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 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