Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features an astronaut photograph of the Amazon River in Brazil. This particular stretch of river is located near the port city of Parintins.
“The river is the largest on Earth and allows seagoing ships to reach Parintins even though it is 800 kilometers (500 miles) inland from the Atlantic Ocean,” says NASA.
“Seagoing ships can progress 3,600 kilometers (2,200 miles) up the Amazon River – more than halfway across the South American continent – to the port of Iquitos in Peru.”
The muddy color of the river is tied to the Andes Mountains, a major source of sediments and mineral nutrients. According to NASA, the sediment erodes from the Andes Mountains located to the west and is carried generally eastward toward the ocean.
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Editor
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