Sierra Bachicha: propuesta para un nuevo sitio de interés geológico rural en el partido de Balcarce, provincia de Buenos Aires

In Buenos Aires province, the existing geodiversity contrasts with the scarcity of protected areas in this region, considering its high geoheritage value. These characteristics expose the necessity to promote the development of geological parks since are establi-shed in the geographic area. Thus, the identification and valuation of sites of geological relevance, basic for the generation of the namely protected areas, become important. In this contribution, a new geosite is described whose geological interest lies in presenting the most complete stratigraphic profle at the local scale. It is located in the rural area of Balcarce, more precisely in the southern part of the Sierra Bachicha, where the San Justo Quarry is located. This geosite has excellent accessibility because it is located on National Route 226, and has the potential to be included in other geocircuits and can be related to urban and periurban nearby geosites, taking into account that all of them are connected by a road network. The San Justo quarry has an area of 100 ha with 7 environmental liabilities of mining origin, which left exposed stratigraphic profles that allow to appreciate the most characteristic rocks of the area and constitute a didactic resource to comprehend the regional geological history and the geoforms of the landscape. Transiting through these old abandoned qua-rries, also contributes the locals’ identity since the mining activity has a very important imprint in the economic history of Balcarce. Visiting it, it is possible due to the existence of tracks that unite the different quarries. In the present study it is proposed to establish a path that chronologically will allow telling the geological history at a local / regional scale, with the recommendations established for its implementation.