| Barranca de Oblatos | |
|---|---|
View of the Río Grande de Santiago, and the Barranca de Oblatos. |
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| Location | Jalisco, Mexico |
| Floor elevation | approx. 3,417 feet (1,000 m) |
| Long-axis length | 16 miles (26 km) |
| Width | 2 to 5 miles (3.2 to 8.0 km) |
Barranca de Oblatos (English: Oblatos Canyon), also known as Barranca Huentitán, is a canyon carved by the Río Grande de Santiago in Mexico in the state of Jalisco. It borders the north of the municipality of Guadalajara and between the limits of the municipalities of Tonalá, Zapotlanejo, Ixtlahuacán del Río and Zapopan in the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. Because of its beauty and structure, it rivalizes the Grand Canyon in the United States, and Barranca del Cobre in Chihuahua.[1]
It measures approximately 1.137 hectares and it has a depth average of 600 meters of difference. The difference in altitudes of the higher contour (1.520 msnm) and lowest (1.000 mvsl) is 520 meters (1,706 feet) in the point of the rail of fonicular. This canyon is also named Oblatos-Huentitán due to the areas in the city crossed by it, called Oblatos and Huentitán respectively.
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Several important events in the history of Guadalajara occurred in the canyon. In the 19th century, during the Spanish Conquest combats between the natives indigenous of Huentitán and the Spaniards took place in this area. This was also the location of many battles of the Mexican Revolution and Cristero War. But perhaps the most interesting story about this canyon is that of a flooding that took place during the Porfiriato era (1876-1911).
The Canyon is considered a biogeographic corridor since it lodges four types of vegetation: Tropical Forest, Deciduous, Riparian forest, Rupicolous Gerbil vegetation and secondary vegetation, in the zone there are also several endemic species of flora and fauna, the canyon is frequented by national and international investigators since it is home of a great biological diversity. The June 5, 1997 was declared Nature reserve, under the category of Zone subject to Ecological Conservation Protected Area by the World Conservation Union in all the area belonging the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area because is that area the most urbanized. Among the wildlife species found in the canyon are the Great Horned Owl, Collared Peccary, Bobcat, Gray Fox, Opossum, Red-tailed boa, Barn Owl, Leaf cutter ant and Vampire bat.
Right in this zone is where several urban areas cover the eastern side of the canyon, complexes such as the campus of the Centre of Art, Architecture and Design of the University of Guadalajara, the Guadalajara Zoo, Guadalajara Planetarium and several residential areas, as well as infrastructure for the practice of the recreational, sport and educative activities in an area that includes soccer fields, basquetbol, tennis and fronton, spaces for picnic, running roads, a recreational park and an outdoor theater. It is also in this area where is meant to be the set to build the next Guggenheim Museum in early 2008, also the controversial Presa de Arcediano and the high-rise project Puerta Guadalajara (Guadalajara Door) which includes a shopping mall, a convention center, two hotels, two museums, 9 residence towers and two more corporate towers, these skyscrapers after completed is speculated they will be the highest towers in Latin America along with the Torrena tower.