Brasil Manaus

Credit: Credit: ESA, Posted on: Friday, 14 May 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

This image shows a large part of the Brazilian Amazon Basin. The area is a lowlying valley nearly entirely covered by tropical rainforest. The Amazon river is the world's largest river in terms of volume of water discharged into the sea. The river's network also forms the world's largest drainage system, comprehending about 1100 rivers. The tributaries are very often referred to as white or black rivers. White rivers (their actual colour is yellowish) often rise in the Andes, and their consistence results from heavy loads of mud and silt. Black rivers on the contrary rise in rocky basements from where no or little sediment is carried along. A beautiful example of the confluence of the Amazon's main white and black rivers, the Solimões River and the Rio Negro converging as the Amazon River can clearly be seen on this image.

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