Desaguadero River

The Río Desaguadero in the province of Mendoza

The Río Salado del Oeste, Río Desaguadero also, is a river in Argentina, which flows through the largest part of the West of this country.

With 1498 km, it is one of the longest in the country; if you include the stretch of the Colorado River to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean, the length increased to 1872 km. However, he keeps changing his name.

Its water volume varies considerably and is on average only 14 m³ / s, while it can dry up as many rivers in dry areas in parts in the dry winter almost entirely. The reason lies not only in the drought, but also in the strong use of its water for irrigation. Therefore, one can only speak of a drainage due to its catchment area. It ends at Pichi Mahuida in the Río Colorado.

Catchment area

The catchment area of the river is approximately 300,000 square kilometers after the Paraná and its tributaries, the largest in the country and covers slightly more than one -tenth of its surface. It includes the following parts of the country:

  • The west of La Rioja
  • The entire province of San Juan
  • The province of Mendoza, with the exception of small endorheic areas in the southwest
  • The west of San Luis
  • The province of La Pampa, with the exception of the Northeast.

Sections

Source or source area

The northernmost tributary of the river is the Río Bonete, which rises in the northwest of the province of La Rioja in the immediate vicinity of Mount Pissis, the highest volcano of the earth, and just a few meters lower Bonete and his name just a few kilometers further south in Rio Jagüé changes. In the village of Vinchina he again changes his name in Río Vinchina. Thus, the flow has three different names on his first 250 km.

Río Bermejo

At Villa Unión in the southwest of La Rioja, the flow to the Río Bermejo is. As such, it flows through the east of the San Juan province and dries up in the dry season there temporarily, until it meets with the Rio Jáchal on his first significant inflow. In the southeast of San Juan, he becomes the Desaguadero del Bermejo and shortly thereafter became the Río Desaguadero, in this field, he loses much of its water to a wetland. The river forms in this area, the border between San Juan and San Luis, and because of its unclear progression is still controversial, the exact border between the two provinces.

Río Desaguadero

On the border with the province of Mendoza San Juan River flows into the river, which resumes then a larger volume of water. It forms a long piece on the border between the provinces of San Luis and Mendoza. At the mouth of the next more significant tributary, the river Tunuyán, he changes his name in Río Salado.

Río Salado

As Salado he gets in the southeast of Mendoza to the inflow of the Río Diamante. Shortly after he enters the Province of La Pampa and there flows together with the significant Atuel River. There is a vast swamp, the Bañados del Atuel At the mouth between the two rivers. He gets there, the alternative name Chadileuvu and feeds in its further course, the Salt Lake Gran Salitral ( in dry seasons a salt desert ). In Puelches it feeds three major lakes, Laguna Urre Lauquen, the La Laguna Amarga and Laguna La Dulce, but he loses in turn gets most of its water volume. The last part of its course before it flows into the Río Colorado, he is also called Río Curaco, also its water volume is so low that it can temporarily dry up almost completely.

  • Río Colorado River system
  • River in South America
  • River in Argentina
La Rioja Province, Argentina Monte Pissis Cerro Bonete La Pampa Province River source
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