This is a list of
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
s in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name. In mean flow of water per second, the
San Juan River Arkansas is New Mexico's largest river, followed by the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
and the
Animas River
Animas River (''On-e-mas''; ) is a river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System.
The river has experienced numerous catastrophes due to the mining nearby, the largest being the 201 ...
.
East of the continental divide
Mississippi
Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...
watershed
*''
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
''
**''
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...
''
***
Canadian River
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .[North Canadian River
The North Canadian River is a river, long, in Oklahoma in the United States. It is a tributary of the Canadian River, draining an area of U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset/Watershed Boundary Dataset, area data covering Nor ...]
''
*****
Beaver River
****''Punta de Agua Creek (TX)''
*****''Rita Blanca Creek (TX)''
******
Carrizo Creek (New Mexico/Texas)
*****
Tramperos Creek
****
Ute Creek
****
La Cinta Creek
****
Conchas River
****
Mora River
*****
Sapello River
****
Cimarron River
****
Vermejo River
***
Dry Cimarron River
The Cimarron River ( ; or , meaning "Salt River"; ) extends across New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Kansas. The headwaters flow from Johnson Mesa west of Folsom, New Mexico, Folsom in northeastern New Mexico. Much of the river's length l ...
***
Purgatoire River
The Purgatoire River (), also known as the Purgatory and Picketwire River, is in southeastern Colorado, United States. The river originates in the high mountains of the Culebra Range. Several tributaries merge near Weston in Las Animas County ...
Rio Grande watershed
*
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
**
Costilla Creek
Costilla Creek is a tributary of the Rio Grande in Colorado and New Mexico.
Course
The creek rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in far southern Colorado at the confluence of East Fork Costilla Creek and West Fork Costilla Creek. It then flo ...
**
Rio San Antonio
***
Rio de los Pinos
The Rio de los Pinos (also called Los Pinos River) is a river in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Course
The river rises high in Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness near the Continental Divide in Conejos County, Colorado. From there, i ...
**
Pecos River
The Pecos River ( ; ) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elev ...
***
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and is the longest free-flowing (undammed) river in the Eastern United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for a ...
***
Black River
***
Rio Penasco
***
Rio Felix
***
Rio Hondo (Southern New Mexico)
The Rio Hondo is a river in southern New Mexico which begins at the confluence of the Rio Bonito and Rio Ruidoso rivers near the town of Hondo, New Mexico. The river flows eastward through the Hondo Valley in the foothills of the Sierra Blan ...
****
Berrendo River
****
Rio Bonito
****
Rio Ruidoso
***
Arroyo del Macho
****
Gallo Arroyo
***
Taiban Creek
***
Pintada Arroyo
***
Gallinas River
**
Alamosa Creek
**
Rio Salado
**
Rio Puerco
The Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source on the west side of the Nacimiento Mountains, it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally south to join the Rio Grande about south of ...
***
Rio San Jose
***
Arroyo Chico
**
Jemez River
The Jemez River is a tributary of the Rio Grande in eastern Sandoval County, New Mexico, United States.
Description
The river is formed by the confluence of the East Fork Jemez River and San Antonio Creek, which drain a number of tributaries in ...
**
Santa Fe River
**
Pojoaque River
***
Rio Chupadero
**
Rio Chama
The Rio Chama, a major tributary river of the Rio Grande, is located in the U.S. states of Colorado and New Mexico. The river is about long altogether. From its source to El Vado Dam its length is about , from El Vado Dam to Abiquiu Dam is abo ...
***
Rio Ojo Caliente
The Rio Ojo Caliente (or Ojo Caliente River) is a tributary of the Rio Chama mostly in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, with a small part near Ojo Caliente in Taos County.
Course
From the confluence of the Rio Vallecitos and Rio Tusas near La ...
****
Rio Vallecitos
****
Rio Tusas
***
Rio del Oso
The Rio del Oso is an intermittent stream in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico
Rio Arriba County () is a List of counties in New Mexico, county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 4 ...
***
El Rito
***
Rio Puerco
The Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source on the west side of the Nacimiento Mountains, it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally south to join the Rio Grande about south of ...
***
Rio Gallina
****
Rio Capulin
***
Rio Cebolla
***
Rio Nutrias
***
Rio Brazos
***
Rio Chamita
**
Embudo Creek
Embudo Creek, also known as Rio Embudo, is formed by the confluence of the Rio Pueblo and Santa Barbara Creek near Peñasco in Taos County, New Mexico. The Embudo (named after the Spanish word meaning “funnel”) empties into the Rio Grande n ...
**
Rio Pueblo de Taos
The Rio Pueblo de Taos, also known as Rio Pueblo, is a stream in Taos County, New Mexico, United States, that a tributary of the Rio Grande. From its source in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally ...
**
Rio Hondo (Northern New Mexico)
The Rio Hondo is a river in northern New Mexico. A left tributary of the Rio Grande, it flows approximately from its headwaters high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Chr ...
**
Red River
Interior basin
*
Mimbres River
The Mimbres is a river in southwestern New Mexico.
Course
The Mimbres forms from snowpack and runoff on the southwestern slopes of the Aldo Leopold Wilderness in the Black Range at in Grant County. The river ends in the Guzmán Basin, a s ...
West of the continental divide
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
watershed
*''
Colorado River
The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...
''
**
Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of ...
***
San Francisco River
****
Tularosa River
**''
Little Colorado River
The Little Colorado River () is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. state of Arizona, providing the principal drainage from the Painted Desert region. Together with its major tributary, the Puerco River, it drains an area of about in ...
''
***
Puerco River
The Puerco River or Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Little Colorado River in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. It flows through arid terrain, including the Painted Desert.
Name
The Puerco River is sometimes called Rio Puerco ...
****
Black Creek (Arizona)
***
Zuni River
The Zuni (Zuñi) River is a tributary of the Little Colorado River in the southwestern United States. It has its origin in Cibola County, New Mexico, in the Zuñi Mountains at the Continental Divide. The river flows off the western slopes of the ...
****
Rio Nutria
****
Rio Pescado
Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream".
Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to:
Places United States
* Rio, Fl ...
**
San Juan River
***
Chaco River
Chaco River is a river tributary to the San Juan River (Colorado River), San Juan River in San Juan County, New Mexico. Its mouth lies at an elevation of . Its source is located at an elevation of at , its confluence with Chaco Wash and Escavado W ...
***
La Plata River
***
Animas River
Animas River (''On-e-mas''; ) is a river in the western United States, a tributary of the San Juan River, part of the Colorado River System.
The river has experienced numerous catastrophes due to the mining nearby, the largest being the 201 ...
***
Los Pinos River
***
Navajo River
Rivers listed by average flow rate
The table lists mean flow in cubic feet of water per second (cfs) of each river with a flow rate of more that 30 cfs. One cubic foot of water equals .0283 cubic meters. The waters of most rivers in New Mexico are used extensively for irrigation, thus reducing mean flow rates.
Source: "Water Resources Data for the United States," United States Geological Survey
Search: New Mexico.
See also
*
List of mountain ranges of New Mexico
This is a list of mountain ranges in the U.S. state of New Mexico, listed alphabetically, and associated landforms.
# Alamo Hueco Mountains
# Animas Mountains
# Brazos Mountains
# Brokeoff (Breakup) Mountains
# Brushy (Teethy) Mountains
# C ...
*
List of valleys of New Mexico
*
List of rivers in the United States
The following list is a list of rivers of the United States.
Alphabetical listing
''Listings of the rivers in the United States by letter of the alphabet:''
List of rivers in the United States: A, A - List of rivers in the United States: B, ...
References
External links
USGS Geographic Names Information Service*USGS Hydrologic Unit Map - State of New Mexico (1974)
{{New Mexico
New Mexico rivers
Rivers
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...