Río Esmeraldas

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Río Esmeraldas
Port at the mouth of the Esmeraldas River

Port at the mouth of the Esmeraldas River

Data
location EcuadorEcuador Ecuador
River system Río Esmeraldas
Confluence of Río Blanco and Río Guayllabamba
0 ° 27 ′ 23 ″  N , 79 ° 23 ′ 51 ″  W.
Source height approx.  50  m
muzzle at Esmeraldas in the Pacific Ocean Coordinates: 0 ° 58 '13 "  N , 79 ° 37' 55"  W 0 ° 58 '13 "  N , 79 ° 37' 55"  W.
Mouth height 0  m
Height difference approx. 50 m
Bottom slope approx. 0.58 ‰
length 86 km  (including Río Guayllabamba : 330 km)
Catchment area 21,418 km² 
(according to other sources: 20,401 km²)
Discharge
A Eo : 20,401 km² 		MQ
Mq
 		680 m³ / s
33.3 l / (s km²)
Left tributaries Río Viche, Río Tiaone
Right tributaries Río Canandé , Río Sade
Big cities Esmeraldas

The Río Esmeraldas ( Spanish for "emerald-colored river") is a 86 km long river that flows in the province of Esmeraldas in northwestern Ecuador that is named after it.

Course and tributaries

The Río Esmeraldas is created in the western foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes by the confluence of the Río Blanco and Río Guayllabamba ; the latter is its longer source river, which is richer in water and is fed by both the snowmelt and the ice from the glaciers. The Rio Esmeraldas flows into the Pacific Ocean near the city of Esmeraldas .

Larger tributaries of the Río Esmeraldas are Río Canandé and Río Sade from the right, and Río Viche and Río Tiaone from the left.

Navigability, runoff and catchment area

From its confluence with the Pacific to its confluence with the Río Guayllabamba, the Río Esmeraldas is navigable . Its mean discharge at the mouth is around 680 m³ / s, making it one of the rivers with the most water in Ecuador. Its catchment area covers an area of ​​21,418 km².

Fish fauna

The fish fauna of the Río Esmeraldas includes u. a. the golden border cichlid ( Andinoacara rivulatus ).

history

The area has been populated since anatomically modern humans reached South America over 10,000 years ago. Between 500  BC Chr. , And 400 n. Chr is in the field the. Tolita culture tangible. In the middle of the 15th century, the Inca advanced via Quito to the upper reaches. In 1526, Bartolomé Ruiz was the first European to reach the region by sea on behalf of Francisco Pizarro . Pizarro went ashore here in 1531 when he conquered the Inca Empire on his third expedition . Charles Marie de La Condamine reached the Rio Esmeraldas in 1735 by land over the Andes and sailed it from Quito down into the valley and in the following year further along the Pacific coast to Peru .

In 1998, an oil pipeline broke in Esmeraldas and caught fire. The effects on the estuary were catastrophic, wiping out 80% of the mangrove swamps.

today

The densely populated estuary presents itself today as a modern metropolitan center with industry, ports and a wide range of tourist offers.

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Rio Esmeraldas: runoff and catchment area ( memento of July 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), (English);
    Runoff note: Table A gives 31.217 billion m³ / year (Hm3 / year) ; this corresponds to about 1,000 m³ / s
  2. ↑ Water Resources Assessment of Ecuador (PDF, 1.0 MB) United States Southern Command, US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District and Topographic Engineering Center (web.archive.org). September 1998. Retrieved January 12, 2019.