Everything about Rio Grande totally explained
Known as the
Rio Grande in the
United States and as the
Río Bravo (or, more formally, the
Río Bravo del Norte) in
Mexico, the
river, long, is the third longest river system in the United States and serves as a natural boundary along the border between
Texas and
Mexico.
Description
The Rio Grande rises in the east
Rio Grande National Forest in the U.S. state of
Colorado. It is formed by the confluence of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain, just east of the
continental divide. From there, it flows through the
San Luis Valley, then south into
New Mexico through
Albuquerque and
Las Cruces to
El Paso,
Texas, where it begins to form the
border between the
U.S. and Mexico. A major tributary, the
Río Conchos, enters at
Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the Texas border segment. Other known tributaries include the
Pecos and the smaller
Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of
Amistad Dam. Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande isn't navigable by oceangoing ships, nor are there smaller craft using it as a route. In fact it's barely navigable at all. Its natural flow is only 1/20 the volume of the Colorado River, and less than 1/100 that of the Mississippi.
The river has, since 1848, marked the boundary between Mexico and the
United States from the twin cities of
El Paso, Texas, and
Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to the
Gulf of Mexico. As such, it was across this river that Texan slaves fled when seeking their freedom, aided by Mexico's liberal colonization policies and abolitionist stance.
The major international border crossings along the river are Ciudad Juárez and El Paso;
Presidio, Texas and
Ojinaga, Chihuahua;
Laredo, Texas and
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas;
McAllen-Hidalgo, Texas, and
Reynosa, Tamaulipas; and
Brownsville, Texas, and
Matamoros. Other notable border towns are the
Texas/
Coahuila pairings of
Del Rio–
Ciudad Acuña and
Eagle Pass–
Piedras Negras.
The US and Mexico share the waters of this river under a series of agreements administered by the joint US-Mexico Boundary and Water Commission. The most notable of these were signed in 1906 and 1944.
Use of that belonging to the US is regulated by the
Rio Grande Compact, an interstate pact between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. The Rio Grande is over-appropriated, that is, there are more users for the water than there's water in the river. Because of both drought and overuse the section from El Paso downstream through
Ojinaga was recently tagged "The Forgotten River" by those wishing to bring attention to the river's deteriorated condition.
In the summer of 2001 a 100 m wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Rio Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The sandbar was subsequently dredged, but it re-formed almost immediately. Spring rains the following year flushed the re-formed sandbar out to sea, but it returned in the summer of 2002. As of September 2006, the river once again reaches the Gulf. However, ecologists fear that unless rainfall returns to normal levels during the next few years and strict water conservation measures are adopted by communities along the river, the Rio Grande may soon become extinct.
The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation; El Paso is above
sea level. In New Mexico, the river flows through the
Rio Grande Rift from one
sediment-filled basin to another, cutting
canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile
bosque ecosystem in its
floodplain. From El Paso eastward the river flows through
desert. Only in the
sub-tropical lower
Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture. The river ends in a small
sandy
delta at the
Gulf of Mexico. Due to the persistent period of dry weather, the river has only occasionally emptied into the Gulf Of Mexico since 2002.
Google Satellite Map
Millions of years ago, the Rio Grande ended at the bottom of the Rio Grande Rift in
Lake Cabeza de Vaca. But about one
million years ago the
stream was "captured" and began to flow east.
The Rio Grande was designated as one of the
American Heritage Rivers in 1997.
Names and pronunciation
is
Spanish for "Big River" and means "Great River of the North". In
English, Rio Grande is pronounced either or /ˈɹiːoʊ ˈgɹɑndeɪ/. Because "río" means "river" in Spanish, the phrase "Rio Grande River" is redundant. In Mexico it's known as, "" meaning fierce.
Literature
- Paul Horgan, Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History. Volume 1, Indians and Spain. Vol. 2, Mexico and the United States. 2 Vols. in 1, 1038 pages - Wesleyan University Press 1991, 4th Reprint, ISBN 0-8195-6251-3
Folklore
Many children who were raised in some of the school systems in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the 1970s were taught that the Rio Grande was a Pandora's box. The river was claiming many young lives. Mythology was brought into classrooms in hopes of keeping the children away from the river. The children were told that if they went near the river, Pandora was going to take them and they'd never be seen again. It was thought that Pandora was a spirit in the river.
In Fiction
In Star Trek there was a Starfleet Runabout called the USS Rio Grande assigned to Deep Space Nine. All Starfleet Runabouts are named after Earth rivers. The USS Rio Grande had the honour of discovering the Bajoran Wormhole and being the only runabout to survive all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine.Further Information
Get more info on 'Rio Grande'.
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