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Agua Negra Pass
Pass which connects Argentina and Chile From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Agua Negra Pass (Spanish: Paso de Agua Negra) is a pass over the Andes mountains which connects Argentina and Chile. The highest point of this pass is at 4,780 m (15,680 ft) AMSL.[1]
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Agua Negra Tunnel
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To improve trade between Chile and Argentina, a 14 km, three-bore vehicular tunnel (two for traffic and one for ventilation[2]) below the pass is planned, which will allow year-round traffic.[3][4] (The pass is closed for much of the winter.)
In March 2015, Argentina officially approved the project.[5] It is awaiting ratification from Chile.
In 2018, the bidding contest for the tunnel project between construction companies took place. The whole project was budgeted at 1.5 billion dollars.[6]
Also planned for the deepest part of the tunnel is the Agua Negra Deep Experiment Site (ANDES) (ANDES):[2] an underground laboratory. Because all currently operating deep underground laboratories are located in the Northern Hemisphere, a Southern Hemisphere site would have some unique benefits:
- Combined with existing neutrino detectors, a longer baseline would allow more accurate localization of sources in neutrino astronomy, and
- When searching for dark matter, there is expected to be a seasonal variation due to the Earth's motion around the Sun. But such a signal could also be an error, caused by some subtle seasonal effect. Confirmation from a location with opposite seasons would rule out such an error.
ANDES is not expected to be ready before 2027.[7]: 6, 8, 13
In 2020, the Chilean government under President Sebastián Piñera rejected the IADB loan for the tunnel, halting the project.[8][9]
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Gallery
Paso de Agua Negra, Argentine side
Paso de Agua Negra, Chilean side
Penitentes near the summit
See also
- Elqui Province, Chile
- San Juan Province, Argentina
References
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