Groot River (Southern Cape)
{{Short description|River in the Western Cape, South Africa}}
{{About|the tributary of the Gourits River|other rivers|Groot River (disambiguation){{!}}Groot River}}
{{Use South African English|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox river
| name = Groot River
| native_name =
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| name_etymology = From Grootrivier, meaning "big river" in the Afrikaans language
| image = SAR Class 6E E1206.JPG
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| image_caption = Train approaching Laingsburg crossing the bridge over the Buffels River, the upper section of the Groot River
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| pushpin_map = South Africa
| pushpin_map_size =
| pushpin_map_caption= Location of the Groot River mouth
| subdivision_type1 = Country
| subdivision_name1 = South Africa
| subdivision_type2 = State
| subdivision_name2 = Western Cape
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| source1 = Komsberg
| source1_location = Great Karoo, Northern Cape
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|32|46|S|20|39|E|display=inline}}
| source1_elevation = {{convert|1200|m|abbr=on}}
| mouth = Gourits River
| mouth_location = Western Cape
| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|33|53|18|S|21|39|22|E|display=inline,title}}
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|82|m|abbr=on}}
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The Groot River is a river in the southern area of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is a right hand tributary of the Gourits River.
Course
The Groot River rises in the Komsberg Escarpment of the Great Karoo,[https://rhodes-za.academia.edu/NigelBarker/Papers/595155/Clark_V.R._Barker_N.P._and_Mucina_L._2011_._The_Roggeveldberge_-_notes_on_a_botanically_hot_area_on_a_cold_corner_of_the_southern_Great_Escarpment_South_Africa._South_African_Journal_of_Botany_77_112-126 Clark, V.R., Barker, N.P., & Mucina, L. (2011). The Roggeveldberge – notes on a botanically hot area on a cold corner of the southern Great Escarpment, South Africa. South African Journal of Botany 77: 112–126] about 40 km south of Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province, and is known as the Komsberg in its upper course. Flowing southeastwards it becomes the Buffels River. It then bends southwards through Laingsburg and flows first southeast, then south into the Floriskraal Dam, and then southwest, before it flows southwards again and cuts across the Klein Swartberg Mountains through the Buffelspoort, a deep gorge, into the Little Karoo.
The river eventually becomes the Groot River at the point where the Buffels and the Klein-Swartberg River meet, about 50 km before its confluence with the Touws River, and then it flows eastwards, past Van Wyksdorp, towards its confluence with the Gourits River.[http://www.dwaf.gov.za/iwqs/rhp/eco/FROC/WMA16Gouritz.jpg Gouritz WMA 16]
Its main tributary is the Touws River that rises in the Hex River Mountains, and flows eastwards through the town of the same name and south into the Little Karoo, where it joins the Groot River's right bank.
Dams in the Groot River basin
- Floriskraal Dam (capacity {{convert|50300000|m3}}),
- Bellair Dam (capacity {{convert|10100000|m3}}),
- Miertjieskraal Dam
See also
References
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