The Perito Moreno (Spanish: Glaciar Perito Moreno), Francisco Gormaz or Bismarck Glacier[1] is a glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, and originated in the Magallanes Region in Chile, being also part of the Bernardo O'Higgins National Park.

[4] It was previously one of the few unusual glaciers that maintained a state of equilibrium during the late 20th and early 21st centuries because it was accumulating mass at a rate similar to that of its loss.

[6] The terminus of the Perito Moreno Glacier is 5 km (3.1 mi) wide, with an average height of 74 m (240 ft) above the surface of the water of Argentino Lake, in Argentina.

Some years later, Rudolph Hauthal, attached to the Argentine Boundary Commission, saw the glacier and decided to name it "Bismarck" in honor of the Prussian Chancellor.

The formation of an ice barrier is a complex process, since there is a feedback mechanism between the glacier and the lake, which affects the oscillations of the position of the glacial front in a fairly stable way.

[14] In 2006 the level difference reached by the Rico arm was 5.4 m and on 10 March, the retained water began to escape, which caused the dike to collapse on the 13th.

At the 2012 event, the discharge flow peak had a value lower than the previous ones, 2000 m³ / s, so it took longer to evacuate the accumulated water, concluding only after 14 days.

At the end of that month the water pressure opened a greater passage in the walls of the glacial front and the discharge began, but slowly, since the passage had not been sufficiently open, so the maximum peak of the discharge flow occurred at the end of January with a value of 123 m³ / s, the dimensions being equalized on both sides only at the beginning of April.8 The events of 1994, 1995 and 1997 show similar behavior and magnitudes to those of 1996.

At the close of 1939, due to the flooding caused by the embalmed waters, which affected numerous agricultural establishments, and without even glimpsing the economic value that from the point of view this natural event could represent tourism, the Argentine Navy Ministry launched explosives on the ice indication, unable to obtain the intended result of artificially consolidating a gap for the evacuation of water.

[citation needed] The rupture of 1966 was the one that produced one of the largest volumes of water evacuated by the Santa Cruz River, which exceeded 2000 m³ per second, measured at the Charles Fuhr capacity station.

[citation needed] Due to its size and accessibility, Perito Moreno is one of the major tourist attractions in southern Patagonia and the rupture of this glacier is considered one of the most impressive natural spectacles in the world.

[citation needed] The rupture events benefit the area by producing enormous international visibility, which translates into sources of income for the region's growing tourism development, which has its support base in the city of El Calafate.

[17] As the Zone closes to the public during the night - after 8 pm - on some occasions the ice bridge collapses without spectators, as happened in the event of March 11, 2018.

[18] Also called "the pearl of the Andes" or "dragon of Patagonia" is a kind of plecoptera of the family Gripopterygidae that inhabits the Patagonian glaciers in Argentina and Chile, spending its entire life on the ice.