Maipo River

The Maipo River is the main river flowing through the Santiago Metropolitan Region and the Valparaiso Region of Chile. It is located just south of the capital of Santiago. The Mapocho River, which flows through central Santiago, is one of its tributaries. Its headwaters are on the west slope of Maipo volcano, in the Andes. The Maipo River is by far the major source of irrigation and potable water for the region.[1][2]

Maipo River
Location
CountryChile
Physical characteristics
MouthPacific Ocean
  location
San Antonio, Chile
  coordinates
33°36′40″S 71°37′50″W
Length250 km (160 mi)[1]
Basin size15,304 km2 (5,909 sq mi)[1]
Discharge 
  average92.3 m3/s (3,260 cu ft/s)
Basin features
Tributaries 
  rightEl Volcán, Yeso and Colorado

Course

In its upper course the river runs as an entrenched torrent through the Andes mountains. Here, it receives three major tributaries: the El Volcán River, the Yeso River and the Colorado River. After leaving the Andes, the Maipo flows through the valley that bears its name, which is one of the principal wine-producing region in Chile.[2] The Maipo River travels 250 km (160 mi) before emptying into the Pacific Ocean, near the locality of Llolleo, south of the port of San Antonio.

gollark: Did you just randomly decide to calculate that?
gollark: Well, you can, or also "it would have about the same mass as the atmosphere".
gollark: Wikipedia says that spider silk has a diameter of "2.5–4 μm", which I approximated to 3μm for convenience, so a strand has a 1.5μm radius. That means that its cross-sectional area (if we assume this long thing of spider silk is a cylinder) is (1.5e-6)², or ~7e-12. Wikipedia also says its density is about 1.3g/cm³, which is 1300kg/m³, and that the observable universe has a diameter of 93 billion light-years (8.8e26 meters). So multiply the length of the strand (the observable universe's diameter) by the density of spider silk by the cross-sectional area of the strand and you get 8e18 kg, while the atmosphere's mass is about 5e18 kg, so close enough really.
gollark: Okay, so by mass it actually seems roughly correct.
gollark: So, spider silk comes in *very* thin strands and is somewhat denser than water, interesting.

References

  1. Cuenca del río Maipo Archived 2012-02-12 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Cai, Ximing; Claudia Ringler; Mark W. Rosegrant (2006). Modeling Water Resources Management at the Basin Level: Methodology and Application to the Maipo River Basin. Washington DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. ISBN 978-0-89629-152-2.
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