The Teusacá River is a river in the
Eastern Hills of Bogotá and on the
Bogotá savanna. It is a left tributary of the
Bogotá River, Colombia. The river of long originates at an elevation of at the Alto Los Tunjos,
Santa Fe, and flows northward through the municipalities
La Calera,
Guasca,
Sopó, to flow into the Bogotá River in
Cajicá at an elevation of . The upper part of the Teusacá River basin has a
páramo
Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
ecosystem with the páramos of
Chingaza,
El Verjón and
Cruz Verde surrounding the river. The
San Rafael Reservoir in La Calera, important water source for the Colombian capital, is sourced by the Teusacá River.
Etymology
Teusacá is derived from
Muysccubun, the indigenous language of the
Muisca, who inhabited the
Altiplano Cundiboyacense before the
Spanish conquest. Teusacá was the name of a settlement in the
Muisca Confederation
The Muisca Confederation was a loose confederation of different Muisca rulers (''zaques'', ''zipas'', '' iraca'', and ''tundama'') in the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombia before the Spanish conquest of northern South America. The ...
, possibly in the Teusacá basin between Guasca and
Usaquén.
[Broadbent, 1974, p.123]
Description
The long Teusacá River originates at an elevation of on the Alto Los Tunjos,
El Verjón Páramo
EL, El or el may refer to:
Religion
* El (deity), a Semitic word for "God"
People
* EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer
* El DeBarge, music artist
* El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American ...
, in the locality
Santa Fe in the
Eastern Hills of
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
and flows northward to
La Calera.
[Ecoforest, s.a., p.6][Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.56] In this municipality the
San Rafael Reservoir, important water source of Bogotá, is located in the Teusacá River basin.
[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.40] The Teusacá River continues northward through
Guasca and flows to the northwest in
Sopó and
Tocancipá
Tocancipá () is a municipality and town of Colombia in the Central Savanna Province, part of the department of Cundinamarca. Tocancipá is situated in the northern part of the Bogotá savanna, part of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Easte ...
. North of the urban centre of
Cajicá, the Teusacá River flows into the
Bogotá River at an elevation of .
[ Tiny parts of Chía and Ubaque are part of the Teusacá River basin that has a total area of .][Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.39][Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.47] The precipitation in the basin varies from per year.[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.53]
Climate and vegetation
The maximum temperature ranges from and the minimum oscillates between .[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.54] The maximum discharge has been registered in August, with and the minimum in March with .[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.57]
The vegetation ranges from páramo
Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
to Andean forests with characteristic species '' Illex kunthiana'', '' Myrcianthes leucoxyla'', ''Myrsine guianensis
''Myrsine'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Primulaceae. It was formerly placed in the family Myrsinaceae before this was merged into the Primulaceae. It is found nearly worldwide, primarily in tropical and subtropical areas. It c ...
'', ''Miconia squamulosa
''Miconia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the glory bush family, Melastomataceae, native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Americas. The species are mostly shrubs and small to medium-sized trees up to 15 m tall. The generic ...
'', '' Clethra fimbriata'', '' Arcythophylum muticum'', '' Baccharis rupicola'', '' Hydrocotyle bonplandii'', ''Hypericum thuyoides
''Hypericum'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae (formerly considered a subfamily of Clusiaceae). The genus has a nearly worldwide distribution, missing only from tropical lowlands, deserts and polar regions. Many ''H ...
'', ''Paepalanthus columbiensis
''Paepalanthus'' is a genus of plants in the family Eriocaulaceae. It has about 300-400 species, native mostly to tropical Africa and Latin America, with a few species in Japan and Madagascar.Trovó, M. & Takeo Sano, P. (2010). Taxonomic survey o ...
'', ''Cladonia clavatum
''Cladonia'' is a genus of moss-like lichens in the family Cladoniaceae. They are the primary food source for reindeer/caribou. ''Cladonia'' species are of economic importance to reindeer-herders, such as the Sami in Scandinavia or the Nenets ...
'' and '' Weinmannia tomentosa''.[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, pp.59-61] The total number of bird species counted is 307, with other fauna as mammals, reptiles and amphibians registered.[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.62] The Chingaza National Natural Park and Páramo de Cruz Verde
Páramo () can refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
are located to the east of the Teusacá River.[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.75]
Geology
The Teusacá River basin is located in a synclinal in the Eastern Ranges of the Colombian Andes, with the Late Cretaceous Guadalupe Group, the Upper Cretaceous to Paleocene Guaduas, the Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...
Cacho and Bogotá Formations, and younger unconformable Neogene formations present in the Teusacá synclinal.[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.48][Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.52][Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.55][Montoya & Reyes, 2005, p.57] The synclinal is bounded to the west by the Teusacá Fault, a north-south trending thrust fault dipping to the east, thrusting the members of the older Guadalupe group on top of the Guaduas Formation.[Montoya & Reyes, 2005, pp.78-79] In the Teusacá River basin, 25 quarries for carbon and construction materials are active.[Muñoz & Beltrán, 2010, p.51]
Gallery
File:Paragliding over Represa San Rafael.JPG, Paragliding over the San Rafael Reservoir
File:Gran frailejon.jpg, The Páramo de Cruz Verde is in the Teusacá River basin
File:Sendero a la Cruz.jpg, Sendero de la Cruz walking trail
File:Rio Bogota map.png, Teusacá River flowing into the Bogotá River just north of the 2550 m mark
See also
*List of rivers of Colombia
Atlantic Ocean
Amazon River Basin
* Amazon River
** Guainía River or Negro River
*** Vaupés River or Uaupés River
**** Papuri River
**** Querary River
*** Isana River or Içana River
**** Cuiari River
*** Aquio River
** Caquetá River o ...
, Muisca toponyms
* Eastern Hills, Bogotá
* Bogotá savanna
* Juan Amarillo, Fucha, Tunjuelo River
The Tunjuelo or Tunjuelito River is a river on the Bogotá savanna and a left tributary of the Bogotá River. The river, with a length of originates in the Sumapaz Páramo and flows northward through the Usme Synclinal to enter the Colombian capit ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
External links
*
Sistema Hídrico, Bogotá
{{DEFAULTSORT:Teusaca River
Rivers of Colombia
Bogotá River
Rivers
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 wate ...
Geography of Cundinamarca Department
Geography of Bogotá
Muysccubun