Caroni River (Venezuela)
| Caroni River | |
|---|---|
| Country | Venezuela |
| Basin features | |
| Main source | Confluence of the Kuquenan- and the Yuruani Rivers 2,650 m (8,690 ft) |
| River mouth | Orinoco River in Ciudad Guayana |
| Basin size | 95,000 km2 (37,000 sq mi) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Length | 952 km (592 mi) |
| Discharge |
|
The Caroni River is the second most important river of Venezuela, the second in flow, and one of the longest, 952 kilometres (592 mi) from the Tepui Kuquenan, where it originates with the same name Kuquenan, up to its confluence with the River Orinoco to which it belongs. The name "Caroni" is applied starting from the confluence of the Kuquenan with the Yuruani, at 182 kilometres (113 mi) from the source of the Kuquenan and 770 kilometres (480 mi) from its discharge in the Orinoco. The meeting takes place in the south of Venezuela, in Bolivar State, being the most important tributary of the Orinoco, mostly because of the high discharge rate. The higher basin of the Caroni is situated in the Gran Sabana (Canaima National Park) close to the border with Brazil.
The Caroni is one of the rivers with the highest discharge rates in the world, with respect to the area of its basin. The average discharge is 4,850 cubic metres per second (171,000 cu ft/s), with variations caused by the wet/dry seasons. The average maximum discharge is 6,260 cubic metres per second (221,000 cu ft/s), and the average minimum is 3,570 cubic metres per second (126,000 cu ft/s). Among the historic extremes are 17,576 cubic metres per second (620,700 cu ft/s). The Caroni supplies 15.5 percent of the discharge of the Orinoco river. One of the characteristics of Caroni's water is the dark color, caused by the high amount of humic acids due to the incomplete decomposition of the phenol content of the vegetation. The Caroni therefore belongs to the blackwater rivers, as does the Negro River, or Rio Negro in Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia. In the late 1940s diamonds were found in the Caroni basin near the famous Lost World Region which then was accessible only by aircraft and four wheel drive vehicles.
The river drains the Guayanan Highlands moist forests ecoregion. The Caroni basin covers 95,000 square kilometres (37,000 sq mi) and is part of the Orinoco basin, the most important river of Venezuela. This means for the two big rivers that they have very similar hydrographic characteristics. The Caroni itself and its tributary the Paragua are rivers with a staircase, in the sense that many falls and rapids are alternated with stretches with gentle slopes, with many meanders and oxbow lakes (naturally cut off meanders). Among the most important falls of these rivers and their tributaries may be mentioned the Angel Falls, with the highest free fall of the world, almost 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), and the Cuquenan Falls, the tenth on the world scale with a 610-metre (2,000 ft) free fall. Others are falls with less height but with a high volume of water, like the Aponwao Falls and the Caruay Falls, and rivers with these names: the Toron River, the Eutobarima River, the falls of the Llovizna River and the Cachamay River, these last three in the Caroni itself and the last just before its discharge into the Orinoco.
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Wikipedia