypotheses. According to the dictionary of the Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua, achala means 'fancy dress' or 'striking costume'. Many Quechan terms contain the word achala. A similar word is achalay, meaning 'grooming' or 'decorating'. According to the dictionary of Dr. González de Holguín, the word achala does not exist in that context, but one finds the similar words achallay and achallay ñichini, which mean both 'to cause something' and 'self-admiration'.
The word could have originated from a distortion of the original term, which was later converted into a word more agreeable to the Spanish of the area, and could refer either to the clothing historically worn by inhabitants of the region, allowing them to withstand the severity of the weather, or to the admiration the inhabitants had for this special region.
Geography Pampa de Achala is located in Córdoba Province in Argentina. The northern boundary consists of the mountains of Los Gigantes, and the southern boundary of the northern portion of the Sierra de Comechingones, with the Summits of Achala located in the central area of the region. It is a rugged area, whose small plains and low slopes are responsible for its classification as 'plains'. These slopes and plains allowed for the formation of an intricate underground water network that supplies a great number of springs. Within this region, there are numerous deep ravines with vertical walls between 600 m and 800 m high, many of which are more than 1,000 m wide. The most important and popular ravines are the Quebrada del Condorito and the Quebrada de Yatán.
These streams have nurtured microclimates that allow for the development of ecological niches, with many endemic species (species that do not live anywhere else on the planet), worthy of study and observation. In general access to them is difficult due to the rugged terrain, often inaccessible to any vehicle (including those with all-wheel drive) and thus can only be reached on foot, by mule or on horseback.
The region covers southern Cruz del Eje Department, the south west of Punilla Department, San Alberto Department and San Javier Department and the west of Calamuchita Department.
It is difficult to differentiate the Pampa de Achala provincial water reserve from the Pampa de Achala itself. The water reserve was purposely created to protect the Pampa. Its boundaries are set by geographical features: the northern boundary reaches the provincial route RP 28 (formerly the National Road RN 20), which surrounds the massif of Los Gigantes. The southern boundary is Mount Champaquí, high. Its eastern and western limits are set by the high altitude of . The highest peaks of the province are in this region.
Its size is about from north to south and from east to west, which represents an area of approximately 150,000 hectares, of which 40,000 are the Quebrada del Condorito National Park.
Roads To access this region, two provincial roads: Provincial Route No. 28 (gravel), linking the towns of Tanti with Taninga (near the town of Salsacate). After traveling nearly 40 km from Tanti, and climb over 1,700 meters you reach the far north of the region, more precisely at the foot of the massif 'Los Gigantes'. From there you can follow the same route to the town of Taninga. The second option is the provincial route RP 34 (tarmac), located about 30 km south of the former. It crosses the city of Villa Carlos Paz, crossing the towns of San Antonio de Arredondo, Villa Icho Cruz, Mayu Sumaj, Cuesta Blanca, and deposited us in the Pampa de Achala. This road is also known as Camino de las Altas Cumbres or route Jorge Raúl Recalde, in tribute to this rally racer. Continuing along the same route, it accesses the Traslasierra Valley. While these are the two most relevant options, there are regional roads and tourist access to reach specific sectors within the region. As mentioned above, except for these two alternatives, the other, in most cases are suitable only for special vehicles, and yet they can not access certain areas.
The Hanging Bridges Trail was constructed and opened in 1918, linking the Valley Traslasierra with the city of Villa Carlos Paz in the Punilla Valley.
Geology
The geological evolution of the Pampa de Achala cannot be isolated from the evolution of Sierras de Córdoba and Sierras de San Luis. The geological history of these, dating back 15 million years, with the formation of a sedimentary basin which was then subjected to enormous strain as a result of horizontal pressure.
Elevated basement blocks are reverse faults of approximately north-south direction, west verging, which are composed by metamorphic rock and Igneous of the Neoproterozoic in the Palaeozoic. Less affected by successive orogenic cycles: the Pampean orogenies, the Proterozoic higher-Cambrian medium (Rapela et al. 1998), Famatinian, the Ordovician less than half (Aceñolaza and Toselli 1976, Dalla Salda 1987) and achaliana of Devon medium to Carboniferous lower (Sims et al. 1998; Stuart-Smith et al. 1999), which would be related to successive stages of convergence and collision of land with the craton of the River Plate, along the proto-Andean margin of Gondwana (sic). Here, there was intrusion of large igneous bodies – batholiths – ended granite, producing the rise of the emerging mountains. In the Tertiary old structures were activated and generated new ones. Along with the strain developed a significant volcanism in the western region and, finally, late in the same era and the beginning of the Quaternary, the whole region was uplifted to build the current ranges.
The tectonic forces at work in the Andean folding were horizontal pressures generated from the west and due to the rigidity of the underlying material caused the existence of faults, almost all north-south and an alignment of the strings accordingly. The result was that seen at present, a mountain range with steep western slopes and eastern slopes with gentle slope, which allowed the formation of natural lakes and streams of high ecological value. These mountain ranges are represented the three types of rocks: metamorphic, sedimentary and igneous. The granites geochemically include calc-alkaline granites with alkaline, meta-aluminous to peraluminous more abundant and monzogranites granites. Granodiorites, leucogranites and tonalites are also present. Mafic enclaves, dikes including lamprophyres, pegmatites and aplites. Its chemical composition places it within the field of collisional or intraplate granites (Rapela et al. 1990), and has been interpreted as a product of partial melting of the crust due to changes in the thermal regime during regional uplift (Otamendi et al. 2002).
Since the foundation of the Pampas, the Sierras has been involved in a series of extensional events in the Late Paleozoic (Gondwanan cycle), the latter accompanied by a large magmatism, volcanism, and finally the Cenozoic Andean orongenic cycle, which produced the present morphology. The brittle tectonic Andica is represented by reverse faults among which stand out in the hills of Cordoba those high peaks, the Giants, Copina and Cumbrecita.
The most common here are metamorphic rocks formed from the Precambrian plutonic-metamorphic basement composed mostly of coarse-grained gneiss and migmatites, intruded by large granite batholiths, common in the Pampa de Achala. Minerals found primarily include quartz, mica, biotite and muscovite. magnetite, fluorapatite, rutile, chlorite, kaolinite and uranium ore. The latter has generated considerable controversy regarding its acquisition, due to the high degree of pollution involved in the extraction.
Climate The climate of the region is temperate with high thermal aptitude. The maximum temperatures are generally 30 °C in the summer, and the temperature does not fall below -20 °C during the winter (approximately the end of April to the beginning of September).
As is typical of the climate of mountain regions, the weather conditions can change within minutes.
Hydrography The average precipitation for the area is . In summer precipitation is in the form of rain, and generally in the winter it is found in the form of snow. Fog is common all year due to the humid winds from the east; the cold winds from the south are also not uncommon. An intricate network of streams, ponds, lakes and springs give this region the characteristic function as a 'sponge' that absorbs and retains the moisture throughout the year, channeling it into the water sources which supplied much of the population of the province. It is a natural basin for precipitation, and for this reason, the provincial government declared the region as the provincial water reserve of Pampa de Achala. The area contains the headwaters of four major rivers of the province: Suquía (or First River), Xanaes (or Second River) and Ctalamochita (or Third River) flowing towards the eastern margin of the Sierras. Towards the western side of the region we find the headwaters of the Rio Mina Clavero river.
From December to March it rains more water than what is lost due to evapotranspiration.
Soils Soils in Pampa de Achala are chiefly Phaeozems and Cambisols. The central Pampa de Achala have a relatively uneven and rocky topography. Some are the soils are made of loess. The northern part of Pampa de Achala is more even and continupusly soil cover making it a good grazing land.
Biology and ecology This particular eco-region, as defined by the convergence of the biogeographical provinces of Chaqueña del Espinal, Pampeana and Mountain, has been influenced by many types of flora and fauna. It is regarded as an "island" due to its specific biogeographical characteristics and it is thus distinguished from other areas within the environment of Chaco by its altitude and the species that inhabit it.
Flora Several phytogeographical provinces converge here: Chaqueña, Andean, Patagonian and Magellanic. The confluence of these very diverse currents confers on the area a synthesis of microclimates which makes it unique, a uniqueness accentuated by the presence of endemic species, the number of which is probably greater than is presently known.