Arque River is one of the headwaters of
Río Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Me ...
and
Mamoré River
The Mamoré is a large river in Brazil and Bolivia which unites with the Madre de Dios River to form the Madeira, one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon. It rises on the northern slope of the Sierra de Cochabamba, east of the city of Cochaba ...
in
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
.
The Arque has its source in the
Kimsa Cruz mountain range on the western slope of the mountain Waylluma at , 50 km northeast of the mining city
Oruro
Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level.
It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...
, and 65 km southwest of
Cochabamba
Cochabamba (; ) is a city and municipality in central Bolivia in a valley in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital (political), capital of the Cochabamba Department and the list of cities in Bolivia, fourth largest city in Bolivia, with ...
.
The river flows 50 km in a southeasterly direction before it turns northeast. At kilometer 58, there is the provincial capital
Arque on the northern bank of the river, at kilometer 72 the village Umani on the southern bank, and at kilometer 85 the town of
Capinota on the northern bank.
The watershed of Arque River comprises 2,224 km
2. At Capinota, the base flow of the river is 2 to 2.5 m
3/s. However, when the river rises during the
rainy season
The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Rainy Season may also refer to:
* ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King
* "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni
* '' ...
(November–April), the flow can be up to 900 m
3/s. The sediments which Arque River carries in the rainy season can be up to 120 g/L.
After a total of 88 km the Arque joins
Rocha River at {{Coord, 17, 42, 10, S, 66, 14, 45, W at an elevation of 2,350 m to form
Caine River. Caine River, after another 162 km, merges into ''Rìo Grande'' which after a total of 1,438 km from the source of Rocha River joins
Ichilo River.
Arque