| Tunjuelo River | |
| Name Other: | Tunjuelito River |
| Name Etymology: | Muysccubun "cerro de los tunjos" |
| Pushpin Map: | Colombia |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the Tunjuelo River in Colombia |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 4.307°N -74.1306°W |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 4.6291°N -74.2225°W |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Colombia |
| Subdivision Type2: | Department |
| Subdivision Name2: | Cundinamarca |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipalities |
| Subdivision Name3: | Bogotá |
| Subdivision Type4: | Localities |
| Source1: | Sumapaz Páramo |
| Mouth: | Bogotá River |
| River System: | Bogotá River Magdalena Basin Caribbean Sea |
| Length: | 73km (45miles) |
The Tunjuelo or Tunjuelito River is a river on the Bogotá savanna and a left tributary of the Bogotá River. The river, with a length of 73km (45miles) originates in the Sumapaz Páramo and flows northward through the Usme Synclinal to enter the Colombian capital Bogotá. There, the river is mostly canalised flowing westward into the Bogotá River. It is one of the three main rivers of the city, together with the Fucha and Juan Amarillo Rivers.
The names Tunjuelo and Tunjuelito ("little Tunjuelo") are derived from the Cerro de los Tunjos, also Los Tunjos Lake, named after the tunjos, the religious votive figurines of the indigenous language of the Muisca, who inhabited the Bogotá savanna before the Spanish conquest.[1]
The Tunjuelo River has a total length of 73km (45miles) and originates in the Sumapaz Páramo, in the southern part of Bogotá.[2] It flows through the southern part of the Colombian capital, south of the Fucha River, and has the largest drainage basin of the rivers of Bogotá.[3] The river flows through the Usme Synclinal, where the type localities of various geological formations (among others the Marichuela Formation) are situated. The Tunjuelo River forms the border between the localities Usme and Ciudad Bolivar and between the namesake locality Tunjuelito and Ciudad Bolívar. The Tunjuelo River is highly contaminated.[4]
The Tunjuelo River valley hosts the type localities of various geologic formations of the Altiplano Cundiboyacense.
| Age | Formation | Lithologies | class=unsortable | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conglomerates, sandstones, shales | ||||
| Late Miocene | ||||
| Late Eocene | ||||
| Sandstones, conglomerates, shales | ||||
| Mudstones, shales, siltstones, sandstones | ||||
See main article: Wetlands of Bogotá. Three of the fifteen protected wetlands of Bogotá are located in the Tunjuelo River basin.
| Wetland | Location | Altitude (m) | Area (ha) | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Vaca | Kennedy | align=center | 2548 | align=center | 7.96 | align=center | |
| La Isla | Bosa | align=center | 2550 | align=center | 7.7 | align=center | |
| Tibanica | Bosa Soacha | align=center | 2542 | align=center | 28.8 | align=center | |