Genil

Genil
Genil flowing through the city of Granada
Location
Country	Spain
Region	Andalusia
Cities	Granada, Écija
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Sierra Nevada, Granada Province
Mouth	Guadalquivir
• location	at Sanlúcar de Barameda
Length	358 km (222 mi)
Basin size	8,278 km2 (3,196 sq mi)
Basin features
Progression	Guadalquivir→ Gulf of Cádiz

The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. The Roman Singilis, its modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: Sinyil, Sannil, and Sinnil.

Route

The source of the Genil is in the Sierra Nevada, north of its highest peak Mulhacén. The Genil flows through the towns Granada, Loja, Puente Genil and Écija. It flows into the Guadalquivir River near Palma del Río. Its main tributary is the Darro. It is joined by the Cacín River to the southwest of Villanueva Mesía.

Geological history

The river today drains the Granada basin. In the latest Tortonian and the middle and late Turolian (9.0–5.3 Ma) this was an endorheic basin. Rivers flowed from the east and southwest into a central lake with no exit. During the Pliocene, the western part of the basin was drained by the paleo-Cacín river system, which flowed to the north and then left the basin to the west. The eastern part was drained by the Alhambra system, or paleo-Genil system, was fed by the mountains to the east and fed a small endorheic lake in the north. Some time later, the Genil river changed course to flow west, where it joined the paleo-Cacin system, and the basin became exorheic.

See also

• List of rivers of Spain