Rio Grande (River) – BelovedPlanet

The Rio Grande is a river that flows between the United States and Mexico, serving as an important natural border and a source of water supply, irrigation, and biodiversity. More than just a body of water, the Rio Grande is an important part of the region’s ecosystem, economy, and politics, and a cultural and historical symbol for both countries.

geography

The Rio Grande is a 2,000-kilometer border river between the United States and Mexico, stretching from the city of El Paso to its mouth where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico.

The river’s origins aren’t entirely traditional. The stretch that runs through the city of El Paso is the youngest river in North America. About 50,000 years ago, the river that would become known as the Rio Grande flowed into Lake Cabeza de Vaca. At that time, the lake’s waters broke through the foothills to the east and flowed toward the Gulf of Mexico.

The Grande’s length triples after its confluence with the Pecos and Rio Conchos rivers.

The river originates in the San Juan Mountains (Colorado, USA) and is a channel between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific OceanThe source of the river is located at an altitude of 3,658 meters in the Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge. The river flows down from the mountains and enters the flat and arid plateau, forming the San Luis Valley, which is closed by mountains 2,000-2,500 meters high.

Near Taos and above Santa Fe, New Mexico, the river cuts deep, narrow canyons in the valley. Leaving New Mexico, above the city of El Paso (Texas), the river turns south and southeast to form an estuary on the border between the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. In the same stretch, the river makes a sharp turn here, which is Big Bend National Park, or a sharp bend downstream, forming several separate branches, where the Rio Grande merges into the waters of the Caribbean Sea.

The recharge of the river varies greatly depending on precipitation and topography. In the upper reaches, the Rio Grande is fed by snow and mountain springs. In the middle and lower reaches, the main recharge comes from rain from hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. But this is not common: it happens only once every five to seven years. For these reasons, the river has violent floods from September to November, begins to become shallow in May, and is almost dry in many places during the summer.

history

The Pueblo Indians lived along the Rio Grande: they built earthen forts, the Pueblo (hence their name), worshipped the sun, and believed in kachinas (painted figures). They named their river P’osoge, which means Big River.

In the 16th century, the Spanish arrived and named the river Rio Bravo del Norte: a name that has been used in Mexico to this day. After the Spanish, the English and American farmers settled here, starting a long and bloody war. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848 was a peace agreement between Mexico and the United States that concluded the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 and ended the conflict. In addition to Mexico ceding 1.36 million square kilometers of territory to the United States, the border between the U.S. state of Texas and Mexico along the Rio Bravo del Norte was finalized. It was thanks to this treaty that the entire area along the river was measured and mapped.

Until the end of the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the Rio Grande was the route for black slaves fleeing Texas to Mexico, which had abolished slavery in 1828. Today, the migration route across the river has changed and is heading in the opposite direction, with millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin American countries crossing the Rio Grande northward.

To resolve their differences, the United States and Mexico signed the Grande River Water Rights Agreement as early as 1944, but as the river became shallower, the Americans gained less and less resources.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the water situation became even more complicated. In the summer of 2001, a natural sandbar blocked the river’s mouth, and for the first time in history, the river could not flow into the Gulf of Mexico. After the sandbar was removed, it immediately reappeared. The river no longer flows into the Gulf of Mexico on a regular basis, only 150 meters. The river’s delta disappeared, and the local populations of dwarf trout, shrimp, and many birds and mammals were endangered.

Whether the river flows into the Bay depends on the spring rains: if the spring rains pass, the levees will be washed away; if the spring rains do not pass, the Grande River will not flow into the Bay.

For these reasons, navigation on the Grande, which was very busy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, has almost ceased. This situation began as early as the 1950s, when large amounts of water were diverted for irrigation and the needs of urban residents: the population along the Grande is about 10 million people. The climate of the river basin, which has gradually dried up, also had an impact, as the Grande became very shallow. Now it is possible to wade along almost the entire length of the river. In some places, the river has dried up so much that the channel has split into a series of small lakes.

Communications across the river are maintained by three major road and rail bridges maintained by the American Mexican Company.

The same joint venture also undertakes flow regulation and water storage activities, for which a network of reservoirs and impoundments has been created. Elephant Mountain Reservoir is the largest artificial lake in New Mexico. It was created in 1916 and stretches for 60 km and has a shoreline of 320 km. This artificial lake has been listed as a protected area and is known as Elephant Mountain Lake State Park, New Mexico. Another body of water, the International Vulcan Reservoir, is known for its considerable depth (34 meters) and length (97 km).

Another man-made detail of the Grande River waterway is the long concrete bank in the El Paso area. The bank had to be covered with concrete due to a 114-year border dispute between the United States and Mexico. It is at this point that the river often changes direction and the border has shifted. Over the centuries, the riverbank needed to be covered with concrete. The Grande River is on the map.

nature

The tributaries of the Grande do not add fresh water to the river, but they attract the attention of nature lovers. A portion of the American tributary of the Pecos River has even been awarded the unusual status of a “Wild and Scenic River,” a legally protected area. It is also home to the Pecos National Historical Park. The Conchos River, a major tributary of the Grande, flows into the dry river to refill the riverbed, but despite this, the river flow has been steadily decreasing, causing great dissatisfaction among American farmers who divert water downstream for irrigation. Even in the best seasons, no more than 3% of the flow reaches the mouth of the Grande River, as water is diverted to irrigate fields.

The irrigated area is very large: more than 800,000 hectares of land lie along the river, much of it in Mexico. The Grande has a long history of irrigating land, dating back to the time when the Pueblo Indians lived along the river. The land in its upper and middle reaches is fertile. In the south, much of the desert vegetation has survived: mesquite, creosote bush, various cacti, and yucca.

General information

• Location: Southwestern North America. Flows through the United States and Mexico.
• Political-administrative border: Between the United States (Texas) and Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas).
• Feeding method: Mixed, mainly snow.
• Basin: Caribbean Sea, Atlantic.
• Source: Rocky Mountains, San Juan Massif (Colorado, USA).
• Mouth: Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico.
• Largest tributaries: Left Tributary – Pecos (United States), Right Tributary – Rio Conchos (Mexico), Rio Salado (Mexico).
• Largest cities: United States – Albuquerque, El Paso, Laredo, Brownsville; Mexico – Ciudad Juarez, Nuevo Laredo.
• Length: 3051 km (2000 km between the United States and Mexico).
• The total basin area is about 870,000 square kilometers.
• Average flow rate: 68 cubic meters per second.
• Maximum displacement: 27,297 m3/s.
• Minimum displacement: 1 m3/s.

economy

• Mineral resources: Oil (Texas, USA).
• Industry: Hydropower.
• Inland river navigation (near a river mouth).
• Agriculture: Crop production (potatoes, alfalfa, peppers, onions, pecans, citrus, vegetables), livestock (cattle).
• Cotton growing.
• fishing.
• Service areas: tourism, transportation.

Climate and Weather

• The climate in the north is mild continental and in the south it is dry tropical.
• Average temperature in January: +7°С.
• Average temperature in July: +28°C.
• Average annual precipitation: 750 mm.

Attractions

• Taos and 15th-century Indian architecture (New Mexico, USA);
• Santa Fe – the capital of New Mexico, USA;
• the city of El Paso and the historic sites of the “Wild West” (Texas, USA);
• Chihuahua City – Capital of Chihuahua State. Mexico;
• Ciudad-Xyapec and Xtremo and Central Parks (Chihuahua, Mexico);
• Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge (Colorado, USA);
• Big Bend National Park (Texas, USA);
• Pecos River;
• Elephant Hill Reservoir;
• Elephant Lake Mountains State Park in New Mexico;
• International Vulkan Reservoir;
• Brownsville-Matamoros Border Bridge.

Interesting Facts

• Big Bend National Park is located in southwestern Texas, bordering Mexico and separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande. The park contains remnant forests from the Pleistocene epoch. The park is home to 434 bird species, more than any other national park in the United States and more than half of all bird species in North America.
• The Mexican state of Nuevo León borders the United States in the north, along the Rio Grande, with a riverbank that is only 15 kilometers long.
• In the 19th century, the Rio Grande formed the border between Mexico and the Republic of Texas, a state in North America that existed from 1836 to 1845.
• The busiest period of navigation on the lower Grande was in the 19th century, when 200 steamboats ply the river. Many of these vessels had previously sailed on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers but were commandeered by the U.S. government during the Mexican War in 1846 and moved to the Grande to transport troops and supplies.
• The river’s name and the river itself were immortalized in the film of the same name. Rio Grande is a 1950 American classic western film directed by John Ford and starring Hollywood star John Wayne. The story takes place on the banks of the Rio Grande during a war with the Apache Indians. The film is widely regarded as one of the best westerns ever made.
• In 1997, the U.S. government gave the Rio Grande special honors as an American Heritage River in recognition of its role in American history. Two sections of the Rio Grande have been named Wild and Scenic Rivers: the northern New Mexico section and the Big Bend National Park section in Texas.
• Taos Pueblo is an ancient settlement thousands of years old, with ancient multi-story Pueblo buildings with walls up to one meter thick, said to have been built by the Anasazi culture, the ancestors of the Pueblo Indians. It is the largest building ever used by the ancient Pueblos. To this day, the settlement is still inhabited by Indians: a group of people who are isolated and reluctant to communicate with others. Taos Pueblo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Some canyons in the Rio Grande Valley are more than 450 meters deep. The deepest canyon is in the Big Bend area and is 520 meters deep.
• The Vulcan Dam on the U.S.-Mexico border has become a site of struggle between U.S. police and Mexican drug cartels. In addition, for the first time in 200 years, pirates attacked tourists and locals and hijacked river boats on U.S. territory at the Vulcan Dam.