The Orinoco River

The Orinoco River is the largest of Venezuela, third in South America, the fifth in the American Continent, and the ninth of the world. It has a length of 2,100 kilometers from its source, up to mouth in Atlantic Ocean, it is splitted in two sections of similar length: The high Orinoco and low Orinoco.

Both sections are separated by two main currents of its course: Atures to Maipures, which are natural obstacles that obstruct the continuous navigation throughout the river.

The watershed of Orinoco covers one million square kilometers, of which 650,000 are in Venezuela.

The river drains into Atlantic Ocean through an extended Delta that covers an area of 30,000 square kilometers. At the first section of Delta, the width of Orinoco River is 20 kilometers between San Rafael de Barrancas to Piacoa.

The hydraulic volume of the River is closely related with the two seasons of the tropical regions: the rainy season and the dry season. As a consequence there is a great variation in water level each year.

The volume of flow of Orinoco River is increased from April through August, its level low from September to March. The peak months of maximum water level and minimum water level are reached in August, and February and March respectively.

Due to level fluctuations, the River has several characteristics caused by rainfalls over its own bed that have an annual average of 1000 and 2000 mm.