Mapocho River

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Mapocho River

Mouth	Maipo River
Basin countries	Chile
Length	110 km ^[1]
Basin area	4,230 km² ^[1]

Mapocho River

The Mapocho River flows from the Andes mountains onto the west and divides Chile's capital Santiago in two.

[edit] Course

The Mapocho begins at the confluence of the San Francisco River and Molina River in the Andes. The main tributary of the former is Yerba Loca Creek, which drains the protected area that bears its same name. Molina River is fed by Iver Glacier, which lies on Cerro El Plomo. A few kilometres westward from its source, the Mapocho receives the waters of the Arrayán Creek and enters to the urban area of Santiago.

The last western spurs of the Andes in this area force a change in the direction of the river, making that it begin to flow toward the south. In the vicinity of Cerro San Cristóbal and just to the side of the Costanera Center project, the river collects the waters of the Canal San Carlos. From here, the river flows in a generally southwesterly direction to Plaza Baquedano area, which is a focal point of the city and the site where formerly the Mapocho splitted into two branches (the southern branch was turned into a promenade during the early years of the republic, now the Avenida Libertador General Bernardo O'Higgins avenue).

The river then turns northwest. In this portion of its course, some of the most meaningful landmarks of the city, arose along its southern bank. Those include the Parque Forestal, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the Mercado Central and the Estación Mapocho. Farther northwest, two highway bridges connect the north and south sides of the river, which are part of the two branches of the Autopista Central.

Approximately at the longitude of the summit of Cerro Renca, the Mapocho changes its northwesterly flow to a southwesterly direction. From the southern portion of Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport, the river turns south, to its outfall into the Maipo River.