Calingasta is a department of the province of

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

(

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

). It is the southwestern corner of the province, which is predominantly a landscape of

mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

and rivers. It is characterized by its production of

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s and by tourism, mainly in the tourist towns of Barreal and Tamberías

Origin of name

Several meanings that have been given to an indigenous root of this word. People of the inhabitants of Calían. Skirt or safe or major hills. Transforming Catalve "(River of the hillside), as the area was called Calingasta prior to the arrival of the Spaniards.

Geography

The department Calingasta comprises the southwest corner of the province of San Juan. It is west of the city of San Juan with an area of . Its boundaries are: * To the north with the

Iglesia Department Iglesia is a department of the province of San Juan, Argentina. It is located in the northwest mountainous corner of this province with substantial vegetation. Iglesia is one of the most visited departments in the province, particularly around Ro ...

* To the south with the

Mendoza Province Mendoza (), officially the Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the r ...

* To the east with the departments of Sarmiento, Zonda, and Ullum * To the west with the

Republic of Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Oce ...

Relief

Calingasta has a rugged, mountainous topography due to its location at the foot of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. Mount

Mercedario Cerro Mercedario is the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range and the eighth-highest mountain of the Andes. It is located 100 km to the north of Aconcagua, in the Argentine province of San Juan. Ascent history It was fir ...

is the eighth-highest mountain of the Andes with an altitude of . It is located north of

Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the ...

. The precordillera range is the

Sierra del Tontal The Sierra del Tontal is a mountain range in the southern part of San Juan Province, Argentina. The range is in the precordillera area of La Rioja, San Juan and Mendoza, in the Cuyo region. It extends south of the Sierra del Tigre, from which ...

, separating the region from the arid plains to the east. The soil is mainly desert with little vegetation cover except on the river banks in the valleys.

Climate

The climate is mostly desert with little precipitation, highlighting marked thermal variations, with notable differences in temperature between night and day. Departments of San Juan Province, Argentina {{coord, 31, 22, S, 69, 30, W, type:landmark_source:USNO/HMNAO, display=title