South America’s Amazon River is the largest river in the world.
The Amazon River is a vast and complex water system that winds its way through the world’s most important and complex One of the ecosystems is the Amazon rainforest in South America. It is by far the largest river in volume and width. During the rainy season, the span is closer to 30 miles (48 kilometers) in some areas. The river and its watershed are home to many unique animals, trees and plants.
According to the New World Encyclopedia, the Amazon River’s 4,000-mile (6,437-kilometer) journey begins high in the Andes. These mountains act like a wall, blocking the entry of warm, humid air from the east, causing the constant heavy rainfall that continues to feed the Amazon River’s headwaters. The river then travels east through thousands of miles of rainforest and lowlands before finally flowing into the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil’s northeastern coast.
The Amazon is the second longest river in the world, slightly shorter than the Nile (4,258 miles or 6,853 kilometers), although some experts believe the two rivers are so close together the lengths (there is still some debate as to their true source because of the different methods of measurement), it’s actually hard to say which river it is.
The Amazon River has more than 1,100 tributaries, 17 of which are more than 930 miles (1,497 kilometers) long, and has the largest drainage system in the world. About one-fifth of the water on Earth’s surface is carried by the Amazon River. In fact, its flow and total flow is greater than the next six major rivers combined.
During the dry season (June-November), the width of the Amazon River averages 2 to 6 miles (3.2 to 9.6 km), depending on the region, while in the wet season (12 April to April), and can be up to 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide. At the peak of the rainy season, the water can move faster than 4 miles per hour (6.4 kilometers per hour).
The river takes its name from Spanish soldier Francisco de Orellana, who is believed to be the first European to explore the length of the river in 1541. He fought female warriors who reminded him of the Amazons in Greek mythology, and named them “Amazons.”
The Amazon River usually floods during the rainy season.
Amazon River Basin
The Amazon River Basin is the flow of the Amazon River and large tracts of land with its tributaries. It occupies 38 percent of South America’s total area, which is 2.67 million square miles (6.9 million square kilometers).
The lowlands surrounding the river and its tributaries are flooded each year, greatly enriching the surrounding soil. More than two-thirds of the basin is covered by tropical rainforest. The basin is located in parts of six countries: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Venezuela. Much of the basin and two-thirds of the river itself are located in Brazil.
The Amazon basin has several large cities: Belém, Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River, with a population of 1.3 million; Santarem, Brazil, between the Amazon and Tapajo The confluence of the rivers; Manaus in Brazil, a city of 2 million, nestled in the jungle; the megacity of Iquitos in Peru, a port city and gateway to the tribal villages of the northern Amazon.
Indigenous peoples live in approximately 28 percent of the Amazon basin. This includes 350 different ethnic groups, more than 60 of which are largely isolated(opens in a new tab).
The interior of the Amazon rainforest is one of the most diverse corners of the Amazon Basin. One hectare of forest usually has 250 species of large trees.
Life on the River
The Amazon is home to more than 5,600 known species Home to fish, including 100 species of electric fish and as many as 60 species of piranha, the arapaima, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world (up to 15 feet or 4.6 meters long), also makes its home here.
The Amazon river dolphin is the largest species of blowfish in the world; its color changes with age, from grey to pink to white. Giant otters and Amazonian manatees also live in this tropical waters.
River Reef
An international team of scientists on an expedition to the Amazon made an unusual discovery – they found a coral reef system active in the plume of the river, where the river flows into the ocean.
When river water enters the ocean, it has significant effects on salinity levels, pH, sedimentation, temperature, light penetration and nutrient availability, often making the environment very unfavorable Growth of coral reefs. This is especially true in the massive Amazon plume, which can extend northward into the Caribbean Sea.
The coolest thing about these reefs is that there are some corals that live in the dark for at least part of the year, beneath the cloudy Amazon plume.
These reefs are located very low, well below any incoming sunlight.Light – a few hundred feet below a cloudy plume about 65 feet (20 meters) thick in the Amazon itself.
The red-bellied piranha lives in the Amazon Basin.
Unfortunately, like the Amazon rainforest, these unique reefs are vulnerable to human activity. In terms of threats to humanity, the most pressing are oil drilling, phosphate mining and fishing pressure.
But these reefs are in the tropics, so they may also be experiencing ocean warming and acidification as a result of human-driven burning of fossil carbon dioxide (oil and gas).
Amazon Rainforest
The Amazon River and Amazon rainforest ecosystems are intricately linked in the Together. The Amazon Rainforest is the largest rainforest on Earth, covering approximately 80% of the Amazon River Basin.
The Amazon rainforest is home to more than one-third of the world’s known species. As many as 100 tree species are found on an acre of land, and these species rarely appear more than once. The Amazon rainforest is often called the lungs of the planet because it acts like a giant air machine, absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing large amounts of life-sustaining oxygen.
The rainforest has a unique layering system: emergence layer, canopy layer, undergrowth and forest floor. About 70% to 90% of the organisms in the rainforest live in the tree canopy. The crowns of these trees form a tight continuous canopy about 60 – 90 feet (18.3 – 27.4 m) above the ground and can reach up to 120 feet (36.6 m), with branches covered with other plants (epiphytes) and tied with vines together. Tree canopies help regulate temperature and humidity and are intricately linked to the region’s climate.
Capuchins are one of many monkeys that live in the Amazon rainforest.
A huge tree, known as the abrupt tree, protrudes from the canopy to form the abrupt layer. These trees can reach heights of up to 200 feet (60 meters). Some animals that live in the emergent layer include orangutan macaws, capuchins, and eagles.
The underlying vegetation layer is dark, receiving only 2-15% of the area’s sunlight. Due to the lack of sunlight, the understory vegetation is much less dense than the canopy and usually consists of young trees and other plants that require very little sunlight.
The layer that absorbs the least sunlight absorbs only 2 percent of it—the forest floor. It consists of a thin layer of rapidly decomposing fallen leaves, branches, fruits and seeds.
For the past three decades, the Amazon rainforest has been the focus of passionate conservation as human activity has increasingly threatened the delicate balance of the region’s complex ecosystems. The cattle industry in Brazil plays an important role and is responsible for about 80 percent of the deforestation in the Amazon.
Transportation
In this impassable jungle and limited roads, the Amazon The river is still the main mode of transportation for many people, especially the Aboriginal people. Boats on the river often transport residents, tourists and goods from one part of the Amazon to another.
However, as the population grows and more people continue to rely on the largely unregulated river for transportation, more and more people are exposed In an ancient terror – piracy.
While piracy has historically been a scourge of remote waters, the current population boom, combined with the rise of drug gangs and organized crime in the Amazon Basin, has led to more hijacking opportunities.
Many slower inland watercraft are basically low-hanging fruit for the faster ships manned by heavily armed thieves. Ships are often seized after nightfall, and local authorities and police are struggling to control the situation.