River
Maule River
240 km from source to mouth · Chile.
ChileFlows into Pacific Ocean6th longest in Chile
In numbers
Length
240km
Average flow
470m³/s
Basin
20,600km²
Drop
240m
from 240 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
240 km of river and 4 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmLaguna del Mauleat 240 m
- 148 kmVilla Alegre14,695 people
- 158 kmSan Javier40,189 people
- 182 kmClaro de Talca Rivertributary
- 238 kmConstitución41,207 people
- 240 kmPacific Oceanat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Chile
At the mouth it carries 467 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 5.4 seconds. It drops from 240 m to 0 m, 1.0 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 20,600 km², about the size of IL. 699,000 people live in it. Highest water: July; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (15% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- ConstituciónLargest city on its banks · 41,207 people
- Carriel Sur International Airport (CCP)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 170 km from the cityCar hire at CCP airport (Concepcion)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water11 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From November to MarchThe best months to visit
Maule River, month by month
Highest water: July
Lowest water: from December to March. Best months to visit: from November to March.
From about 25 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,700 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Maule River: the basin in numbers
21,104 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 699,000people live in the basin
- 33/km²people per km²
- 880maverage altitude of the basin
- 948mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 10.9°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 2.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 18% Forest
- 14% Cropland
- 32% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Maule River: what you find on the way
- 3Weirs
- 2Boat ramps
- 6Ferry piersBalsa El Peumo and 5 more
- 3MarinasEmbarcaciones de recreo, Muelle Recreacional
- 2River beachesBalneario de Constitución, Playa Los Gringos
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Maule River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
6beaches at the mouth and on the banksCoastya
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Beaches (6)
At the mouth (25 km) and on the banks, by Coastya
- Playa de Quivolgo4.5 km away15.4°C
- Playa de Junquillar16 km away15.4°C
- Playa Potrerillos4.0 km away15.0°C
- Playa La Isla23 km away15.4°C
- Playa Cerro Verde9.1 km away15.0°C
- Ensenada Maguellín8.9 km away · cove15.0°C
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Cerro Zemita2.6 km away
- Cerro Canucalqui7.6 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Maule River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
Tributaries (8)
Also: Loncomilla River, Melado River, Claro de Talca River, Puelche river, Claro (Colbun) river, Estero Los Puercos, Río Cipreses (Maule), Colorado River (Maule)
Where these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1479360) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Coastya, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
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lakes
Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit