What are the longest rivers in the world?

There are many long rivers in the world, but which ones are the longest? Naturally, there is a disagreement over the answer to this question. While The Nile has traditionally been considered to be longest in the world, the ...

What is the world's widest river?

The Amazon River is a heck of a big tributary. Besides being one of the LONGEST rivers in the world, it also happens to be the WIDEST. While its estimated length of 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) puts it under the Nile River, ...

Mediterranean Sea filled in less than two years: study

The Mediterranean Sea was mostly filled in less than two years in a dramatic flood around 5.33 million years ago in which water poured in from the Atlantic, according to a study published Wednesday.

Ancient giant dolphin discovered in the Amazon

Paleontologists from the University of Zurich have announced the discovery of a new species of freshwater dolphin in the Peruvian Amazon region. Surprisingly, its closest living relatives can be found in the river dolphins ...

Scientists discover new reef system at mouth of Amazon River

A new reef system has been found at the mouth of the Amazon River, the largest river by discharge of water in the world. As large rivers empty into the world's oceans in areas known as plumes, they typically create gaps in ...

Darwin 2.0: Scientists shed new light on how species diverge

Birds that are related, such as Darwin's finches, but that vary in beak size and behavior specially evolved to their habitat are examples of a process called speciation. It has long been thought that dramatic changes in a ...

Mangrove forest found living in freshwater

An international team of researchers has found a mangrove forest living in a freshwater part of the Amazonian delta. In their paper published in the journal Current Biology, the group describes their study of the Amazonian ...

Piranha tops T Rex in the bite league, study finds

Outsized jaw muscles allow the black piranha to exert bite force equivalent to 30 times its bodyweight, a feat unmatched in the natural world, according to results of a finger-risking study published Thursday.

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Amazon River

The Amazon River (Portuguese: Rio Amazonas; Spanish: Río Amazonas; pronounced /ˈæməzɒn/ (US); pronounced /ˈæməzən/ (UK)) of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one fifth of the world's total river flow. During the wet season parts of the Amazon exceed 120 miles (190 km) in width. Because of its vast dimensions, it is sometimes called The River Sea. At no point is the Amazon crossed by bridges. This is not because of its huge dimensions; in fact, for most of its length, the Amazon's width is well within the capability of modern engineers to bridge. However, the bulk of the river flows through tropical rainforest, where there are few roads and even fewer cities, so there is no need for crossings.

While the Amazon is the largest river in the world by most measures, the current consensus within the geographic community holds that the Amazon is the second longest river, just slightly shorter than the Nile. However, some scientists, particularly from Brazil and Peru, dispute this (see section below).

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA