The Paraíba do Sul (), or simply termed Paraíba, is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
in
southeast Brazil
The Southeast Region of Brazil ( pt, Região Sudeste do Brasil; ) is composed of the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo State, São Paulo. It is the richest region of the country, responsi ...
. It flows west to northeast from its farthest source at the source of the river
Paraitinga to the sea near
Campos dos Goytacazes
Campos dos Goytacazes () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with a population of 471,737 inhabitants.
Location
Campos dos Goytacazes has an area of 4,032 km2 (1,557 s ...
. The river receives its name when it meets the river
Paraibuna at the Paraibuna dam.
Its main
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...
are the rivers
Jaguari,
Buquira,
Paraibuna,
Preto,
Pomba and
Muriaé
Muriaé is a municipality in southeast Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It is located in the Zona da Mata region and its population in 2020 (IBGE) was approximately 109,392 inhabitants.
Important Facts
*Municipal Limits
Ervália, Santana de Cata ...
. These last two are the longest and join the main river and from the
mouth respectively .
The valley of the Paraíba do Sul ranges from the latitudes 20°26' and 23°39'S and the longitudes of 41° and 46°30'W and covers an area of about distributed over three states. The main economic activities are industry and cattle raising.
Navigation
Presently only two parts of the river can be navigated:
* The lower section, between the mouth and
São Fidélis
São Fidélis () is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, an ...
, about 90 km. It has a declivity of 22 cm/km. There is incipient navigation carried out by small boats that transport mainly construction material to the city of Campos dos Goytacazes.
* The upper middle section, between
Cachoeira Paulista
Cachoeira Paulista is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte, in the Guaratinguetá Microregion.
It is located at latitude 22º39'54 "south and longitude 45º0 ...
and
Guararema
Guararema is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 30,136 (2020 est.) in an area of 270.82 km².
The Florestan Fernandes School of the Landless Workers' Mo ...
, about . Despite the small declivity of 19 cm/km, navigation is restricted to tourist boats.
Elsewhere navigation is hampered by various obstacles;
waterfalls
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several w ...
,
rapids, sections with great declivity and various
hydroelectric works with no
locks
Lock(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
*Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance
*Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal
Arts and entertainment
* ''Lock ...
.
Other factors impeding navigation are the existence of highway and railway bridges, the proximity of roads and railways following the riverbank and the location of several cities on its banks.
Centres of population
The
Paraíba Valley
The Paraíba Valley ( pt, Vale do Paraíba) is a landform that encompasses the regions: Paraíba Valley Metropolitan Region and Northern Coast, in the state of São Paulo and Sul-Fluminense Region, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which stands out ...
is very fertile and has always been a region of relatively dense population. Cities located on or near the river are
*
State of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil. It has the second largest economy of Brazil, with the largest being that of the state of São Paulo. The state, which has 8.2% of the Brazilian population, is responsible for 9.2% of ...
:
**
Barra do Piraí
Barra do Piraí () is a municipality of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. It is located at latitude 22º28'12" South and longitude 43º49'32" East. Its population is 100,764 (2020) and its area is 578.471 km². It is 114 km from Ri ...
**
Barra Mansa
Barra Mansa is a Brazilian municipality located in the south of the state of Rio de Janeiro.
It is in the microregion of the Paraíba Valley, within the mesoregion of the South Fluminense. It is located at latitude 22º32'39 "south, longitude 44 ...
**
Três Rios
Três Rios (, ) is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. As of 2020 its population was an estimated 82,142 inhabitants, and its area is around . The current mayor of Três Rios is Joacir Barbaglio Pereira (known as Jo ...
**
Paraiba do Sul
**
Sapucaia
**
Campos dos Goytacazes
Campos dos Goytacazes () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the northern region of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, with a population of 471,737 inhabitants.
Location
Campos dos Goytacazes has an area of 4,032 km2 (1,557 s ...
- center of a rich
sugar cane
Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...
growing area
**
Vassouras
Vassouras (, lit. 'Brooms') is a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous ...
- site of a highly respected agricultural university
**
Volta Redonda
Volta Redonda () is the name of a municipality in the Rio de Janeiro state of Brazil with an area of 182.81 km2, located from 350m to 707m above the sea level (22°31'23" S, 44°06'15" W) and with a population of 273,988 inhabitants (estima ...
- site of Brazil's first steel industry)
*
State of São Paulo
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
:
**
Aparecida
Aparecida is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. It is located in the fertile valley of the River Paraíba do Sul on the southern (right) bank. It is part of the Metropolitan Region o ...
- site of Brazil's most famous
Marian
Marian may refer to:
People
* Mari people, a Finno-Ugric ethnic group in Russia
* Marian (given name), a list of people with the given name
* Marian (surname), a list of people so named
Places
* Marian, Iran (disambiguation)
* Marian, Queenslan ...
pilgrimage site
**
Guaratinguetá
Guaratinguetá is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 122,505 (2020 est.) in an area of 752.64 km2. It is located in the region of ...
**
São José dos Campos
São José dos Campos (, meaning Saint Joseph of the Fields) is a major city and the seat of the municipality of the same name in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. One of the leading industrial and research centers with emphasis in aerospace scien ...
- high-tech industry and home to
Embraer
Embraer S.A. () is a Brazilian multinational aerospace manufacturer that produces commercial, military, executive and agricultural aircraft, and provides aeronautical services. It was founded in 1969 in São José dos Campos, São Paulo, where i ...
, Brazil's aircraft manufacturer
**
Taubaté
Taubaté is a medium-sized city in the State of São Paulo, in southeastern Brazil.
Location
Its strategic location between the two most important Brazilian cities (São Paulo away, and Rio de Janeiro away), connected to both by the President ...
-
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
and
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
plants
*
State of Minas Gerais:
**
Além Paraíba
Além Paraíba is a city in the southeastern Zona da Mata region of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The name indicates its position on the far bank (from Rio de Janeiro) of the Rio Paraíba do Sul. It was known as ''São José d'Além Parahyba'' until 1 ...
**
Estrela Dalva
**
Juiz de Fora
Juiz de Fora (, '' Outsider Judge''), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to 2020 estimates the current population is about 57 ...
- Important manufacturing city on the
Paraibuna River, one of the major tributaries of the Paraíba.
Ecology
Unlike rivers in northern Brazil where seasonal variations in water temperature generally are relatively limited, those in southern Brazil, such as Paraíba do Sul, exhibit distinct differences between winter and summer. During a survey of the river in
Lorena, São Paulo
Lorena is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil.
General
Lorena is part of the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Paraíba e Litoral Norte. The population is 89,125 (2020 est.) in an area of 414.16 km2. The elevation is 524 m, afte ...
, the water varied from in the summer to in the winter.
[Napoleão, D.A.; Filho, H.J.; Siqueira, A.F; Guimarães, O.L.; Gomes, M.A.; and Castro, R.T. (2012). ]
Monitoramento da qualidade da água do rio paraíba do sul no município de Lorena-SP.
'' The
pH is neutral and generally fluctuates between 6 and 8.
[
The Paraíba do Sul basin is home to just above 100 native fish species with most in the families ]Loricariidae
The Loricariidae is the largest family of catfish (order Siluriformes), with 92 genera and just over 680 species. Loricariids originate from freshwater habitats of Costa Rica, Panama, and tropical and subtropical South America. These fish are not ...
, Characidae
Characidae, the characids or characins is a family of freshwater subtropical and tropical fish, belonging to the order Characiformes. The name "characins" is the historical one, but scientists today tend to prefer "characids" to reflect their ...
and Trichomycteridae
Trichomycteridae is a family of catfishes commonly known as pencil catfishes or parasitic catfishes. This family includes the candiru fish (''Vandellia cirrhosa''), feared by some people for its alleged habit of entering into the urethra of hum ...
.[Hales, J.; and Petry, P: ]
Paraiba do Sul.
'' Freshwater Ecoregions of the World. Retrieved 27 August 2014. About 40% of the fish species in the river basin are endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
(the genus ''Oligobrycon
''Oligobrycon microstomus'' is a species of characin endemic to Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over ...
'' is entirely restricted to the basin)[ and new species have been discovered in recent years, including the small catfish '' Pareiorhina hyptiorhachis'' that only was ]scientifically described
A species description is a formal description of a newly discovered species, usually in the form of a scientific paper. Its purpose is to give a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differs from species that have be ...
in 2013.
As a consequence of flowing through one of the most densely populated and industrialised parts of Brazil, the Paraíba do Sul suffers from pollution.[Calza, C.; Anjosa, M.J.; Castroa, C.R.F.; Barrosob, R.C.; Araujoc, F.G.; and Lopesa, R.T. (2004). ''Evaluation of heavy metals levels in the Paraíba do Sul River by SRTXRF in muscle, gonads and gills of Geophagus brasiliensis.'' Radiation Physics and Chemistry 71: 787–788.]ICMBio
The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...
(2011).
Plano de Ação Nacional para Conservação das Espécies Aquáticas da Bacia do Rio Paraíba do Sul.
' Série Espécies Ameaçadas 16. Studies of the native cichlid ''Geophagus brasiliensis
The pearl cichlid (''Geophagus brasiliensis'') is a species of fish in the cichlid family. It is native to southeastern Brazil (north to Bahia), Paraguay, Uruguay and far northeastern Argentina,Mattos, J.L.O., Costa, W.J.E.M. & Santos, A.C.A. (2 ...
'' have found that levels of some heavy metals exceed the limits set by the Brazilian Food Legislation.[ Other threats are ]dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
s and the approximately 70 introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...
,[ including 46 species of non-native fish][Magalhães, A.L.B.; and Jacobi, C.M. (2008). ]
Ornamental exotic fish introduced into Atlantic Forest water bodies, Brazil.
' Neotropical Biology and Conservation 3(2): 73-77. and the parasitic copepod ''Lernaea
''Lernaea'' is a genus of copepod crustaceans whose members are commonly called ''anchor worms'' and are parasitic on freshwater fishes.
Life cycle
Anchor worms mate during the last free-swimming (copepodid) stage of development. After mating, th ...
cyprinacea''. Several native species (e.g., '' Brycon insignis,'' '' Pogonopoma parahybae''[ and '']Steindachneridion
''Steindachneridion'' is a genus of South American pimelodid catfish ( order Siluriformes).
Taxonomy
The first species of the genus, ''S. parahybae'', was described in 1877 by Franz Steindachner under the name ''Platystoma parahybae''. Later, ...
parahybae'') are seriously threatened, and a general fall in abundance and species richness
Species richness is the number of different species represented in an ecological community, landscape or region. Species richness is simply a count of species, and it does not take into account the abundances of the species or their relative ab ...
has been observed.[ Some, such as the endemic '']Hypostomus
''Hypostomus'' is a genus of catfish in the family Loricariidae. They are native to tropical and subtropical South America. '' H. plecostomus'' is the popular freshwater aquarium fish formerly known as ''Plecostomus plecostomus''. The taxonomic ...
auroguttatus'', have successfully adapted to the changes. The catfish ''Potamarius
''Potamarius'' is a genus of sea catfishes. The three species in this genus exclusively inhabit fresh water in southern Mexico and Guatemala. The individual species have relatively small ranges. The highly endangered '' Paragenidens grandoculis ...
grandoculis'' is only known from the vicinity of the mouth of the Paraíba do Sul and Doce Rivers, but it may already be extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
.ICMBio
The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation ( Portuguese: ''Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade'', ICMBio) is the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment's administrative arm."Brazilian Federal Law 11.516/2007 (Por ...
(Ministry of the Environment, Brazil)
Portaria MMA nº 445, de 17 de dezembro de 2014
Lista de Especies Ameaçadas - Saiba Mais. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
Other threatened species in the Paraíba do Sul basin are the bivalves '' Diplodon dunkerianus'', '' D. expansus'' and '' D. fontaineanus'', and the Hoge's side-necked turtle
Hoge's sideneck turtle ''(Ranacephala hogei)'' is a species of turtle in the family Chelidae. It is the only member of the genus ''Ranacephala''. The species is endemic to the eastern Atlantic Forest of Brazil, primarily in the Carangola River ...
(''Mesoclemmys hogei'').[
A national conservation plan with recommendations for the river basin was published in 2010.][
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paraiba Do Sul
Rivers of Minas Gerais
Rivers of Rio de Janeiro (state)
Rivers of São Paulo (state)