Guayas River
The Guayas at the height of Guayaquil, left the island Santay
The Guayas is a river in western coastal lowlands of Ecuador. Together with its tributaries Babahoyo and Daule and their tributaries, it forms the largest water catchment system of the Pacific coast in the Americas. The Ecuadorian province of Guayas is named after the river that dominates the landscape is its delta and its tributaries.
The actual Guayas created at the height of Guayaquil by the confluence of Babahoyo and Daule. After about 60 kilometers, it flows into a broad delta in the Gulf of Guayaquil, the largest natural harbor on the Pacific coast of South America.
The Guayas is the most important for trade waterway system in Ecuador. The port city of Guayaquil and the opposite it Durán are the largest adjacent cities. Both share the longest bridge in Ecuador, the "Bridge of National Unity " which officially Puente Rafael Mendoza Avilés is called. She is a total of 2,825 m, 1,032 m from Guayaquil to the headland La puntilla and 1,793 m of this by Durán.
The tributaries of the Guayas originate on the slopes of the Andes. The Daule included as source longest river in the Guayas is 389 km long to the Gulf of Guayaquil. Overall, its river system drains an area of over 36,000 square kilometers and is the largest river system in the American Pacific coast. The drain is on average 1144 m / s, which is about half of the Rhine. This flow through the Guayas from 39 % of all rainfall in the Costa.
The landscape especially in the delta is characterized by ( threatened ) mangrove swamps. Moreover, in the delta sediments from a group of islands emerged, the largest is the island Puná. The Guayas is the habitat of a number of rare, partly endemic animal and plant species, including especially fish (including tetras ) and birds.
Guayas is also the name of the steamboat on the emblem of the flag of Ecuador. This was designed by Vicente Rocafuerte and put into operation on October 9, 1841. It was the first of its kind in South America and was named after the river.
See also: Geography of Ecuador
Evidence
- River in South America
- River in Ecuador
- Water system Pacific Ocean