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The Uruguay River ( es, Río Uruguay, ; pt, Rio Uruguai, ) is a major
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 ...
in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
. It flows from north to south and forms parts of the boundaries of
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 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
, and
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, separating some of the Argentine provinces of La Mesopotamia from the other two countries. It passes between the states of Santa Catarina and
Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a state in the southern region of Brazil. It is the fifth-most-populous state and the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is border ...
in Brazil; forms the eastern border of the provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, and Entre Ríos in Argentina; and makes up the western borders of the departments of Artigas, Salto, Paysandú, Río Negro, Soriano, and Colonia in Uruguay.


Course

The river measures about in length and starts in the Serra do Mar in Brazil, where the Canoas River and the
Pelotas River The Pelotas River ( Portuguese, ''Rio Pelotas'') () is a river in southern Brazil, and a tributary of the Uruguay River. The river originates in the Serra Geral at Alto do Bispo and flows northeast for before meeting the Canoas River, forming ...
are joined, at about
above mean sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. Th ...
. In this stage the river goes through uneven, broken terrain, forming
rapid Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade'' ...
s and falls. Its course through Rio Grande do Sul is not navigable An unusual feature of the Uruguay River is a submerged
canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cu ...
. This canyon formed during the Ice Age, when the climate was drier and the river was narrower. Its depth is up to below the bottom of the river channel and it is 1/8 to 1/3 as wide as the river. The canyon is only visible in two places, one of which is the Moconá Falls (also called the Yucumã Falls). However, the falls are not visible for 150 days per year and become more like rapids when they are not visible. Unlike most
waterfall 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 ...
s, the Moconá Falls are
parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster o ...
to the river, not
perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It c ...
. The falls are to high and between and wide. They are from the mouth of the river. The Turvo State Park, created in 1947, protects the Brazilian side of the falls. Together with the
Paraná River The Paraná River ( es, Río Paraná, links=no , pt, Rio Paraná, gn, Ysyry Parana) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Br ...
, the Uruguay forms the Río de la Plata
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 environm ...
. It is navigable from around
Salto Chico Saltomay refer to: Places Settlements * Salto, Buenos Aires, Argentina ** Salto Partido, a provincial subdivision * Salto, São Paulo, Brazil * Salto, Cape Verde * Salto, Cidra, Puerto Rico * Salto, San Sebastián, Puerto Rico * Salto, Portuga ...
. Its main
tributary 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 drai ...
is the Río Negro, which is born in the south of Brazil and goes through Uruguay for 500 km until its
confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
with the Uruguay River, which is located 100 km north of the Uruguay's confluence with the Río de la Plata, in
Punta Gorda, Colonia Department Punta Gorda is a landform in Colonia Department, Uruguay. According to the Treaty between Uruguay and Argentina concerning the Rio de la Plata and the Corresponding Maritime Boundary The Treaty between Uruguay and Argentina concerning the Rio ...
, Uruguay. The river is crossed by five international bridges called (from north to south):
Integration Bridge The International Bridge of Integration, also known as International Bridge São Borja - St. Thomas, is a bridge across the Uruguay River, which connects the cities of São Borja in Brazil and Santo Tomé in Argentina Argentina (), offi ...
and Paso de los Libres-Uruguaiana International Bridge, between Argentina and Brazil; and the
Salto Grande Bridge The Salto Grande Bridge is a road and railroad bridge that crosses the Uruguay River and joins Argentina and Uruguay. It is built on top of the Salto Grande Dam. The bridge runs between Concordia, Entre Ríos Province, Argentina, and Salto, ...
, General Artigas Bridge and
Libertador General San Martín Bridge The Libertador General San Martín Bridge ( es, Puente Libertador General San Martín) is a Cantilever bridge, cantilever road bridge that crosses the Uruguay River and joins Argentina and Uruguay. It runs between Puerto Unzué, near Gualeguaychú ...
between Argentina and Uruguay. The
drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
of the Uruguay River has an area of . Its main economic use is the generation of
hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...
and it is dammed in its lower portion by the
Salto Grande Dam The Salto Grande Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Uruguay River, located between Concordia, Argentina, and Salto, Uruguay; thus shared between the two countries. The construction of the dam began in 1974 and was completed in 1979. Power i ...
and by the Itá Dam upstream in Brazil.


Origin of the name

The name of the river tends to comes from the Spanish settlers' interpretation of the
Guaraní language Guaraní (), specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani ( "the people's language"), is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of ...
word the inhabitants of the region used to designate it. There are several interpretations, including "the river of the uru (an indigenous bird)", and "
iver of Iver is a large civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park. Geography, transport and economy Part of the 43-square ...
the uruguá" (an indigenous
gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...
, '' Pomella megastoma'').


Cellulose plant conflict

Argentina and Uruguay experienced a conflict over the construction of
pulp mill A pulp mill is a manufacturing facility that converts wood chips or other plant fiber sources into a thick fiber board which can be shipped to a paper mill for further processing. Pulp can be manufactured using mechanical, semi-chemical, or ...
s on the Uruguay River. Two European companies, ENCE and Botnia, proposed building
cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wa ...
processing plants at
Fray Bentos Fray Bentos () is the capital city of the Río Negro Department, in south-western Uruguay, at the Argentina-Uruguay border, near the Argentine city of Gualeguaychú. Its port on the Uruguay River is one of the nation's most important harbours ...
, Uruguay, opposite Gualeguaychú, Argentina. According to a 1975 treaty, Argentina and Uruguay were supposed to jointly agree on matters relating to the Uruguay River. Argentina alleged that Uruguay broke the treaty. Additionally, Argentina believed the Finnish company Botnia was polluting the fish and the overall environment of the river while Uruguay believed that the plant was not depositing a large amount of toxins in the Uruguay River. Starting in April 2005, residents of Gualeguaychú, as well as many others, protested, claiming that the plants would pollute the river shared by the two countries. Early in 2006, the conflict escalated into a
diplomatic crisis {{Refimprove, date=December 2011 An international incident (or diplomatic incident) is a seemingly relatively small or limited action, incident or clash that results in a wider dispute between two or more nation-states. International incidents can ...
, compelling one of the companies move the project south. Beginning in December 2005, the international bridges linking the Argentine province of Entre Ríos with Uruguay were intermittently blockaded by Argentine protesters, causing major disruptions in commercial traffic and tourism. In 2006, Argentina brought the dispute before the
International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordan ...
. The ICJ completed hearings between Argentina and Uruguay regarding the dispute on October 2, 2009. In 2010, the court ruled that although Uruguay failed to inform Argentina of the construction of the pulp mills, the mills did not pollute the river, so closing the remaining pulp mill would be unjustified. Later in 2010, Argentina and Uruguay created a joint commission to coordinate activities on the river.


Links across the Uruguay

The course of the Uruguay is crossed by the following bridges, beginning upstream:


See also

*
List of rivers of the Americas This is a list of rivers of the Americas, it includes major historical or physiological significant rivers of the Americas grouped by region where they are located (Central America, Northern America, West Indies and South Americas). The longest ...
* Geography of Uruguay *
Tributaries of the Río de la Plata 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 drainage ...


References


External links

*
Salto Grande Hydroelectric System
* * *
"Map of the Uruguay River from Yapeyu to the Farm of Sn. Gregorio"
from 1784 {{Authority control Rivers of Santa Catarina (state) Rivers of Rio Grande do Sul Rivers of Uruguay Rivers of Argentina Argentina–Brazil border Argentina–Uruguay border International rivers of South America Border rivers Rivers of Misiones Province Rivers of Entre Ríos Province Rivers of Corrientes Province