River
Salado River
1,150 km from source to mouth · Argentina.
ArgentinaFlows into Paraná River5th longest in Argentina
In numbers
Length
1,150km
Average flow
15m³/s
Basin
124,200km²
Drop
3,553m
from 3,562 m to 9 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,150 km of river and 9 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 3,562 m
- 223 kmCabra Corral Reservoir74 km²
- 294 kmEl Galpón8,357 people
- 312 kmEl Tunal Dam
- 340 kmJoaquín V. González19,185 people
- 357 kmEl Quebrachal10,243 people
- 898 kmLaguna Los Molles1.5 km²
- 922 kmLaguna La Blanca24 km²
- 1,069 kmSanto Tomé59,072 people
- 1,073 kmSanta Fe391,164 people
- 1,150 kmParaná Riverat 9 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Argentina
At the mouth it carries 15 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 167 seconds. It drops from 3,562 m to 9 m, 3.1 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 124,200 km², about the size of ER. 1.7 million people live in it. Highest water: from February to March; lowest: from July to October. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (23% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Santa FeLargest city on its banks · 391,164 people
- Sauce Viejo Airport (SFN)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 12 km from the cityCar hire at ROS airport (Rosario)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water3 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From April to May and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit
Salado River, month by month
Highest water: from February to March
Lowest water: from July to October. Best months to visit: from April to May and from August to October.
From about 330 m³/s in the lowest month to 570 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
Salado River: the basin in numbers
210,368 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.7millionpeople live in the basin
- 8/km²people per km²
- 633maverage altitude of the basin
- 691mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 19.0°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 0.4%covered by lakes
- 3.1km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 38% Forest
- 13% Cropland
- 19% Pasture
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
Salado River: what you find on the way
- 8Weirs
- 3MarinasClub Nautico Santo Tomé, Club Naútico Sur, Puerto Amarras
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Salado 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.
3lakes on its wayLakeyas
5mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (3)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Cabra Corral Reservoirkm 30874km²
- Laguna Los Molleskm 1,2431.5km²
- Laguna La Blancakm 1,27624km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (5)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Nevado de Acay6.0 km away
- Cerro Saladillo7.0 km away
- Cerro San Miguel8.9 km away
- Cerro Nevado13 km away
- Cerro Acay Chico10 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
Salado River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Paraná River
Uruguay4,880 km16,000 m³/sTributaries (2)
Also: Horcones, Río Arias
In the same basin
Argentina2,621 km2.7 m³/sUruguay RiverUruguay1,790 km4.6 m³/sIguazu RiverArgentina1,320 km1,700 m³/sPilcomayo River
Paraguay1,100 km200 m³/sBermejoParaguay1,060 km340 m³/sGrande River
Brazil1,090 km2,000 m³/sTietê RiverBrazil1,150 km2,500 m³/sParanaíba RiverBrazil900 km1,500 m³/sParanapanema RiverBrazil929 km1,200 m³/sApa RiverParaguay380 km130 m³/sWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1162365) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth 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 | Lakeyas, 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.
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