Parnaíba River

The Rio Parnaíba at Nazaria

Template: Infobox River / Obsolete

The Rio Parnaíba is a river in north-eastern Brazil, that forms the border between the states of Maranhão and Piauí in almost its entire run. It rises at an altitude of 700 meters in the Brazilian highlands mountain range in the Chapada das Mangabeiras located since 2002 in the National Park Nascentes do Rio Parnaíba, and flows 1716 km northeast into the Atlantic Ocean. In the middle and upper part of the river there are waterfalls, but to the mouth of the Rio Canindé he is navigable. The River Delta, Delta do Parnaíba, located in Piauí and is the third largest river delta in the world to be. There is the city of Parnaíba with a port.

Is the gradient of the river from the source to the small town of Santa Filomena (270 m) of medium size, then it is between 35 cm / km and 17 cm / km.

In Guadalupe the Parnaíba to Boa Esperanca reservoir is dammed.

The catchment area is 322,823 km ² in size.

In the river there are many piranhas.