Brazos River | |
Texas | |
Brazos River downstream of Possum Kingdom Lake (Palo Pinto County, Texas)
|
|
Country | United States |
---|---|
State | Texas |
Source | Llano Estacado |
Source confluence | Stonewall County, Texas |
- elevation | 453 m (1,486 ft) |
- coordinates | 33°16′07″N 100°0′37″W / 33.26861°N 100.01028°W |
Mouth | Gulf of Mexico |
- location | Brazoria County, Texas |
- elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
- coordinates | 28°52′33″N 95°22′42″W / 28.87583°N 95.37833°WCoordinates: 28°52′33″N 95°22′42″W / 28.87583°N 95.37833°W |
Length | 1,352 km (840 mi) |
Basin | 116,000 km2 (44,788 sq mi) |
Discharge | for Rosharon, TX |
- average | 237.5 m3/s (8,387 cu ft/s) |
- max | 2,390 m3/s (84,402 cu ft/s) |
- min | 0.76 m3/s (27 cu ft/s) |
Brazos River watershed
|
|
Website: Handbook of Texas: Brazos River | |
The Brazos River (i/ˈbræzəs/ BRAZZ-əs), called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios (translated as "The River of the Arms of God") by early Spanish explorers, is the 11th-longest river in the United States at 1,280 miles (2,060 km) from its headwater source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 45,000-square-mile (116,000 km2) drainage basin. It sometimes is used to mark the boundary between East Texas and West Texas.
The Brazos proper begins at the confluence of the Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork, two tributaries of the Upper Brazos that rise on the high plains of the Llano Estacado, flowing 840 miles (1,350 km) through the center of Texas. Another major tributary of the Upper Brazos is the Clear Fork Brazos River, which passes by Abilene and joins the main river near Graham. Important tributaries of the Lower Brazos include the Paluxy River, the Bosque River, the Little River, Yegua Creek, Nolan River, the Leon River, the San Gabriel River, the Lampasas River and the Navasota River.