River · Argentina
Colorado River (Argentina)
The Río Colorado crosses the dry lands of northern Patagonia and the southern Pampas in Argentina. It is born where two mountain rivers from the Andes meet and flows into the Atlantic Ocean south of Bahía Blanca.
Picture credit: Dario Alpern (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Colorado River (Argentina)?
The river starts here: Confluence of the Grande and Barrancas rivers, Andes, Argentina.
It ends in the Atlantic Ocean south of Bahía Blanca.
Countries on the river: Argentina.
The story behind it
The Río Colorado begins where the Grande and the Barrancas rivers meet, north of the town of Buta Ranquil. Both rivers come down from the eastern slopes of the Andes. When the snow melts in the mountains, between October and January, the river swells and often carries more than 500 cubic metres of water per second. Then it crosses the dry land of northern Patagonia and the southern Pampas. For a long way the river is a border: first between the provinces of Mendoza and Neuquén, later between La Pampa and Río Negro. Between Rincón de los Sauces and Catriel, workers pump oil from the ground. The Casa de Piedra dam, opened in 1996, holds back floods and makes electricity. Farmers use the river water to grow apples, pears and grapes. Near the coast the river splits into several arms and flows into the Atlantic Ocean.
Questions children ask
How long is the Río Colorado?
The Río Colorado is about 1 114 km long, but its length depends on how it is measured. Other sources give shorter lengths, for example about 920 km or 850 km.
Where does the Río Colorado get its water?
Most of its water comes from melting snow in the Andes. That is why the river is highest between October and January, during the spring and summer of the southern half of the world.
What is the Casa de Piedra dam?
Casa de Piedra is a dam and reservoir on the Río Colorado that opened in 1996. It holds back floods and produces electricity for the dry region.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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