Файл:Ríos de Andalucía.pngRivers of Andalusia. The Barbate is in western Andalusia, slightly to the left on this map of Gibraltar, the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula.
The Barbate begins in the northern foothills of the Sierra del Aljibe, at an elevation of Шаблон:Convert above sea level. The upper portion of the river descends rapidly, running through Triassic terrain, and dropping Шаблон:Convert in barely Шаблон:Convert; after that, the river descends gently over Eocene terrain, losing only Шаблон:Convert 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 Шаблон:Convert, flows in all but its upper part through relatively flat land, it meanders considerably.
The Barbate and its tributaries drain an area of Шаблон:Convert (17.6 percent of the province of Cádiz). It runs through wide colluvial plains and the magnificent dark clay soils the Spanish call bujeo or the tierras negras andaluzas ("black Andalusian lands"), 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 (river), the Álamo and the Fraja.
