AIM: The Escaba dam is located in the south of the Tucumán province, Argentina, at 650 m above sea level. It has an extension of 541 ha. and a depth of 65 m and its tributaries are the Chavarría, Las Moras, El Chorro and Singuil rivers. The climate is mild with dry winters and rainy summers. The objective of this study was to characterize physicochemical parameters in the limnetic zone of the dam and the mouths of the tributaries to determine the water quality. METHODS: Seasonal sampling was carried out between August 2010 and May 2012. Temperature, transparency, pH and electrical conductivity were field measured, whereas dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), major ion constituents and nitrogen and phosphate compounds were analyzed at the laboratory. RESULTS: The water was classified as sodium-calcium-bicarbonate with neutral to alkaline pH, and thermal stratification during spring and summer. The water assayed was well oxygenated except for the bottom of the limnetic zone during the summer months. Lowest transparency was measured in the El Chorro River in November 2011 (0.12 m) and highest degree of transparency in the Singuil River during the winter of 2010 (4.1 m). The waters assayed showed weak mineralization with conductivities between 83 and 218 µS.cm-1. Maximum BOD5 value (183 mg.L-1) was measured in the Singuil River in spring 2010. Highest values for the different nitrogen compounds were as follows: 7 mg NO3-.L-1 at the bottom of the limnetic zone in August 2010, 0.07 mg NO2-.L-1 in the Las Moras River in May 2011 and 1.8 mg NH4+.L-1 in the Chavarría River in March 2011. During the summer of 2012 orthophosphate reached a value of 0.22 mg.L-1 at the bottom of the limnetic zone. The TN/TP ratio revealed that phosphate was generally the limiting factor and rarely nitrogen. CONCLUSIONS: Considering the TN, TP and transparency parameters the ecosystem was classified as hypertrophic. PCA allowed a seasonal differentiation of the sites, and components 1 and 2 classified the samples according to nutrient gradient, dissolved oxygen, BOD5 and temperature.
abiotic factors; water quality; Escaba dam; Tucumán; Argentina
