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[[de:Rio Grande, USA]]
The Rio Grande River (called the Rio Bravo in [[Mexico]]) is a [[river]] which rises in the [[San Juan Mountains|San Juan Mountains of Colorado]], flows through the [[San Luis Valley|San Luis Valley of Colorado]], then south into [[New Mexico]] through [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]], [[Albuquerque, New Mexico|Albuquerque]] and [[Las Cruces, New Mexico|Las Cruces]] to [[El Paso, Texas]] on the border with Mexico.
The river is the boundary between Mexico and the United States from El Paso to the [[Gulf of Mexico]].
Major cities along the border are [[Ciudad Juarez, Mexico]] across the river from El Paso; [[Laredo, Texas|Laredo]] and [[Nuevo Laredo, Mexico|Nuevo Laredo]]; and [[Brownsville, Texas|Brownsville]] and [[Matamoros, Mexico|Matamoros]].
Other notable towns along the river are [[Del Rio, Texas|Del Rio]] and [[Eagle Pass, Texas|Eagle Pass]].

Use of the water of the Rio Grande is regulated by the Rio Grande Compact, an interstate compact between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas; and a treaty between the United States and Mexico. The Rio Grande is over-appropriated, that is, there are more uses for the water than there is water in the river.

The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation; El Paso is 3762 feet above sea level. While in New Mexico the river flows through the [[Rio Grande Rift]] from one sediment filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins. Anciently the Rio Grande terminated at the bottom of the Rio Grande Rift in Lake Cabeza de Baca. About 1 million years ago [[stream capture|the stream was "captured"]] and began to flow eastward. From El Paso eastward the river flows through desert. Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated  agriculture. The river ends in a small sandy delta on the Gulf of Mexico.

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* http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Grande