River
Usumacinta River
560 km from source to mouth · Mexico.
MexicoFlows into Grijalva River5th longest in Mexico
In numbers
Length
560km
Average flow
6.5m³/s
Basin
106,000km²
Drop
110m
from 108 m to -2 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
560 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 7 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 108 m
- 7 kmPasión Rivertributary
- 7 kmSalinas Rivertributary
- 8 kmLaguneta Encerrada0.4 km²
- 13 kmLaguneta Ixcoche0.9 km²
- 21 kmBenemérito de las Américas7,259 people
- 74 kmFrontera Corozal5,184 people
- 221 kmTenosique32,579 people
- 295 kmSan Pedro Rivertributary
- 321 kmBalancán13,030 people
- 365 kmEmiliano Zapata20,030 people
- 378 kmChablé3,377 people
- 453 kmJonuta6,899 people
- 560 kmGrijalva Riverat -2 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in México and Guatemala
At the mouth it carries 6.5 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 385 seconds. It drops from 108 m to -2 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 106,000 km², about the size of GT. 8.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from September to November; lowest: from March to May. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (20% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- TenosiqueLargest city on its banks · 32,579 people
- Ciudad del Carmen International Airport (CME)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 137 km from the cityCar hire in Ciudad del CarmenDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water16 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From January to MarchThe best months to visit
Usumacinta River, month by month
Highest water: from September to November
Lowest water: from March to May. Best months to visit: from January to March.
From about 740 m³/s in the lowest month to 7,300 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
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The basin
Usumacinta River: the basin in numbers
122,989 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 8.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 68/km²people per km²
- 701maverage altitude of the basin
- 2,028mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 23.2°Caverage air temperature
- 23%protected areas
- 1.4%covered by lakes
- 22km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 51% Forest
- 30% Cropland
- 18% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
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
Usumacinta River: what you find on the way
- 8Boat ramps
- 8Ferry piersOfficial Ferry to Yaxchilán, PASO A POCHOTE, paso a Avispero-Pochote and 5 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.5 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Usumacinta 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.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Laguneta Encerradakm 90.4km²
- Laguneta Ixcochekm 140.9km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
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
Usumacinta River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Grijalva RiverMexico480 km2,800 m³/sTributaries (5)
Also: Chixoy River, San Pedro River, Salinas River, Lacantún River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Guatemala353 km320 m³/s308 km awayPapaloapan RiverMexico122 km1,500 m³/s329 km awayMopan River
Belize38 km93 m³/s402 km awayHondo RiverMexico150 km130 m³/s457 km awayBelize RiverBelize290 km200 m³/s473 km awayNew RiverBelize132 km25 m³/s450 km awayDulce RiverGuatemala43 km340 m³/s499 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1139679) · 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 — 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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waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit