The "meeting of waters" in the Amazon basin

11-25-2019


The “meeting of waters” in the Amazon basin Today’s Video of the Day from the European Space Agency features the “meeting of waters” in Brazil, where the Rio Negro and the Solimões River meet to form the Amazon River.

The Rio Negro is the largest tributary of the Amazon and the world’s largest black-water river, which gets its dark color from decayed leaf and plant matter.

The city of Manaus is located on the north bank of the Rio Negro, and the Adolfo Ducke Forest Reserve is visible northeast of the city.  The Amazon rainforest gets its name from the Amazon River, the life force of the rainforest. The Amazon River begins in the Peruvian Andes, and winds its way east over the northern half of South America. It meets the Atlantic Ocean at Belem, Brazil. The main river is about 4,080 miles long. The Meeting of Waters is the confluence of the dark Rio Negro with the sandy colored upper Amazon River, or Solimões, as it is known in Brazil.

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: European Space Agency

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