Barbate (river)
The Barbate is a coastal river in southern Spain. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean at Barbate in the province of Cádiz, autonomous community of Andalusia.
The Barbate begins in the northern foothills of the Sierra del Aljibe, at an elevation of above sea level. The upper portion of the river descends rapidly, running through Triassic terrain, and dropping in barely ; after that, the river descends gently over Eocene terrain, losing only in the rest of its course, which after the confluence with the river Alberite flows through Quaternary terrain. Because the river, with a length of over, flows in all but its upper part through relatively flat land, it meanders considerably.
The Barbate and its tributaries drain an area of . It runs through wide colluvial plains and the magnificent dark clay soils the Spanish call bujeo or the tierras negras andaluzas, arriving finally in the desiccated former Janda Lagoon, where the River Almodóvar flows into the Barbate from the left. Other tributaries are the Rocinejo, the Celemín, the Álamo and the Fraja.
It then passes Alcalá de los Gazules, Benalup-Casas Viejas, and after passing through the gorge of Barca de Vejer, it passes through the of the Marismas de Barbate, to its mouth at Barbate.
