Amargosa River

Amargosa River
Amargosa River at Tecopa, California
Amargosa River is located in California
Amargosa River
Location of the mouth of the Amargosa River in California
EtymologySpanish word for "bitter"
Location
CountryUnited States
StateNevada, California
CountyNye, San Bernardino, and Inyo
Physical characteristics
SourcePahute Mesa
 • locationOasis Valley, Nye County, Nevada
 • coordinates37°04′20″N 116°41′19″W / 37.07222°N 116.68861°W / 37.07222; -116.68861[1]
 • elevation3,964 ft (1,208 m)[2]
MouthDeath Valley
 • location
Badwater Basin, Inyo County, California
 • coordinates
36°14′37″N 116°51′24″W / 36.24361°N 116.85667°W / 36.24361; -116.85667[1]
 • elevation
−282 ft (−86 m)[3]
Length185 mi (298 km)[1]
Basin size5,500 sq mi (14,000 km2)[4]
Discharge 
 • location0.2 miles (0.3 km) west of Tecopa[5]
 • average3.8 cu ft/s (0.11 m3/s)[5]
 • minimum0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
 • maximum10,600 cu ft/s (300 m3/s)
TypeWild, Scenic, Recreational
DesignatedMarch 30, 2009

The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. The Amargosa River is one out of two rivers located in the California portion of the Mojave Desert with perennial flow.[6] It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, into the Mojave Desert, and finally into Death Valley where it disappears into the ground aquifer. Except for a small portion of its route in the Amargosa Canyon in California and a small portion at Beatty, Nevada, the river flows above ground only after a rare[quantify] rainstorm washes the region. A 26-mile (42 km) stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River. At the south end of Tecopa Valley the Amargosa River Natural Area protects the habitat.

  1. ^ a b c "Amargosa River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. January 19, 1981. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  2. ^ Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
  3. ^ "Highest and Lowest Elevations". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  4. ^ Tanko, Daron J.; Glancy, Patrick A. (2001). "Fact Sheet 036-01: Flooding in the Amargosa River Drainage Basin, February 23–24, 1998, Southern Nevada and Eastern California, including the Nevada Test Site". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
  5. ^ a b "Water-data report 2007: 10251300 Amargosa River at Tecopa, CA" (PDF). United States Geological Survey. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
  6. ^ Parker, Sophie; Moore, Jim; Warren, Leonard (April 2018). "Ecological Values of the Amargosa River in California" (PDF). The Nature Conservancy.