The Palizada River is a river in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributar ...

of the

Usumacinta River The Usumacinta River (; named after the howler monkey) is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz (Guatemala), Sierra de Santa Cruz ...

. It branches from the lower Usumacinta and flows northeastwards, emptying into a complex of lagoons (Viejo, Santa Gertrudis, and El Vapor) connected to

Laguna de Términos Laguna de Términos is the largest tidal lagoon by volume located entirely on the Gulf of Mexico, as well as one of the most biodiverse. Exchanging water with several rivers and lagoons, the Laguna is part of the most important hydrographic riv ...

, a coastal lagoon of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

.Bach, L., Calderon, R., Cepeda, M. F., Oczkowski, A., Olsen, S.B., Robadue, D. (2005). ''Level One Site Profile: Laguna de Términos and its Watershed, Mexico''. Narragansett, RI: Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhode Island. The town of

Palizada Palizada () is a city in the Mexican state of Campeche. It is situated in the south-west the state. It serves as the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of the same name. As of 2010, the Palizada had a population of 3,089. Paliz ...

is on the river. The Palizada provides about 75% of the freshwater inflow to the Laguna de Términos. The river's flow varies seasonally, generally highest during October and November, and declining from December to June. The Palizada is an important source of nutrients for the adjacent wetlands and lagoons. The Palizada flows through the

Pantanos de Centla The Pantanos de Centla (Centla swamps) are wooded wetlands along the coast in state of Tabasco in Mexico. They have been protected since 2006 with the establishment of the Pantanos de Centla Biosphere Reserve. It is also a World Wildlife Fund ...

, a large seasonally- and permanently-flooded freshwater swamp forest. As it nears the Laguna de Términos, fresh and salt waters mix, supporting the extensive

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

. The mangroves along the lower Palizada are the tallest and best developed in the region, with trees reaching up to 30 meters in height.

References

*Atlas of Mexico, 1975 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/atlas_mexico/river_basins.jpg). *The Prentice Hall American World Atlas, 1984. *Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993. Rivers of Mexico Usumacinta River Gulf Coast of Mexico Geography of Campeche {{Mexico-river-stub

See also

References