Rio Grande
Map of the Rio Grande Watershed.
Origin	southern Colorado, in Hinsdale County
Mouth	Gulf of Mexico; Cameron County, Texas, and Matamoros municipality, Tamaulipas
Basin countries	United States, Mexico
Length	3,034 km (1,885 mi)
Source elevation	3,900 m (12,800 ft) at source to sea level at mouth
Avg. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. Hinsdale County is the least densely populated of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world Cameron County is the southernmost County located in the US state of Texas. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Tamaulipas is one of the 31 states of Mexico, it is located in the northeast A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface discharge	averages 160m³/sec
Basin area	607,965 km² (234,737 sq mi)

The Upper Rio Grande near Creede, Colorado

The Rio Grande at Bernalillo, New Mexico, with the Sandia Mountains

The Rio Grande flowing in Big Bend National Park. In Hydrology, the discharge or outflow of a River is the volume of Water transported by it in a certain amount of time The historic Town of Creede is a Statutory Town that is the County seat of and the only incorporated municipality in Mineral County Bernalillo is a town in Sandoval County, New Mexico, in the United States. The Sandia Mountains ( Tiwa ( Pueblo) name posu gai hoo-oo, "where water slides down arroyo" are a Mountain range located in Bernalillo Big Bend National Park is a National park located in the US state of Texas.

The Rio Grande in its lower course, between Matamoros (right side) and Brownsville (left side)

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, 1,885 miles (3,034 km) long, is the third longest river system in the United States^[1] and serves as a natural boundary along the border between Texas and Mexico. Brownsville is a city in and the County seat of Cameron County, Texas, United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America. "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The United Mexican States ( or commonly Mexico (ˈmɛksɪkoʊ () is a federal constitutional Republic in North America.

Description

The Rio Grande rises in the east Rio Grande National Forest in the U. Rio Grande National Forest is a 186 million Acre (7530 km² U S. state of Colorado. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It is formed by the confluence of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain, just east of the continental divide. A continental divide is a line of elevated Terrain which forms a border between two watersheds such that Water falling on one side of the line eventually 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. The San Luis Valley is an extensive alpine valley in the United States states of Colorado and New Mexico covering approximately 8000 square miles New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. Las Cruces is the second most populous city in New Mexico, the County seat of Doña Ana County, and a United States Metropolitan Statistical Area Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. A natural border is a Border between States which is composed of natural formations such as Rivers Mountain ranges or Deserts Having A major tributary, the Río Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the 1,254 miles (2,018 km) Texas border segment. This article is about the river in Mexico For the river in the U Ojinaga (formally Manuel Ojinaga, for the municipal seat is a rural bordertown and its surrounding municipality in the northeastern region of the Mexican Other known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. The Pecos River or Rio Pecos as it is sometimes known in New Mexico, arises near Pecos New Mexico, United States, and flows for through the eastern The Devils River is a pristine whitewater river in southwestern Texas, USA Amistad Reservoir is a reservoir on the Rio Grande at its confluence with the Devils River 12 miles (19 km northwest of Del Rio, Texas Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande is not navigable by oceangoing ships, nor are there smaller craft using it as a route. In fact it is 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. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Ciudad Juárez, also known as just Juárez, is a city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua formerly known as El Paso del Norte. The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world 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. ^[2]

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. Presidio is a city in Presidio County, Texas, United States. It stands on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte on the other side of the Ojinaga (formally Manuel Ojinaga, for the municipal seat is a rural bordertown and its surrounding municipality in the northeastern region of the Mexican Laredo ( "luh-RAID-o" in English in Spanish is the County seat of Webb County, Texas, United States Nuevo Laredo is a city located in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. McAllen is a city in Hidalgo County Texas. It is located at the very southern tip of Texas in an area known as the Rio Grande Valley Reynosa is a city in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located at, across the Rio Grande (Río Bravo from McAllen ( Hidalgo Brownsville is a city in and the County seat of Cameron County, Texas, United States. Other notable border towns are the Texas/Coahuila pairings of Del Rio–Ciudad Acuña and Eagle Pass–Piedras Negras. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. Coahuila, formally Coahuila de Zaragoza is one of Mexico 's 31 component states. Del Rio is a border city in and the County seat of Val Verde County, Texas, United States. } Eagle Pass is a city in Maverick County, Texas, United States. Piedras Negras is the name of a city as well as the name of its surrounding municipality in the Mexican state of

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 Compact is a Treaty signed in 1938 in the United States between the states of Colorado, The Rio Grande is over-appropriated, that is, there are more users for the water than there is 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. Ojinaga (formally Manuel Ojinaga, for the municipal seat is a rural bordertown and its surrounding municipality in the northeastern region of the Mexican

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 3,762 feet (1,147 m) above sea level. Mean sea level (MSL is the average (mean height of the Sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface 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. The Rio Grande runs a north-south course in New Mexico and Colorado Sediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of For the song see CANYONMID. For the band see Canyon (band. A canyon (rarely cañon) or gorge For the formally planted grove of trees in gardening see Bosquet. ||-||-||-||-||-||-||-||}A floodplain, or flood plain, is flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a Stream or River that experiences occasional or periodic From El Paso eastward the river flows through desert. A desert is a Landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture. The subtropics are the zones of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropic zone which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of The Rio Grande Valley is an area located in the southernmost tip of Texas. The river ends in a small sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico. Sand is a naturally occurring Granular material composed of finely divided rock and Mineral particles A delta is a Landform where the mouth of a River flows into an Ocean, Sea, Estuary, Lake or another river The Gulf of Mexico ( Spanish: Golfo de México) is the ninth largest Body of water in the world 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. In Astronomy, Geology, and Paleontology, mya or " mya " is an abbreviation for "million years ago". Stream capture, river capture, or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river Drainage system or

The Rio Grande was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997. American Heritage Rivers are designated bythe United States Environmental Protection Agency to receive special attention (coordinating efforts of multiple governmental entities

Names and pronunciation

Río Grande is Spanish for "Big River" and Río Grande del Norte means "Great River of the North". In English, Rio Grande is pronounced either IPA: /ˈɹiːoʊ gɹænd/ or /ˈɹiːoʊ ˈgɹɑndeɪ/. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Because "río" means "river" in Spanish, the phrase "Rio Grande River" is redundant.

In Mexico it is known as Rio Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte, "bravo" meaning "fierce" or "brave" river. There is a large city along its banks that proudly bears its name (Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas) located only 10 miles East of Reynosa, Tamaulipas - Mexico and directly across of the Texas city of Pharr. Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas is slowly becoming a large and popular industrial center conveniently located right next to the booming "Maquiladora" centers in Reynosa and Matamoros.

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. This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. In Greek mythology, Pandora's box is the large jar (πιθος pithos) carried by Pandora (Πανδώρα that contained all the evils of mankind&mdash such 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 would never be seen again. It was thought that Pandora was a spirit in the river.

• The version of La Llorona in Las Cruces, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas says that "La Llorona" drowned her children in the Rio Grande when she could no longer support them. La Llorona (la ʝoˈɾona or approximately "lah yoh-ROH-nah" Spanish for "the crying woman" sometimes called the Woman in White or the On nights with a full moon, says the story, La Llorona can be heard crying near the river.

In Fiction

• In Star Trek there was a Starfleet Runabout called the USS Rio Grande assigned to Deep Space Nine. The Danube class is a fictional class of Starship in the Science fiction franchise Star Trek (most notably Star Trek Deep 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.

See also

• Rio Grande border disputes
• List of crossings of the Rio Grande
• List of Colorado rivers
• List of New Mexico rivers
• List of Texas rivers
• Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River
• Rio Grande Valley
• Rio Grande Gorge

References

External links

• Rio Grande from the Handbook of Texas Online
• 1854 map of Rio Grande entrance (hosted by the Portal to Texas History). A kibibyte (a contraction of ki lo bi nary byte) is a unit of Information or Computer storage, established by the International The Handbook of Texas (ISBN 0-87611-151-7 is a comprehensive Encyclopedia of Texas geography history and historical persons published by the Texas
• Rio Grande Cam - in Mission Texas. Mexico is on the left and the US is on the right.