Motagua River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Motagua river | |
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| Origin | Guatemala (El Quiché, Baja Verapaz) |
| Mouth | Atlantic Ocean (near Puerto Barrios) |
| Basin countries | Guatemala, Honduras |
| Length | 486 km |
| Source elevation | 1,800 m (El Quiché) 14°56′56″N 91°00′32″W / 14.949022°N 91.008897°W |
| Mouth elevation | 0 m (Gulf of Honduras) 15°43′28″N 88°13′18″W / 15.724534°N 88.221588°W |
| Avg. discharge | 208.7 m³/s [1] |
The Motagua River is a 486 km long river in Guatemala.[2] It rises in the western highlands of Guatemala where its also called Río Grande, and runs in an easterly direction to the Gulf of Honduras. The final few kilometres of the river form part of the Guatemala/Honduras border. The Motagua river basin covers an area of 12,670 km2 and is the largest in Guatemala.
The river runs in a valley that has the only known source of jade in Mesoamerica, and was an important commerce route during the Pre Columbine era. The important Maya site of Quirigua, is near the river's north bank, as well as several smaller sites with jade quarries and workshops.
The Motagua river valley also marks the Motagua Fault, the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The Motagua fault has been the source of several major earthquakes in Guatemala. Nowdays, the river is highly polluted, and as well as lake Amatitlán this pollution contains untreated sewage, industrial waste, tons of sediment (garbage) and blackwater from Guatemala City.
