The Autana River (Río Autana) is a

blackwater river A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black tea ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, a tributary of the

Sipapo River Sipapo River is a river of Venezuela. It is part of the Orinoco River basin. See also *List of rivers of Venezuela This is a list of rivers in Venezuela. By drainage basin This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries ind ...

in the middle

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

basin.Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993.

Course

Its headwaters lie in the western portion of the

Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield (french: Plateau des Guyanes, Bouclier guyanais; nl, Hoogland van Guyana, Guianaschild; pt, Planalto das Guianas, Escudo das Guianas; es, Escudo guayanés) is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a ...

, north of the

Ventuari River The Ventuari River is the largest tributary of the Orinoco in southern Venezuela. The Ventuari flows from south-central Venezuela in the Guiana Highlands southwest into the Orinoco River. It is long and its major tributary is the Manapiare River ...

. It flows in a generally westerly direction and drains into the right margin of the Sipapo River near Lake Guiripipi (Laguna Guiripipi). One of its major tributaries is the Caño Negro, which enters from the right at .

Notes and references

Rivers of Venezuela {{Venezuela-river-stub