Amazon River

4 days ago - Geological studies suggest that for millions of years, the Amazon River flowed in the opposite direction – from east to west. Eventually the Andes Mountains formed, blocking its flow to the Pacific Ocean and causing it to switch directions to its current mouth in the Atlantic Ocean.

June 6, 2025 - Half a century later, in 1952, two Englishmen, Sebastian Snow and John Brown, identified a small glacial lake called Niñococha, as the source of the Amazon River. The stream from this lake, located in the Raura mountain range, flows down through the Raura silver mine to Lake Lauricocha.

July 24, 1998 - Its westernmost source is high in the Andes Mountains, within 100 miles (160 km) of the Pacific Ocean, and its mouth is in the Atlantic Ocean, on the northeastern coast of Brazil.

May 4, 2021 - Now the authors of a study published in the journal Area say they've located the mighty river's true source: the Mantaro River in southwestern Peru. If they're right, their discovery would add 47 to 57 miles (75 to 92 kilometers) to the length ...

July 24, 1998 - Amazon River - Source, Tributaries, Basin: The Amazon River’s main outlets are the two channels north of Marajó Island, a lowland somewhat larger in size than Denmark, through a cluster of half-submerged islets and shallow sandbanks. There the mouth of the river is 40 miles (64 km) wide.

For example, the only way you can get to Iquitos, Peru, which is right on the Amazon River, is to board a plane or a boat. There are no roads to get there.3 Origins and course of the river The Amazon River has its source high in the Peruvian Andes, ...

May 23, 2024 - The source of the Amazon river is in the Apacheta valley, at the slopes of Mount Quehuisha in the department of Arequipa (Peru), where the Apacheta creek flows. The river mouth is in the Atlantic Ocean.

February 8, 2001 - Flowing more than 6,450 kilometers (4,000 miles) eastward across Brazil, the Amazon Riveroriginates in the Peruvian Andes as tiny mountain streams that eventually combine to form one of the world's mightiest rivers.

February 15, 2022 - Historically five different rivers, all located in the Andes of Peru, have been heralded as its source, the most widely accepted being Lake Ticlla Cocha in the headwaters of the Apurimac River.

April 13, 2021 - The mouth of the Amazon is measured from Cabo do Norte to Punto Patijoca in northern Brazil, a distance measuring 325 km. This distance is inclusive of the ocean outlet and front of Marajó Island.

March 8, 2018 - The river is fed by more than 1000 sources, originating in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia. The Amazon River's mouth is in Brazil, and its farthest source is in Peru.

By that measure, they assert, the Mantaro is the most distant source. The Smithsonian's Johnston, even though he was on the expedition that confirmed the primacy of the Apurímac, thinks the new study provides a fresh perspective.

July 13, 2022 - The best estimate we have is that the Amazon River is approximately 6,500–6,800 km long if the mouth is located near Balique, just east of 50° W. The length of the Nile is usually stated to be 6,650 km. Needless to say, the “longest river” debate will continue to ping-pong until both rivers are measured in exactly the same way, at about the same time, preferably by the same team of investigators—one that includes partisans of both the Amazon and the Nile as the world’s longest river.

Large areas of sunglint are common in oblique views. Sunglint images reveal great detail in surface water—in this case the marked difference between the smooth outline of the Amazon and the jagged shoreline of the Uatumã River.

At some points, for long distances, the river divides into two main streams with inland and lateral channels, all connected by a complicated system of natural canals, cutting the low, flat igapo lands, which are never more than 5 m (15 ft) above low river, into many islands. At the narrows of Óbidos, 600 km (400 mi) from the sea, the Amazon narrows, flowing in a single streambed, a mile (1.6 km) wide and over 200 ft (60 m). deep, through which the water rushes toward the sea at the speed of 6 to 8 km/h (4 to 5 mph). ... From the village of Canaria at the great bend of the Amazon to the Negro 1,000 km (600 mi) downstream, only very low land is found, resembling that at the mouth of the river.

March 21, 2023 - Its mouth is even wider, at an incredulous 235 miles (380 km)! 9. 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 and spans some 190 kilometers wide. 10. In 2011, 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—one millimeter an hour!—through the porous sedimentary rock there.

December 29, 2024 - Marajó Island into the Amazon is the Pará River, which is supplied by the Tocantins. ... Mississippi has a split mouth, perhaps due to sediment deposits. ... Ice Age Amazon wasn't connected to the right branch, and Marajo wasn't an island, because the sea level was lower.

April 9, 2025 - The Amazon River—from the confluence of the Ucayali and Marañón Rivers in Peru to the Atlantic—is approximately 3,750 km long. The channel and floodplain of the river occupy more than 100,000 km2. More than 80 percent of the river is in Brazil, 18 percent is exclusively in Peru and approximately 2 percent is shared between Peru and Colombia.

It is also the first or second longest river in the world with 6,400 km from its source in the Andean region in Peru to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil (Hoorn, Wesselingh, 2010;

July 10, 2025 - By the end of the 1800s, the mystery remained unresolved, setting the stage for an even more dramatic race in the 20th century: the quest to trace the longest, most distant path of flowing water to the mouth of the Amazon in the Atlantic Ocean. By the mid-20th century, as satellite mapping remained years away, the search for the Amazon’s source turned into a boots-on-the-glacier affair. At the heart of this chapter stood a towering contender: the Apurímac River. Winding through gorges and cloud forests, it descends from the rarefied air of the Peruvian Andes, fed by the ice and meltwater of Nevado Mismi—a snow-dusted peak standing over 5,600 meters tall, not far from the city of Arequipa.