Amazon River (South America)

    Known as the second longest river in the world, the Amazon River is found in South America and it passes through different countries such as Brazil, Colombia as well as Peru. The major  tributaries to the river include the Casiquiare canal, the Caqueta river, the Javary, the Morona and the Toncantins rivers. With thousands of tributaries, this body of water is considered as the largest river when it comes to assessing the volume of water. One of the historicalnavigations in the river is when British navigator Ed Stafford started to walk from its source to its mouth in April 2008.

       The length of the river is approximately 6,400 kilometers. When it comes to its basin discharge, the mean discharge is 219,000 cubic meter per second. The basin of the Amazon measures 7,050,000 square kilometer. It is considered as the biggest basin in the world since it covers 40 per cent of the continent where the river is found. One of the remote sources of the river is the inter-Andean plateau, which is near to the Pacific Ocean.

The river’s source is the Apachetta cliff, which is found at Nevado Mismi in Arequipa, Peru. Its mouth is the Atlantic Ocean. During dry season, the total land covered by the river is estimated to be 110,000 square kilometers. On the other hand, during the wet season, the flooded area measures 350,000 square kilometers.

The tributaries of the river do not flood simultaneously. Most of the branches of the Amazon begin to flood in November. The Rio Negro floods in February or March and it recedes in June. On the other hand, the flooding of the Madeirastarts in September.

During peak season, the mean depth of the river is 130 feet while the width measures 25 miles. At least 1/3 of the species in the world is present in the Amazon Rainforest. The river alone has at least 3,000 fish species. Some of the marine species that are present in the river are the boto, the Orinoco, tucuxi and piranha. Aside from these, people can also find bull sharks, arapaimas and arowanas in the watercourse. One of the dangerous animals that live in the Amazon is the anaconda snake. Other species that live in the river are the turtles, algae, crabs, electric eels, catfishes as well as the Giant Otter.

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