Coatzacoalcos River

Geographical map of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec

Pyramid / museum in the city Coatzacoalcos

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The only 325 km long Río Coatzacoalcos - in terms of its water quantity - after the Río Usumacinta, Grijalva River and the Papaloapan River the fourth largest river in Mexico.

Geography

The Río Coatzacoalcos rises in the mountains of the Sierra de Niltepec in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, flowing from there north and empties into the isthmus of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the state of Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico. He has several smaller tributaries; the largest is the Río Uxpanapa, which together with him a 28 -km-long and trafficable of ships estuary, on the west bank of the port city of Coatzacoalcos is located.

Economy

The riparian zones of the Río Coatzacoalcos and its tributaries, and later the entire hinterland, were cut down for centuries. Meanwhile, the landscape is dominated by fields and pastures. Play the largest economic role today, the port and industrial facilities on both sides of the estuary.

Infrastructure

Completed in 1980, cable-stayed bridge over the Río Coatzacoalcos is with a total length of 1170 m and a pillar height of 100 meters one of the landmarks of modern Mexico. A little further north is a four-lane 2.3 km long (of which approximately 700 m below the river ) road tunnel shortly before its completion; He is the city on the western river bank at a depth of 30 m ( ie about 10 m below the river bed depth ) with the settlement of Villa Allende and the industrial areas of Minatitlán on the east side together.

Pollution

By fertilizers, pesticides and human waste water ( aguas negras ) arrive already in the headwaters of the Río Cotzacoalcos considerable amounts of poison into the river; added significant amounts of plastic waste. Its estuary is additionally polluted by waste water from the chemical industry and refineries. The Río Coatzacoalcos is thus regarded as the most contaminated river in Mexico. Nevertheless, will continue to operate in the estuary fishing, the catches are however declined sharply and the fish can barely be sold in the markets.

Legend

The name of Coatzacoalcos ( ' place where the snake hides ' ) is to be attributed to the god-king Quetzalcoatl ( " feathered serpent ' ), who had built for themselves from snake hides a raft, with which it is to be disappeared over the sea. The coat of arms of Coatzacoalcos and built in the 1990s pyramid in which a museum is housed on the history, art and culture of the Olmecs, remember. A similar version of the legend is found as a founding myth of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza on the Yucatán Peninsula.