Orinoco

The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,410 km. Its drainage basin, an area known as Orinoquia covers 880,000 km², 23.7% in Colombia and the rest in Venezuela. Although its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean was discovered by Columbus in his third voyage (1498-08-01), its sources at the Cerro Delgado-Chalbaud, in the Parima range, on the Venezuelan-Brazilian border, at 1,047 m of elevation (02° 19' 05" N, 63° 21' 42" W ), were only discovered in 1951, 453 years later, by a joint Venezuelan-French team.

The Orinoco course describes a wide ellipsoidal arc, surrounding the Guiana Shield; it is divided in four stretches of unequal length that roughly correspond to the longitudinal zonation of a typical large river:

Upper Orinoco, 240 km long, from its headwaters to the rapids Raudales de Guaharibos, flows through mountainous landscape in a northwesterly direction
Middle Orinoco, 750 km long, divided into two sectors, the first of which ca. 480 km long has a general westward direction down to the confluence with the Atabapo and Guaviare rivers at San Fernando de Atabapo; the second flows northward, for about 270 km, along the Venezuelan - Colombian border, flanked on both sides by the westernmost granitic upwellings of the Guiana shield which impede the development of a flood plain, to the Atures rapids near the confluence with the Meta River at Puerto Carreño,
Lower Orinoco, 959 km long with a well developed alluvial plain, flows in a Northeast direction, from Atures rapids down to Piacoa in front of Barrancas
Delta Amacuro, 200 km long that empties into the Gulf of Paría and the Atlantic Ocean, a very large delta (some 22.500 km² and 370 km at its widest).

At its mouth it forms a wide delta that branches off into hundreds of rivers and waterways that flow through 41,000 km² of swampy forests. In the rainy season the Orinoco can swell to a breadth of 22 kilometres and a depth of 100 meters.

Most of the important Venezuelan rivers are tributaries of the Orinoco, the largest being the Caroní, which joins it at Puerto Ordaz, close to the Llovizna Falls. A peculiarity of the Orinoco river system is the Casiquiare canal, which starts as an arm of the Orinoco, and finds its way to the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon, thus forming a 'natural canal' between Orinoco and Amazon.

The river is navigable for most of its length, and dredging enables ocean ships to go as far as Ciudad Bolívar, 435 km upstream. The river region also contains large tar sands which may be a source of future oil production.

The Boto, or Amazon River Dolphin, is also known to inhabit the Orinoco River system.

Major rivers in the Orinoco Basin

Apure: from Colombia through Venezuela east into the Orinoco
Arauca: Colombia to Venezuela east into the Orinoco
Atabapo: from the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela west into the Orinoco
Caroní: from the Guiana Highlands of Venezuela north into the Orinoco
Casiquiare canal: in SE Venezuela, a distributary from the Orinoco flowing south to the Amazon
Caura: from eastern Venezuela west into the Orinoco
Guaviare: from Colombia east into the Orinoco
Inírida: from Colombia northeast into the Oninoco
Meta: from Colombia, border with Venezuela east into the Orinoco
Ventuari: from eastern Venezuela (the Guiana Highlands) southwest into the Orinoco
Vichada: from Colombia east into the Orinoco

Trivia

Robinson Crusoe was stranded on an island near the mouth of the Orinoco river on September 30, 1659.^*

Irish singer Enya had a hit with Orinoco Flow in 1988. The song was named after the Orinoco Studios in London where it was recorded.

The 1982 Doctor Who episode "Black Orchid", set in 1925, involved a botanist-explorer who reportedly went missing during one of his trips down the Orinoco river, where he had previously acquired the titular orchid.

In W.H. Hudson's Green Mansions, Mr. Abel followed the Orinoco to discover Rima, his bird-girl.

The city of Guayana, and the Alcaldia Mayor de Caroní (ALMACARONÍ) has for the past 15 years conducted a swim race of the rivers Orinoco and Caroní with around 900 competitors. The "Paso a Nado Internacional de los Rios Orinoco-Caroní" is celebrated every year on a Sunday close to the 19th of April. Worldwide, this swim-meet has gained importance and it has a large number of competitors.

Orinoco was the name of a Lucent Technologies sub-division which produced wireless networking hardware.

Orinoco was the name of a womble (small furry creatures with pointed noses that collect rubbish) in the hit British children's TV series The Wombles.

In the Star Trek series Deep Space Nine, space station Deep Space Nine supported several Runabouts, one of which was named the Orinoco

References

Stark, James H. 1897. Stark's Guide-Book and History of Trinidad including Tobago, Granada, and St. Vincent; also a trip up the Orinoco and a description of the great Venezuelan Pitch Lake. Boston, James H. Stark, publisher; London, Sampson Low, Marston & Company. (This book has an excellent description of a trip up the Orinoco as far as Ciudad Bolivar and a detailed description of the Venezuelan Pitch Lake situated on the western side of the Gulf of Paria opposite.)

MacKee, E.D., Nordin, C.F. and D. Perez-Hernandez (1998). The Waters and Sediments of the Rio Orinoco and its major Tributaries, Venezuela and Colombia. United States Geological Survey water-supply paper, ISSN 0083; 2326/A-B. Washington: United States Government Printing Office.

Weibezahn, F.H., Haymara, A. and M.W. Lewis (1990). The Orinoco River as an ecosystem. Caracas: Universidad Simon Bolivar.

Rawlins, C.B. (1999). The Orinoco River. New York: Franklin Watts.

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Major rivers in the Orinoco Basin

Trivia

References