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Black-throated Huet-huet Pteroptochos tarnii © James Lowen http://www.pbase.com/james_lowen

Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west. It also meets La Pampa Province at its northeast corner.

The province's limits are set by the Colorado River to the Northeast, separating it from the Mendoza Province, the Limay River to the Southeast facing the Río Negro Province, and the Andes mountain range to the west, separating it from Chile.

There are two main distinctive landscapes; the mountainous fertile valleys with forest on the West, and the arid plateau with fertile land only near the basins of the rivers on the East, mainly the Limay River and Neuquén River.

The lacustrine system includes other less important rivers such as Aluminé River, Malleo, and Picún Leufú River, and a series of lakes including the Nahuel Huapi Lake (550 km²), shared with the Río Negro Province, the Aluminé Lake (58 km²), Lácar Lake (49 km²), Huechulaufquen Lake (110 km²), Lolog (35 km²), Traful, Hermoso, Quillén, Ñorquinco, Tromen and Falkner. The weather is continental and cold, with temperate summers, and in the arid regions a wide difference in temperature between day and night. There is also a big contrast in humidity, with regular precipitations of up to 4.000 mm in some regions of the Andean part of the province.

The province is home of the magnificent Arrayanes (Luma apiculata) forest at the Los Arrayanes National Park. Other National parks include Lanín National Park and the Lanín extinct volcano, the Nahuel Huapí National Park shared with the Río Negro Province, and the Laguna Blanca National Park.