Buenos Aires, 2 mar ( EFE).-the impressive Perito Moreno glacier, in the South of Argentina, has begun the process towards its cyclical rupture, a spectacle that attracts thousands of tourists, official sources confirmed today.
The ice dam that separates the channel of the ice floes of Lago Argentino and the arm Rico began to register leaks last Wednesday and is expected in the coming days occurring noisy break.
Media began to settle on the catwalks of the Los Glaciares National Park, in the southern province of Santa Cruz, where the glacier waiting for the big show can be seen.
Sources of the Secretariat of tourism of Santa Cruz told Efe that, while the process of rupture began Wednesday, already began arriving visitors to the area and expected one influx greater for the next few days.
The director of the Parque nacional Los Glaciares, Carlos Corvalán, told the local press that the rupture could occur between Saturday and Sunday and reported that the reserve will be open to the public during extended hours.
The phenomenon is caused by the pressure of the water on the ice dam, which starts to crack into a hole in an arc that weakens it and ends up collapsing.
Latest ruptures occurred in 1988, 2004, 2006 and 2008.
By the imminent rupture is expected the number of visitors to the Los Glaciares National Park, in the summer season usually about 2,500 people per day, is expected to double this weekend.
The Perito Moreno, of some 200 square kilometers of extension, is located on the cordillera de Los Andes, natural boundary between Argentina and Chile, and is one of the few in the world that maintains stable, without back as a result of global warming.
The front of the glacier measures about 2.8 kilometers long and has an altitude of about 70 meters above the level of the waters of the Lake, although the wall of ice arrives at his deathbed. EFE
