The Paraná River is a long, fresh water course in Argentina and Brazil, South America. It is the third largest river, in terms of volume of water, in South America, with the Amazon and Rio de La Plata being first and second in size respectively. A portion of Paraná makes up the border between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. This river is 4,380 km long and drains an area of 2,970,000 km2. Fish: Golden Dorado, Giant Catfishes, such as Surubi, and Characins.
The Parana is formed by the confluence of the Grande and Paranaíba rivers in Brazil. Then it flows south, receiving the waters of important left-side tributaries: the Tietê and Paranapanema (in Brazil), and Iguazu (at the border between Argentina and Brazil), while the Paraguay and Salado Rivers are the right tributaries. After a long course, the Parana merges with the Uruguay River in its lower reaches, thus forming the Río de la Plata River, which is the widest river in the world. The Grande River originates in the western slopes of the Serra da Mantequeira, and the source of the Paranaíba is in the Serra da Canastra, Brazil.
The Paraná River is fed by rainwater, and it regularly floods. The main high-water period is from January to May, with summer rains in the upper part of the basin in Brazil; the secondary high-water period is from June to August, with winter rains in the lower part of the basin. The mean flow rate in the lower reaches is approximately 15,000 cubic meter per sec; the greatest flow rate is more than 30,000 cubic meter per sec, while the lowest is 7–10 cubic meter per sec. The annual outflow into the ocean is about 480 cubic km, or 650 cubic km when taken together with the outflow from the Uruguay River. The Paraná carries a great deal of alluvial material, as much as 150 million tons a year; its murky waters can be traced in the open sea to a distance of 100–150 km from the coast.
Seagoing ships with a draft of up to 7 m can travel up the river as far as the port-city of Rosario. Ships with a draft of 4 m can reach the city of Posadas, Misiones, and in high water they can travel as far as the mouth of the Iguaçu. The Paraná has a hydroelectric potential of about 20 gigawatts. The large Urubu-Pungá hydroelectric complex is under construction in the vicinity of the waterfall by that name, and in 1973 the first lines of the Jupia and the Ilha Solteira power plants were constructed, with a projected capacity of 1.4 and 3.2 gigawatts, respectively.
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| Above, a map of South America showing its main rivers, with the Parana being marked with darker blue. |