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The Orinoco Basin is the part of South America drained by the Orinoco river and its tributaries. The Orinoco watershed covers an area of about 990000 km 2 , making it the third largest in South America, covering most of Venezuela and eastern part of Colombia .
The nevertheless high volume flow (39,000 m 3 /s at delta) of the Orinoco can be explained by the high precipitation in almost the entire catchment area (ca 2,300 mm/a). The Orinoco River and its tributaries are the major transportation system for eastern and interior Venezuela and the Llanos of Colombia.
To the east the Orinoco wetlands and Orinoco Delta swamp forests occupy the Orinoco Delta. [2] The Llanos' main river is the Orinoco, which runs from west to east through the ecoregion and forms part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela. The Orinoco is the major river system of Venezuela. [3]
The delta is fan-shaped, formed by the Orinoco River as it splits into numerous distributaries, called caños, which meander through the delta on their way to the sea.The main distributary is called the Rio Grande, which empties south-southeast through the southern portion of the delta, and the second major distributary is Caño Manamo, which runs northward along the western edge of the delta.
The second longest river in North America and the United States is the Mississippi River (2,320 mi (3,730 km)). The Rio Conchos (350 mi (560 km)) is the longest river in Mexico. The longest river in Canada is the Mackenzie River (1,080 mi (1,740 km)). Some of the longest or otherwise notable rivers include the rivers listed in the table below.
The other major river of this central lowland is the Orinoco River, which has a natural channel linking it with the Amazon. [1] Most of this central lowland is sparsely populated because the soils are heavily leached, but in the south is the very fertile pampas of Argentina—one of the world's major food-producing regions where wheat and beef ...
The other major Venezuelan river is the fast-flowing Caroní, which originates in the Guiana highlands and flows northward into the Orinoco upstream from Ciudad Guyana. [2] The Caroní is capable of producing as much hydroelectric power as any river in Latin America and has contributed significantly to the nation's electric power production.
Political map of The Guianas. The Guianas, also spelled Guyanas or Guayanas, is a geographical region in north-eastern South America. Strictly, the term refers to the three Guianas: Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, formerly British, Dutch, and French Guiana. Broadly, it refers to the South American coast from the mouth of the Orinoco to the ...