The Pasión River ( es, Río de la Pasión, ) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

located in the northern lowlands region of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by Hon ...

. The river is fed by a number of upstream tributaries whose sources lie in the hills of

Alta Verapaz Alta Verapaz () is a department in the north central part of Guatemala. The capital and chief city of the department is Cobán. Verapaz is bordered to the north by El Petén, to the east by Izabal, to the south by Zacapa, El Progreso, and ...

. These flow in a general northerly direction to form the Pasión, which then tends westwards to meet up with the Salinas River at . At this confluence the greater

Usumacinta River The Usumacinta River (; named after the howler monkey) is a river in southeastern Mexico and northwestern Guatemala. It is formed by the junction of the Pasión River, which arises in the Sierra de Santa Cruz (in Guatemala) and the Salinas ...

is formed, which runs northward to its eventual outlet in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

. The Pasión River's principal tributaries are the San Juan River, the Machaquila River, and the Cancuén River. The riverine drainage system of the Pasión and its tributaries covers an area of over and forms a

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

for a substantial portion of the present-day Guatemalan department of Petén's western half. The Pasión river basin is recognized as an archaeological region or zone, and contains a number of

archaeological sites An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

of the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

Maya civilization The Maya civilization () of the Mesoamerican people is known by its ancient temples and glyphs. Its Maya script is the most sophisticated and highly developed writing system in the pre-Columbian Americas. It is also noted for its art, ...

, which to an extent shared some commonalities in Maya architectural style, political history and glyphic conventions. Maya ceremonial and urban centers located within the region include

Dos Pilas Dos Pilas is a Pre-Columbian site of the Maya civilization located in what is now the department of Petén, Guatemala. It dates to the Late Classic Period, and was founded by an offshoot of the dynasty of the great city of Tikal in AD ...

Tamarindito Tamarindito is an archaeological site of the Maya civilization located along an escarpment in the Petén department of Guatemala. The city was the capital of the Petexbatún region of the southwestern Petén during the Early Classic period but w ...

Altar de Sacrificios Altar de Sacrificios is a ceremonial center and archaeological site of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization, situated near the confluence of the Pasión and Salinas Rivers (where they combine to form the Usumacinta River), in the present-day de ...

Aguateca Aguateca is a Maya site located in northern Guatemala's Petexbatun Basin, in the department of Petén. The first settlements at Aguateca date to the Late Preclassic period (300 BC - AD 350). The center was occupied from about 200 B.C. until ...

, Seibal and Machaquila.

Pollution

On June 6, 2015, residents around La Pasión River reported finding of a high count of dead fish floating along the river. On June 11, 2015, Guatemala's authorities inspected

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced fr ...

company "Reforestadora de Palmas de Petén, S.A." (REPSA), located in

Sayaxché Sayaxché () is a municipality in the El Petén department of Guatemala, on the Río La Pasión river. It covers an area of , and had 55,578 inhabitants at the 2002 Census; the latest official estimate (as at mid-2012) was 114,781 inhabitants. Th ...

, and found traces of

Malathion Malathion is an organophosphate insecticide which acts as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. In the USSR, it was known as carbophos, in New Zealand and Australia as maldison and in South Africa as mercaptothion. Pesticide use Malathion is a pe ...

in the company's tributaries leading to La Pasión River. Tranquilino Xojalaj, administrator of REPSA, declared that heavy rain caused the treatment wells to flood into the river, however the company denied responsibility, stating that they do not use Malathion as a pesticide. By June 15, 2015, dead fish had been found over downstream. The pollution might have entered the

, which travels all the way to México.

Notes and references

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pasion River Rivers of Guatemala Geography of Mesoamerica Geography of the Petén Department Usumacinta River

Pollution

See also

Notes and references

References

Bibliography