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 the
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of Santa Cruz. The name Deseado comes from the English ''Desire'', the name of one of the two ships commanded by John Davis during the
Thomas Cavendish
Sir Thomas Cavendish (1560 – May 1592) was an English explorer and a privateer known as "The Navigator" because he was the first who deliberately tried to emulate Sir Francis Drake and raid the Spanish towns and ships in the Pacific and ret ...
expedition of 1592.
The source of the river is located as the Fénix River some kilometers north of the Buenos Aires Lake in the northwestern part of the province at the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
range. Originally, if then flowed into the lake (and the via Rio Baker into the Pacific). In 1898, a canal was built that turned it into today's Rio Deseado, flowing for before reaching the
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
Coast. On its way southeast, its water is tapped for
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
. Its
tributaries
A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ('' 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 into which the ...
include the
Pinturas River
The Pinturas River (, Spanish for Painted River or River of Paintings) is a river in Patagonia, Argentina, running through the Pinturas River Canyon, near the Cueva de las Manos archeological site. The river's main tributary is the Ecker River. Th ...
.
The river sometimes disappears under the arid terrain, to re-emerge before reaching
Puerto Deseado
Puerto Deseado, originally called Port Desire, is a city of about 15,000 inhabitants and a fishing port in Patagonia in Santa Cruz Province of Argentina, on the estuary of the Deseado River.
It was named ''Port Desire'' by the privateer Thomas ...
on Santa Cruz's coastline, where it produces a deep-water natural port. The river's outlet has become submerged and flooded by seawater, creating an estuary. In 1977, this was set aside as a nature reserve, the ''Reserva Natural Ría Deseado''.