Key Facts about Amazon River

About Amazon River:

• It is the world’s largest river by water volume and width and the second-longest river in the world after the Nile.
• Course: Its journey begins high in the Andes Mountains and empties into the Atlantic Ocean on the northeastern coast of Brazil.
• River basin:
  • It has the largest drainage area of any river system.
  • Its watershed spans the countries of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, and Bolivia.
  • Roughly two-thirds of the Amazon’s main stream and by far the largest portion of its basin are within Brazil.
  • The river’s size changes with the seasons. In the dry season, it spans 4 to 5 km in width, but during the wet season, this can swell to 50 km. 
• Tributaries: Notable tributaries include the Rio Negro, the Madeira River, and the Xingu River, among many others.
• The Amazon Rainforest, which represents about half of the Earth’s remaining rainforest, also constitutes its single largest reserve of biological resources.
• It is sometimes referred to as the “lungs of the Earth” due to its role in regulating the planet’s oxygen and carbon cycles.

Q1: What is a River Basin?

A river basin is the portion of land drained by a river and its tributaries. It encompasses all of the land surface dissected and drained by many streams and creeks that flow downhill into one another, and eventually into the main river.

Source: Amazon River is drying: What’s going on with the largest river in the world?

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