Rio Grande (Brazil)
Rio Grande | ||
The Rio Grande is the left source river of the Paraná |
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Data | ||
location | Brazil | |
River system | Río de la Plata | |
Drain over | Rio Paraná → Río de la Plata → Atlantic | |
source | Serra da Mantiqueira , Minas Gerais | |
confluence | in the Ilha Solteira reservoir with the Rio Paranaíba to the Rio Paraná coordinates: 20 ° 5 ′ 6 ″ S , 51 ° 0 ′ 2 ″ W 20 ° 5 ′ 6 ″ S , 51 ° 0 ′ 2 ″ W
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length | 1360 km | |
The Rio Grande as seen from the BR-050 (Rodovia Annexuera) |
The 1,360 km long Rio Grande [ˌχiu ˈɡɾãd͡ʒi] is the left headwaters of the Paraná in Brazil / South America .
River course
The river has its source in Brazil in the south of the state of Minas Gerais in the Serra da Mantiqueira . From there, the water of the Rio Grande flows mainly in a westerly direction and is dammed up by hydropower plants to form several, sometimes very large, reservoirs . Finally, the Rio Grande combined in Ilha Solteira Dam (, 21,06 1,195 cubic kilometers square kilometers) with the Paranaíba to Parana .
The Furnas reservoir is important for regulating the water flow of the Rio Grande . It usually fills up during the rainy season from November to April and then emptied during the dry season from May to October. The Furnas Reservoir is the seventh largest reservoir in Brazil in terms of both area and volume.
Power plants and reservoirs
Looking downstream, the Rio Grande is dammed by the following power plants:
power plant | operator | Max. Power (MW) | Reservoir | Surface (km²) | Volume (km³) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Camargos | CEMIG | 46 | Camargos | 50.47 | 0.792 |
Itutinga | CEMIG | 52 | Itutinga | ||
Funil | CEMIG | 180 | Funil | ||
Furnas | FCS | 1,216 | Furnas | 1,320 | 22.95 |
Mascarenhas de Moraes | FCS | 476 | Peixoto | 250 | 4.04 |
Luís Carlos Barreto de Carvalho | FCS | 1,050 | Estreito | 46.7 | 1.418 |
Jaguara | CEMIG | 424 | Jaguara | 30th | 0.47 |
Igarapava | CEMIG | 210 | Igarapava | ||
Volta Grande | CEMIG | 380 | Volta Grande | 2.244 | |
Porto Colômbia | FCS | 320 | Porto-Colômbia | 143 | 1.525 |
Marimbondo | FCS | 1,440 | Marimbondo | 438 | 6.15 |
Água-Vermelha | Água-Vermelha | 647 | 11.1 |
See also: List of the longest rivers on earth
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/l/List_of_rivers_by_length.htm
- ↑ Baixo nível faz Lago de Furnas ter pior fevereiro dos últimos 13 anos. globo.com, February 17, 2014, accessed October 5, 2014 (Portuguese).
- ↑ Dr. Marcelo Pompêo: MAIORES REPRESAS BRASILEIRAS. Universidade de São Paulo , accessed October 11, 2014 (Portuguese).