The Tajuña (; from the Latin ''Tagonius'') is a river in central

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, flowing through the provinces of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. It is a tributary of the river

Jarama Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jaram ...

which in turn is a tributary of the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

. It rises in the Sierra de Solorio, near the town of Maranchón (Guadalajara), at a location known as ''Fuente del Carro'' near the village of Clares.

Course

Near its source it flows through a landscape of high altitude

moorland Moorland or moor is a type of Habitat (ecology), habitat found in upland (geology), upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and the biomes of montane grasslands and shrublands, characterised by low-growing vegetation on So ...

s, through deep valleys of

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

era

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, characterised by

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...

s and dolomitic

. It has one

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

, ''La Tajera'', with an extension of 409 ha near Cifuentes. It crosses the villages of

Luzón Luzón is a municipality of Spain located in the province of Guadalajara, autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. According to the 2012 census of the INE, the municipality has a population of only 79 inhabitants, having undergone a severe pop ...

, Anguita,

Luzaga Luzaga is a village and municipality in the province of Guadalajara, Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Luzaga's Bronze, one of the most significant known examples of Celtiberian script The Celtiberian script is ...

, Cortes de Tajuña,

Brihuega Brihuega is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Spain. According to the 2007 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 2,835 inhabitants. In 1710 a hard-fought battle took place in the township between Lord Stanhope ...

and Renera in Guadalajara province and enters Madrid province at

Ambite Ambite () is a municipality in the province of Madrid in central Spain. It belongs to the comarca of Alcalá. It has 648 inhabitants ( INE 2022) in an area of , with a population density of 14.69 hab/km2. It lies above sea level. Ambite is home ...

; it then passes close to Orusco,

Carabaña Carabaña () is a small municipality in the autonomous community of Madrid in central Spain. It is located 50 km from Madrid close to the Autovía A-3, the main highway to Valencia, on the banks of the Tajuña River at a height of 625 m ab ...

, Tielmes,

Perales de Tajuña Perales (Spanish: ''pear trees'') may refer to: Places * Perales, Palencia, Castile and León, Spain * Perales, Los Santos, Panama * Perales del Alfambra, in Teruel, Aragón, Spain * Perales del Puerto, in Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain * Perale ...

and Morata de Tajuña, before joining the Jarama near Titulcia.

Climate

The climate in the river basin is Mediterranean, getting more arid closer to the Jarama. Rainfall is more frequent in autumn and winter.

Morphology

Being an internal river, its tributaries in the province of Guadalajara are seasonal streams which only contain water in spring. The Tajuña gets its water from springs and from the ''Calizas del Páramo de la Alcarria'' aquifer which covers 1,800 km² at a depth of 30–40 m.

References

* Spanish Wikipedia article {{DEFAULTSORT:Tajuna Rivers of Spain Rivers of the Community of Madrid Rivers of Castilla–La Mancha Tributaries of the Jarama