| South Fork Rio Grande [1] | |
|---|---|
The river in South Fork, Colorado, just before it empties into the Rio Grande. | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Main source | Mineral County, Colorado 37°31′02″N106°52′54″W / 37.51722°N 106.88167°W |
| River mouth | Confluence with Rio Grande 8,172 ft (2,491 m) 37°40′25″N106°38′06″W / 37.67361°N 106.63500°W Coordinates: 37°40′25″N106°38′06″W / 37.67361°N 106.63500°W |
| Basin features | |
| Progression | Rio Grande |
South Fork Rio Grande is a tributary of the Rio Grande in southern Colorado in the United States. It flows from a source in the Weminuche Wilderness of the San Juan Mountains to a confluence with the Rio Grande at the town of South Fork in Rio Grande County, Colorado.
The Rio Grande is one of the principal rivers in the southwest United States and northern Mexico. The Rio Grande begins in south-central Colorado in the United States and flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexico–United States border. According to the International Boundary and Water Commission, its total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, though course shifts occasionally result in length changes. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is either the fourth- or fifth-longest river system in North America.
Colorado is a state of the Western United States encompassing most of the southern Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. It is the 8th most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The estimated population of Colorado was 5,695,564 on July 1, 2018, an increase of 13.25% since the 2010 United States Census.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
