| Piedra | |
| River | |
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The Piedra in the gardens of the Monasterio de Piedra
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| Country | Spain |
|---|---|
| Region | Castile-La Mancha, Aragón |
| District | province of Guadalajara, province of Zaragoza |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Mesa |
| - right | Ortiz, Munebraga |
| City | Campillo de Dueñas, Cimballa, Nuévalos, Carenas, Castejón de las Armas |
| Source | Campillo de Dueñas |
| - location | province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain |
| - elevation | 1,195 m (3,921 ft) |
| - coordinates | |
| Mouth | Castejón de las Armas |
| - location | province of Zaragoza, Aragón, Spain |
| - elevation | 590 m (1,936 ft) |
| - coordinates | |
| Length | 76 km (47 mi) |
| Discharge | |
| - average | 1.22 m3/s (43 cu ft/s) |
| River system | Ebro |
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The watershed of the Piedra within the Ebro basin.
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The Piedra is a short river in central north east Spain, a tributary of the river Jalón. It rises near Campillo de Dueñas, in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha. The Piedra has an irregular flow, due to the long dry season of the summer months, with often heavy rainfall in the spring and autumn. The mean discharge at Monasterio de Piedra is 1.22 cubic metres per second (43 cu ft/s).[1]
The waters have a high concentration of calcium carbonate[1] which is deposited on plant life near the source, giving the river its name Piedra, which means stone in English.
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The river is often said to rise at Cimballa, in the province of Zaragoza, but it actually rises near Campillo de Dueñas, although the upper reaches are often dry in the summer months. Springs at Campillo amplify the flow, so that it always has water below this point.
From Cimballa, the Piedra flows down to the water gardens of the Monasterio de Piedra where the calcerous water has formed a Karst topography of waterfalls and lagoons, forming an oasis in the hard landscape, popular with visitors.[2][3] After leaving Monasterio the river descends to the reservoir of La Tranquera at the pueblo of Nuévalos. The rivers Mesa, Ortiz and Munebraga also feed the reservoir and may be considered tributaries of the Piedra. From La Tranquera, the river flows past Carenas and joins the Jalón near Castejón de las Armas.
In 1988, the Government of Aragón established a fish reserve at Monasterio in order to provide fish for replenishing the stocks of Aragón's rivers.[4]