The study was published in the scientific journal Geology in July ScienceDaily, 8 July Universiteit van Amsterdam UVA. Retrieved November 13, from www. However, a new study warns that in the coming The evidence, say geologists, is in the sedimentary rocks exposed at the The Amazon River has the largest volume of freshwater of any river in the world.
The River releases around , liters of freshwater into the ocean every second. At about 4, miles long, the Amazon River is the second-longest river in the world. The Amazon's impressive length is exceeded by the 4, mile-long Nile River. Behind the Amazon, the next-longest river is the Yangtze River, which is only about 85 miles shorter than the Amazon. The Amazon River releases so much freshwater into the Atlantic Ocean, it alters sea level in the Caribbean.
As freshwater leaves the mouth the Amazon, it gets picked up by the Caribbean Current, which carries the water to the Caribbean islands. On average, models predict the Amazon River alone causes sea levels around the Caribbean to be around 3-cm higher than they would be without the Amazon's freshwater contributions. The Amazon River Dolphin Inia geoffrensis , also known as the pink river dolphin or boto, is one of just four species of "true" river dolphins.
Unlike their ocean-dwelling counterparts, river dolphins live exclusively in freshwater habitats. Based on a fossilized dolphin discovered in Peru's Pisco Basin, the Amazon River Dolphin is estimated to have evolved about 18 million years ago. While the Amazon River dolphin is quite abundant in the waters of the Amazon and Orinoco rivers, it is currently considered an endangered species due to recent population declines resulting from a number of human activities.
Populations of the Amazon River dolphin are particularly hurt by the damming and pollution of the Amazon River.
The dolphins are also killed by fishermen for use as bait to catch catfish. In recent years, fisherman have switched from catching the "capaz" catfish Pimelodus grosskopfii to the "mota" Calophysus macropterus , the latter of which is easily attracted by Amazon River dolphin bait. The dorado catfish Brachyplatystome rousseauxii is one of six species of "goliath" catfish found in the Amazon River. Like the capaz and mota catfishes, the goliath catfishes are commercially important species, with the dorado catfish being perhaps the most important of all of the Amazon's catfish.
The dorado catfish can grow to be over six feet long and migrates over 7, miles to complete its life cycle. The Amazon River and the Amazon Rainforest were named by Francisco de Orellana, the first European explorer to reach the area, after he encountered the indigenous Pira-tapuya people.
In a battle against de Orellana and his men, Pira-tapuya men and women fought alongside one another. During the dry season it averages 2 to 6 miles 3. To put that figure into perspective, if you could walk across the river it would take you about 8 hours to get from one side to the other! Its delta, in northern Brazil is the largest river delta on our planet, a muddy patch of salty-vs-fresh water that covers an area of roughly 1 million square miles.
In , the Amazon River was confirmed by scientists to have an underground version of itself 4km below it, which mirrors its above-ground twin in length, but is up to four times wider but the water therein flows much more slowly through the porous sedimentary rock at a depth of around 4km. The Amazon River contains the most freshwater fish species in the world, with more than species, around of which are endemic.
An entire coral reef system was discovered by researchers at the Amazon River Delta in It stretches for more than 1, km and covers an area of over 9, square kilometers. The reef is believed to be home to a unique ecosystem and a wealth of marine life. It may sound wild and untamed, but one man, Martin Skrel, conquered it all in , swimming the entire length of the Amazon River.
It took him 66 days and up to 10 hours of swimming per day. River Luxury Cruising in the Peruvian Amazon. The majority of the Amazon River has a depth of around 20 to 50 meters 66 to ft but this plunges to around meters ft at its deepest points.
Something to consider if thinking about taking an Amazon river cruise. Did you know you can surf the Amazon? A more ancient predecessor to the Amazon actually flowed backward at times, from east to west, according to one unpublished study. The current study focused on samples taken from two boreholes drilled by Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon. One of the boreholes was 2. Until recently, the Amazon Fan, a sediment column of around 6 miles 10 km thick, was difficult to age based on the jumble of local rocks, and scientific drilling expeditions could only reach a fraction of it, Hoorn said.
The new analysis of the borehole samples allowed the researchers to reconstruct the history of the Amazon River, and provides insights into the history of the river and the fan. This research also has implications for understandings of South American paleogeography and the evolution of aquatic organisms in Amazonia and the Atlantic coast, Hoorn said.
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