The Gallegos River () is a river in the Argentine

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of Santa Cruz, on whose

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 ...

lies Río Gallegos city, capital of the province. Given that its basin reaches only the fringes of the Andes mountains it classifies as a sub-Andean river. The is contradicting information on where river is actually formed. According to one source it forms at the confluence of the rivers Rubens and Penitente. Yet according to another source Rubens River is just a tributary of Penitente River and Gallegos River originates further downstream at the confluence of the rivers Penitentes and Turbio. After traveling Gallegos River reaches the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Coast. On its way east, after crossing a wide

glaciated A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

canyon, it meets the tributaries Turbio, Cóndor, and Zurdo. In spite of this, the river's stream can be drastically reduced during the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

. The river, named after ''Blasco Gallegos'', one of the pilots of

Ferdinand Magellan Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the Eas ...

's expedition of 1520, is popular for fly fishing for brown trout, principally by tourists. Part of the drainage basin of the river lies in Chile's

Magallanes Region The Magallanes Region (), officially the Magallanes y la Antártica Chilena Region ( es, Región de Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena), is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. It is the southernmost, largest, and second lea ...

References

Rivers of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina Rivers of Argentina {{Argentina-river-stub