Río Coca
Río Coca - Río Quijos | ||
Puerto Francisco de Orellana, in the background the Río Coca |
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Data | ||
location | Sucumbíos , Napo and Orellana provinces in Ecuador | |
River system | Amazon | |
Drain over | Río Napo → Amazon → Atlantic | |
Headwaters |
Cordillera Real southwest of the Antisana 0 ° 33 ′ 46 ″ S , 78 ° 10 ′ 57 ″ W |
|
Source height | approx. 4000 m | |
muzzle | at Puerto Francisco de Orellana in the Río Napo Coordinates: 0 ° 28 ′ 10 ″ S , 76 ° 58 ′ 27 ″ W 0 ° 28 ′ 10 ″ S , 76 ° 58 ′ 27 ″ W. |
|
Mouth height | 245 m | |
Height difference | approx. 3755 m | |
Bottom slope | approx. 15 ‰ | |
length | approx. 255 km | |
Catchment area | approx. 5800 km² | |
Discharge at the Baeza A Eo gauge : 866 km² Location: 208 km above the mouth |
MQ Mq |
51.7 m³ / s 59.7 l / (s km²) |
Discharge at the San Francisco de Borja A Eo gauge : 1533 km² Location: 200 km above the mouth |
MQ Mq |
90.6 m³ / s 59.1 l / (s km²) |
Discharge at the El Chaco A Eo gauge : 2461 km² Location: 183 km above the mouth |
MQ Mq |
203 m³ / s 82.5 l / (s km²) |
Left tributaries | Río Papallacta , Río Oyacachi , Río Salado | |
Right tributaries | Río Cosanga , Río Machacuyacu | |
Medium-sized cities | Puerto Francisco de Orellana | |
Small towns | El Chaco | |
Communities | Baeza , San Francisco de Borja | |
Cascada de San Rafael |
The Río Coca , in the upper and middle reaches of the Río Quijos , is an approximately 255 km long left tributary of the Río Napo in northeast Ecuador .
River course
The Río Quijos rises at an altitude of about 4000 m in the Cordillera Real southwest of the Antisana volcano . It initially flows 140 km in a predominantly northeastern direction through the mountains. It passes the towns of Baeza , San Francisco de Borja and El Chaco . It also includes the following tributaries: Río Papallacta , Río Oyacachi and Río Salado from the left and Río Cosanga from the right. Then the Río Quijos turns 20 km to the south and 10 km to the east. At river kilometer 87, the Río Machacuyacu meets the Río Quijos on the right. Below the confluence, the river is called Río Coca . The Río Coca flows 10 km to the northeast and reaches the Amazon lowlands . The last 70 km the Río Coca flows southeast and flows into the east flowing Río Napo near the city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana (also El Coca ), the capital of the province of Orellana.
Hydrology and catchment area
At El Chaco , below the confluence of the Río Salado, the mean discharge is 203 m³ / s. The catchment area of the Río Coca covers around 5800 km². Most of the western part of the river is in the Cayambe-Coca nature reserve . Here you can also find the highest waterfall in Ecuador, the 131 m high Cascada de San Rafael ( ⊙ also simply Cascada del Coca , also known as the “Coca waterfall”).
Use of hydropower
Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power station
The hydroelectric power station Coca Codo Sinclair ( ⊙ ), which went into operation in 2016, is located at river kilometer 96. Below a weir ( ⊙ ) at river kilometer 157, one kilometer below the confluence of the Río Salado, the water is diverted from the river and over a 24.8 km long line is fed to the power plant.
For details see article Coca Codo Sinclair .
Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap
history
The Gonzalo Pizarro expedition , started in 1541 , followed the Río Cosanga, the Río Coca and the Río Napo until Francisco de Orellana finally discovered the Amazon on this way in 1542 .
Along the Río Coca there are oil deposits and meanwhile also oil production facilities.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c A. Laraque, J. Ronchail et al. a .: Heterogeneous Distribution of Rainfall and Discharge Regimes in the Ecuadorian Amazon Basin. In: Journal of Hydrometeorology. 8, 2007, p. 1364, doi : 10.1175 / 2007JHM784.1 .
- ^ Coca Codo Sinclair Hydroelectric Project . www.power-technolocy.com. Retrieved February 5, 2019.