The Blanco River (Río Blanco) is a river of central

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

state in eastern Mexico. The Blanco's headwaters are in the mountains along the boundary between

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

and Veracruz states, from

Pico de Orizaba Pico de Orizaba, also known as Citlaltépetl (from Nahuatl = star, and = mountain), is an inactive stratovolcano, the highest mountain in Mexico and the third highest in North America, after Denali of Alaska in the United States and Mount Loga ...

, Mexico's highest peak, in the north to the

Sierra de Zongolica The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca is a mountain range in southern Mexico. It is primarily in the state of Oaxaca, and extends north into the states of Puebla and Veracruz. Geography The mountain range begins at Pico de Orizaba, and extends in a southeas ...

in the south, where the southeastern

Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt The Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt ( es, Eje Volcánico Transversal), also known as the Transvolcanic Belt and locally as the (''Snowy Mountain Range''), is an active volcanic belt that covers central-southern Mexico. Several of its highest peaks h ...

meets the northern end of the

Sierra Madre de Oaxaca The Sierra Madre de Oaxaca is a mountain range in southern Mexico. It is primarily in the state of Oaxaca, and extends north into the states of Puebla and Veracruz. Geography The mountain range begins at Pico de Orizaba, and extends in a southeas ...

. The upper Blanco forms a deep canyon, which is protected by

Cañón del Río Blanco National Park Cañón del Río Blanco National Park is protected natural area in Mexico's Veracruz state. Geography Cañón del Río Blanco National Park covers an area of 488 km2. The park includes the upper watershed of the Río Blanco, where the river has ...

. The river flows eastwards though the towns of

Orizaba Orizaba () is a city and municipality in the Mexican state of Veracruz. It is located 20 km west of its sister city Córdoba, and is adjacent to Río Blanco and Ixtaczoquitlán, on Federal Highways 180 and 190. The city had a 2005 census ...

and Córdoba before emerging onto the southern

Gulf Coastal Plain The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico. This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over most of Mississippi, wes ...

.Serrano J.D. (2012) Institutional Barriers for Effective Water Governance in Mexico: Study of the Central Gulf Hydrological Administrative Region X. In: Oswald Spring Ú. (eds) Water Resources in Mexico. Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace, vol 7. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-05432-7_33 The Alvarado Lagoon System is an extensive coastal wetland and

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

formed by the lower Blanco and

Papaloapan The Papaloapan River () is one of the main rivers of the Political divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Veracruz (state), Veracruz. Its name comes from the Nahuatl ''papaloapan'' meaning "river of the Butterfly, butterflies". In 1517, Juan de Gri ...

rivers, with lagoons, tidal channels, reed beds, mangroves, swamp forests, and coastal dunes."Sistema Lagunar Alvarado". Ramsar Sites Information Service, 2 February 2004. Accessed 11 October 2021

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References

{{Commons category Rivers of Veracruz Drainage basins of the Gulf of Mexico