Its source lies near Diamantina in the Espinhaço Mountains at an elevation of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft), after which it flows northward and then east-northeastward across the uplands. At Salto da Divisa, it is interrupted by the Cachoeira (falls) do Salto Grande, 43 metres (141 ft) high. The river descends to the coastal plain at the city of Jequitinhonha, beyond which it is also called Rio Grande do Belmonte, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Belmonte in Bahia state after a course of approximately 1,090 kilometres (680 mi).