Río Guayllabamba

Río Guayllabamba
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Data
location	Ecuador
River system	Río Esmeraldas
Drain over	Río Esmeraldas  → Pacific Ocean
Confluence of	Río Chiche and Río San Pedro 0 ° 8 ′ 34 ″  S , 78 ° 23 ′ 51 ″  W
Source height	approx.  2080  m
Association with	Río Blanco to Río Esmeraldas Coordinates: 0 ° 27 ′ 23 "  N , 79 ° 23 ′ 51"  W 0 ° 27 ′ 23 "  N , 79 ° 23 ′ 51"  W
Mouth height	approx.  50  m
Height difference	approx. 2030 m
Bottom slope	approx. 10 ‰
length	approx. 200 km
Right tributaries	Río Pisque
Reservoirs flowed through	Manduriacu dam
Big cities	Quito
Medium-sized cities	San Antonio de Pichincha , Guayllabamba
Communities	Puéllaro

The Río Guayllabamba (in Kichwa : Wayllapampa ) is a 200 km long river in the Ecuadorian Andean region , it belongs to the catchment area of ​​the Río Esmeraldas .

Surname

The Kichwa word Wayllapampa means "green plain". The Guayllabamba basin , in which the capital Quito is located, was named after the Río Guayllabamba . The name of the river also bears the town of Guayllabamba , which is located about 30 kilometers east of Quito.

course

The Río Guayllabamba arises 5 km southwest of Quito Airport at the confluence of the Río Chiche and Río San Pedro .

The system of the Río Guayllabamba forms the most important river system in the Pichincha province . The main stream is initially the Río San Pedro, to which numerous other rivers flow, including the Pita and the Río Machángara . The Río San Pedro or Río Guayllabamba flows approximately 150 kilometers from south to north through the valley of Machachi and the Guayllabamba basin, before it breaks through the Cordillera Occidental , the western cordillera of the Andes in Ecuador, approximately 40 kilometers north of Quito then flows west down the Andes. 16 km north-northeast of Quinindé it flows together with the Río Blanco and forms the Río Esmeraldas , which flows into the Pacific at Esmeraldas .

Upper course

The Río Guayllabamba rises as San Pedro at an altitude of more than 3000 meters on the southwestern edge of the Guayllabamba basin south of Machachi (in the parish of Chaupi, about 65 km south of Quito) and flows from there in a northeastern direction through the valley of Machachi. Its water comes from the volcanoes Illiniza , Corazón , La viudita , Atacazo and the West flanks of Rumiñahui and Pasochoa . The San Pedro flows through a narrow point between the Pasochoa and Atacazo volcanoes into the Valle de los Chillos ( Chillos Valley ). . Here it flows past the towns of Sangolquí and Conocoto , among others , before the Pita river also flows into it near the Ilaló volcano, which is on the eastern edge of the Guayllabamba basin at Quito .

Middle course

After the confluence with the Pita, the San Pedro flows further north on the eastern edge of the basin through the valleys of Cumbayá and Tumbaco northeast of Quito, with the rivers Río Machángara (from the west with waters of the Pichincha ) and Río Chinche (from the east with Waters of smaller volcanoes from the eastern border of the Guayllabamba basin). Other rivers such as the Guambi and the Iguiñaro are added later.

The Pisque River flows north of the town of Guayllabamba (also northeast of Quito) . From the inflow of the Pisque one speaks of the actual Guayllabamba . This now forms a canyon in the Andes that has narrowed steadily since the inflow of the Guambi . Other rivers flow to it from the west and east, including the Monjas, which also flows through the north of the capital Quitos. Because of the high gradient, the Guayllabamba develops into a torrent here. At the north-western edge of the basin, the Guayllabamba breaks through the western cordillera of the Andes between the foothills of the volcanoes Pululagua and Mojanda near Perucho .

Lower course

From here it flows westwards down the Andean slopes through a sparsely populated, densely overgrown area in the provinces of Imbabura and Esmeraldas . Various other rivers flow to it, including the Pachijal and the Llurimaguas. At Rosa Zárate (Quinindé) it unites with the Río Blanco coming from the southeast to the Río Esmeraldas .

Use of hydropower

The Manduriacu hydropower plant ( ⊙ ) is located at river kilometer 90 . The river is dammed at this point by a dam for about 4 km. The plant, completed in 2015, has an installed capacity of 60 MW.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Important tributaries

Pita

The pita rises on Cotopaxi southeast of Quito under the name Pedregal . From here it flows north, where the waters of the Cotopaxi flow to those of the Sicholagua and Rumiñahui volcanoes . At the foot of the Pasochoa volcano, the Pedregal and the Pita River, which rises from the Pasochoa and which is named after the resulting river, unite . From here the Pita flows north through the Valle de los Chillos to its confluence with the San Pedro at the foot of the Ilaló.

Río Pisque

The Río Pisque arises in the northeast of the Guayllabamba basin between the volcanoes Fuya-Fuya in the north and Cayambe in the south (near the town of Olmedo at an altitude of 3,097 m). The Río Pisque arises from the Granobles or the Guachalá and, with its headwaters, forms the “Valley of Cayambe”, in which the city ​​of Cayambe is located.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Materials on the Río San Pedro in the area of ​​Machachi ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  

literature

• Jorge Salvador Lara, Quito , Editorial MAPFRE, Madrid 1992, ISBN 84-7100-437-2 , pp. 27-30.