The Carcarañá River (
Spanish, Arroyo Saladillo or Río Saladillo) is a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
. It begins at the confluence of the
Río Tercero and the Saladillo River (the lower course of the
Río Cuarto) in the south-east of the province of
Córdoba (near
Cruz Alta, at ) and flows eastward into the province of
Santa Fe, which it crosses.
In Santa Fe the river first turns south, then east and finally north-east, passing by the city of
Carcarañá. It receives the waters of the Cañada de Gómez (near
the city of the same name, at ), develops
cascades and becomes constrained within
ravine
A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion. Ravines are typically classified as larger in scale than gullies, although smaller than valleys. Ravines may also be called a cleuch, dell, ...
s up to high. It then turns north and empties into the
Coronda River (''Río Coronda'') or ''Riacho Coronda''
), south of
Gaboto. The Coronda empties into the
Paraná River
The Paraná River ( ; ; ) is a river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some ."Parana River". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. ...
about below the mouth of the Carcarañá, at .
The Carcarañá
basin comprises 2 percent of the territory of Santa Fe and 4 percent of its population lives within it. It has a total length of and it is navigable only by medium ships. It passes by or near the cities and towns of
Inriville,
Los Surgentes and Cruz Alta in Córdoba, and
Arteaga,
San José de la Esquina,
Los Nogales,
Arequito,
Los Molinos,
Casilda
Casilda is a city in the provinces of Argentina, province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe, Argentina. It is the head town of the Caseros Department, and lies about west of Rosario and 202 km south-southwest of the provincial capital Santa Fe, ...
, Carcarañá,
Andino and Gaboto in Santa Fe, traversing one of the richest agricultural districts in the world.
The Carcarañá's potential for the generation of
hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...
was taken advantage of since the 19th century and until the 1930s.
History
The mouth of the Carcarañá River was the location of the first European settlement in the
Río de la Plata
The Río de la Plata (; ), also called the River Plate or La Plata River in English, is the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River at Punta Gorda, Colonia, Punta Gorda. It empties into the Atlantic Ocean and ...
region and present-day Argentina. In 1527
Sebastian Cabot, a
Venetian at the service of
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 ...
, established the
Sancti Spiritus Fort there. Years later this was also the meeting point of
Juan de Garay, founder of the city of Santa Fe, and the envoy of
Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, founder of
Córdoba.
References
External links
''Santa Fe - Hidrografía''- Website of
Timbúes, Santa Fe, with historical information.
Satellite view of the city of Carcarañá
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carcarana River
Rivers of Argentina
Rivers of Córdoba Province, Argentina
Rivers of Santa Fe Province
Tributaries of the Paraná River