Evaluation of the landscape by the impact of the lime mining activity

Abstract

Lime activity in the province of San Juan has a long history, due to the quality and quantity of the geological resources (limestone) available in the foothills area, which has manifested itself in the growing production of limes. This has led to industrial centers of different sizes, the most important being the Sarmiento Department.
As a consequence of the trajectory of this activity, there has been a significant change in the territory, and in the quality of the landscape.
The objective of this work is to show the transformations that the landscape of the Locality of Los Berros, in the Sarmiento Department, has suffered from the influence of the extractive activity of the limestone; in order to evaluate the landscape conditions through of the methodology proposed by Zambrano (2002), where he appeals to a qualitative-quantitative combination to highlight the contrasts, variations and perspectives of the landscape conditions.
The results indicate that this activity has had a strong impact on the territory, which has been little planned and requires urgent measures of remediation, as well as a future planning that allows to reconcile the demands of the calcareous material with the forms of extraction, the natural conditions and the socioeconomic needs of the population living in the area.