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Amazon River |
The Amazon River, which is located in South America, is a river full of mystery. Even the actual length of the river with the largest flow of water in the world is still unknown.
The Amazon River flows, hidden in the dense Amazon Rainforest which hosts about 10 to 30% of the world's flora and fauna species.
The Amazon River is a river that has the largest flow of water in the world. This river releases fresh water into the Atlantic Ocean in very large quantities. The average discharge of water flowing by the Amazon River into the sea is 209,000 m³/second. Even in the rainy season it can reach 340,000 m³. The Amazon River releases one-fifth or 20% of the total fresh water on earth into the Atlantic Ocean.
The amount of fresh water entering the Atlantic Ocean has changed the color of the sea surface and reduced the salt content of seawater to an area of 2,500,000 km². Fresh water from the Amazon River which is lighter than sea water, flows over sea water. Because of that the water at sea level, near the mouth of the Amazon River, tastes fresher.
The average water discharge of the Amazon River is between 215,000 m³ to 230,000 m³, it is not surprising that the Amazon River is listed as the river with the largest water discharge in the world. Even the water discharge of the Amazon River is still greater than the combined 5 largest rivers in the world, namely the Ganges, Congo, Orinoco, Guaina, and Yangtze. These five rivers rank 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th, as the rivers with the largest flow of water in the world.
The Amazon River Basin is also the largest drainage basin in the world. Its area reaches 7,000,000 km². The Amazon River or Rio Amazonas, in Spanish and Portuguese, has a length of 6,259 km, crossing the countries of Peru, Colombia and Brazil. There is debate among scientists about the length of the Amazon River.
In 2001, Brazilian scientists made measurements using a new technique, the result, the length of the Amazon River is 6992 km, longer than the Nile River in Africa. However, the results of these measurements are still a debate that never ends. The status of the Amazon River as the longest river in the world is still not recognized internationally, and the record is still held by the Nile River in Africa.
Just as the length of the Amazon River is still being debated, the source of the Amazon River is also still being debated.
In 1971, a National Geographic Society expedition team led by Captain Loren McIntyre managed to find a small lake at an altitude of 5,319 meters, on the northern slope of Mount Mismi, a volcanic mountain in the Chila Mountains, Peru's Andes region.
This small lake whose water comes from melting glaciers is then named as Lake McIntyre. The water from the small lake flows into the small river Carhuasanta. The Carhuasanta River joins the Quebrada Apacheta, and forms the Rio Lloqueta.
Along the way, the Rio Lloqueta was joined by several small rivers to form a larger river, finally forming the Apuramic River.
The Apuramic River joins the Mantaro River to form the Ene River. The Ene River then joins the Perene River at an altitude of 330 m to become the Tambo River. The Tambo River joins the Urubamba River to form the Uyacali River, which then joins the Maranon River in Iquitos, Peru, to form the Solimoes River.
The Solimoes River together with the Rio Negro and the Madeira River combine to form the Amazon River. The Madeira River is the largest tributary of the Amazon River.
There are also several small rivers that flow directly into the Amazon River, such as the Morona, Putumayo, Caqueta, Pastaza, Nucuray, Vaupes, Guainia, Chambira, Urituyacu, Huallaga, Nanay, Tigre, and Napo rivers.
The Amazon River has more than 1,100 large and small tributaries, including the Madeira River, Rio Negro, Solimoes River, Jurua River, Javary River, Branco River, Araguaia River, Tocantins River, Xingu River, and others.
The Amazon River is rich in species of flora and fauna. There are thousands of species of fish that live in the Amazon River, such as piracucu fish, boto (the largest river dolphin), tucuxi (a type of dolphin), manatee, candiru (a type of catfish), electric fish, river stingrays, bull sharks, fish arowana and piranhas.
Piranha fish is a very famous predator of the Amazon River. There are about 30-60 species of piranha fish that live in the Amazon River. These small fish measuring 14-26 cm are known to be very ferocious when they get prey. Piranha is a type of omnivorous fish (eating everything), and not all types of piranha are meat eaters, some species are actually plant eaters.
Besides fish, the Amazon River is also a habitat for giant otters, turtles, and the world's largest snake species, the Anaconda. In the Amazon River there are also many freshwater microbes, such as actinobacteria, crenarchaeota, betaproteobacteria, alphaproteobacteria, and so on.