Caroní

a river in Venezuela, a right-bank tributary of theOrinoco. Length, 892 km; basin area, about 85, 000 sq km. Itoriginates on and flows across the Guiana Highlands, formingwaterfalls and cataracts along its entire course. Floods are com-mon from April to October. The average annual rate of flow isabout 4, 600 cu m per sec. The river is navigable to a point 100km from its mouth. As of 1972, a system of hydroelectric powerstations was under construction; the first, at Guri, producing 525megawatts, was opened in 1968. The projected output of theentire system is about 6 gigawatts.