Barranquilla - Geography

Geography

The city is located in the northeastern corner of the department of the Atlantic, on the west bank of the Magdalena River, 7.5 kilometres (originally 25 km before rapid urban growth) from its mouth in the Caribbean. The municipality covers an area of 154 km2, equivalent to 4.5% of the area of the Atlántico Department. Barranquilla is located at latitude 10° 59 '16 "north of the Equator and longitude 74° 47' 20" west of Greenwich, with reference to the Plaza de la Paz, ground zero of the city. The urban area is built on a slightly inclined plane whose extreme heights, according to the Codazzi, are 4 m and 98 m east to west. Other sources say the slopes accidental heights of up to 120 meters outside the city. According to Google Earth, the height of the city varies between 0 m in the western breakwater, up to maximum 142 m in the neighborhood of Los Nogales. Politically, Barranquilla is limited to the east by the department of Magdalena (in between the Magdalena River), north to the town of Puerto Colombia and the Caribbean Sea, west with the municipalities of Puerto Colombia, Galapa and Tubará and south with the municipality of Soledad.

The main river is the Magdalena River; other rivers include the Arriba, Los Tramposos, La Ahuyama, La Tablaza and Las Compañías; streams run through the barrios of Rebolo, Santo Domingo, Las Américas y el Bosque; El Lindero, El Platanal, El Salado, El Salado 2, Don Juan, Hospital, La Paz, Bolívar, Felicidad, Coltabaco, Siape, Calle 92, and the streets 8, 15, 19, 51, 53, 58, 65 and 71. There are also the marshes of Mallorquín Swamp. The north of Barranquilla, from 11° N, corresponded to a region "with good chances of rain water infiltration, " while the southern part appears as "low infiltration, poor soil and possible flooding from rain."

The geological composition of the region is the Tertiary period (Miocene and Pliocene) in western hills and Quaternary (Pleistocene and Holocene) in the more flat, like the sole of river. According to the Geographic Institute Agustin Codazzi, the materials in the area are mainly Quaternary alluvial, lacustrine, fluviolacustre. The land ranges from banks, dikes, terraces, valleys, narrow, small alluvial fans, to marshes, swamps, flats and hills. The materials of the Tertiary (Miocene and Pliocene) are in the western hills, and presented as varied slopes.