Rivers in Castilla y León

INVESTIGATION WORK

RIVERS IN CASTILLA Y LEON

         The main and more important river in Castilla y Leon is River Duero. It borns in the Picos de Urbión (Soria) at 2,100 meters over sea level, and flows into Atlantic Ocean in Porto (Portugal). From near 900 km of length of the Duero, almost 600 km run for Castilla y León, crossing the provinces of Soria, Burgos, Valladolid, Zamora y Salamanca.

Río Tera en  Sanabria

         Almost all the other important rivers in Castilla y León are tributaries of the Duero, as for example the Tormes, the Pisuerga, the Adaja or the Valderaduey. Among all of them, the more importants nearly our town (Benavente) are the Tera, the Esla and the Orbigo. The Tera and the Orbigo are tributaries of the Esla, which is the most important of the three. The Esla flows onto the Duero. The three rivers come together in a zone known as Vega de Benavente. The Orbigo flows onto the Esla near Benavente, and the Tera about 13 km longer.

         River flows in Castilla y León are more plentiful in spring due to thow, and at the end of autumn due to rain, and are less plentiful during the summer and winter months.

Presa de la Almendra

         Main reservoirs in Castilla y Leon for its capacity are Almendra (2,649 hm³) and Santa Teresa (496 hm³) on the river Tormes (Salamanca), and those of Ricobayo in Zamora (1,200 hm³) and Riaño in León (651 hm³), both on the river Esla.

Reservoir of Almendra (Salamanca)

         Another important fluvial construction is the Canal of Castilla, with a length of 200 km, which was used to transport cereal between the provinces of Palencia, Burgos and Valladolid. It was built between the years 1753 and 1849, and now is used as a channel for irrigation and tourism environment.

         The landscape that surrounds the rivers in Castilla y León is typical of the northern subplateau, dry and arid especially in summer months, and the typical of mountains in rivers birth, mainly in the mountain ranges that surround the community.

Alejandro Criado Grandes - 1ªA