Río Ucayali

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Río Ucayali
Confluence of the Tambo (front) and Urubamba (right) to the Ucayali (to the left)

Confluence of the Tambo (front) and Urubamba (right) to the Ucayali (to the left)

Data
location PeruPeru Peru
River system Amazon
Drain over Amazon  → Atlantic Ocean
Confluence of Río Tambo and Río Urubamba
10 ° 42 ′ 3 ″  S , 73 ° 45 ′ 22 ″  W
Source height approx.  210  m
Association with Río Marañón to the Amazon Coordinates: 4 ° 27 ′ 21 ″  S , 73 ° 26 ′ 51 ″  W 4 ° 27 ′ 21 ″  S , 73 ° 26 ′ 51 ″  W
Mouth height approx.  88  m
Height difference approx. 122 m
Bottom slope approx. 0.08 ‰
length 1600 km  (with Apurímac : 2670 km)
Catchment area 337,519 km²
Drain MNQ
MQ
MHQ
 4400 m³ / s
13,500 m³ / s
23,200 m³ / s
Left tributaries Río Unine , Río Pachitea , Río Aguaytía , Río Pisqui , Río Cushabatay , Río Pacaya
Right tributaries Río Cohengua , Río Sheshea , Río Tamaya , Río Abujao , Río Utiquinia , Río Callería , Río Maquía , Río Guanache , Río Tapiche
Río Ucayali (highlighted in pink) in the Amazon basin

Río Ucayali (highlighted in pink) in the Amazon basin

The Río Ucayali is one of the two headwaters of the Amazon in South America. In turn, it arises from the confluence of the Río Urubamba and Río Tambo near Atalaya. The Río Ucayali unites in northeastern Peru near the equator with the shorter, but somewhat larger Río Marañón to the Amazon with a mean discharge that is around 10 percent higher .

River course

The Río Ucayali forms together with the Río Hornillos , the Río Apurímac , the Río Ene and the Río Tambo with a length of 2670 km the longest upper reaches of the Amazon . The individual sections of the Amazon inflow have the following individual routes:

  • Río Apurimac: 730.7 km
  • Río Ene: 180.6 km
  • Río Tambo 158.5 km
  • Río Ucayali 1,600.1 km

After the Spanish conquest, the Río Ucayali was initially called San Miguel , then Ucayali , Ucayare , Poro , Apu-Poro , Cocama and Rio de Cuzco . Peru in its early history sent out many costly and well-managed expeditions to explore the river. One of them claimed in 1867 to have come within 400 km of the capital Lima , and the small steamer Napo had worked its way to the mouth of the Río Tambo , 1,600 km above the mouth of the Ucayali into the Amazon .

The width of the Ucayali in the lower reaches varies between 400 and 1200 m, caused by the large number of sandbanks and islands. The river flows here at a speed of 5 to 7 km / h and always has a minimum depth of 1.50 m. Its water flow averages 13,500 m³ / s at the confluence with the Río Marañón

It carries a high proportion of sediments (sand, clay, marl etc.) and is therefore assigned to the mud or white water rivers (Muddy River or White River). Alongside the Rio Madeira , it is one of the main suppliers of sediment cargo from the Amazon. White water rivers such as the Río Ucayali deliver nutrient-rich sediments from the geologically young Andes, which are deposited along the river courses during flood periods.

For the Ucayali area an area of ​​337,519 km² was determined, which corresponds to about 4.9 percent of the entire Amazon basin of about 6,869,000 km².

The Peruvian region of Ucayali is named after the river .

Tributaries

Of its numerous tributaries , the following are the largest listed below:

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Río Ucayali  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Juan Carlo Espinoza Villar et al .: Evolución regional de los caudales en el conjunto de la cuenca del Amazonas para el periodo 1974-2004 y su relación con factores climáticos. Revista Peruana Geo-Atmosférica RPGA (1), 66-89, 2009 ( PDF ( Memento of the original from September 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.senamhi.gob.pe
  2. ^ Kümmerly + Frey Rand McNally: International Atlas . Published by Georg Westermann Verlag ISBN 3-07-508962-1