Rio Grande River

Rio Grande River

At nearly 1,900 miles, the Rio Grande River is runner up to the Missouri-Mississippi. Many say that this river is under duress and dying because of multiple droughts. Snow melt from the San Juan Mountains is Colorado is the major source of water for the river. The Rio Grande River spans from San Juan Range of the Colorado Rockies to the Gulf of Mexico at Brownsville, Texas. This river was created by a rift between the Sangre De Cristo Mountains and the ranges to the west of it and volcanic activity filled the crack with lava. Many streams joined together to assist in creating this river. In the New Mexico portion that the river runs through the river is a sediment filled basin. Most of this river is also arid and semiarid and because of this, the river sits on the border of being a desert climate. It runs between canyons. This river is used for most agricultural needs and the flow in Southwest Texas decreases because of the amount of farmers that use it for their crops.

The Rio Grande River is know because it flows for much of its length at a high elevation. This river also flows through the desert. The sub-tropical lower portion is what is used to support agricultural needs. The heat from ongoing geologic activity still exists in places such as Ojo Caliente in New Mexico. The Rio Grande River is the fifth longest river in the United States. Without this river, many agricultural locations would be struggling to find water.