orinoco river facts：Orinoco River

Physiography of the Orinoco

The western slopes of the Sierra Parima[1], which form part of the boundary between Venezuela and Brazil[2], are drained by spring-fed streams that give rise to the Orinoco River. The source is placed in Venezuela, at the southern end of the Parima Mountains[3], near Mount[4] Delgado Chalbaud, at an elevation of some 3,300 feet (1,000 metres). From its headwaters the river flows west-northwest, leaving the mountains to meander through the level plains of the Llanos. The volume of the river increases as it receives numerous mountain tributaries, including the Mavaca River on the left bank and the Manaviche, Ocamo, Padamo, and Cunucunuma rivers on the right.

Below the town of Esmeralda, some of the waters of the Orinoco flow south into the Casiquiare[5] River (Brazo Casiquiare; sometimes called the Casiquiare Channel). This channel, a feature peculiar to the Orinoco River system, is a natural passage th...