Branco River

Rio Branco

The Rio Branco [ ˌ χiu bɾãku ] (lit. White River ) is a 560 km long left tributary of the Rio Negro and runs to the north of Brazil. With a water flow of 5,400 m³ / s it is the largest tributary of the Rio Negro.

Course

The Rio Branco arises north of Boa Vista from the confluence of the 870 km long Rio Uraricoera, which rises in the Serra Parima on the border with Venezuela, and the slightly smaller Rio Takutu, which rises in the Serra Pakaraima on the border with Guyana. From Boa Vista to its confluence with the Rio Negro flows into the Rio Branco very stretched running in a southerly direction.

The course of the Rio Branco has two very different sections: First, its shores are accompanied on 145 kilometers of wet savannas that are partly used for agriculture, but then, after a rich rapids of just over 15 kilometers ( Cachoeira do Bem - Querer ), the Rio Branco flows through the tropical rain forest of the Amazon lowlands. This nearly 400 -mile section is the most important for shipping. The Rio Branco has an embossed in parts of sand and mud banks and river bed allowed, apart from the lower 125 kilometers of river, mostly drafts of little more than one meter.

The largest city is Boa Vista, where the 1.2-kilometer Ponte dos Macuxis (Bridge of Macuxis, named after one of the people of the state of Roraima ), spans the stream.

The Rio Branco is a white water river, unlike the other major white water rivers he does not get his suspended load, however, from the Andes, but from the Guiana Shield. At the confluence with the Rio Negro almost suspended matter it forms an inland delta, the Rio Negro urges not only to the South, but also backs up. Here, the Rio Negro expands island rich on, similar to above its confluence with the Amazon a little less than Manaus.

Tributaries

One of the largest tributaries include ( downstream ):

• Rio Mucajai (right)
• Rio Ajarani (right)
• Río Anauá (left)
• Rio Catrimani (right)
• Rio Xeriuini (right)