Amazon River

• Largest catchbasin 2,720,000 sq. mi.
• Biggest flow 7,381,000 cu. ft./sec.
• 2^nd longest? 4,000 mi.
• Basin covers 40% of South America
• Provides 20% of earth’s fresh water
• Mouth is 110 miles wide, no delta
• First bridge built in 2010 at Manaus

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Amazon reaches within 100 miles of Pacific

Tributaries in Guyana, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and a large portion of Brazil.

Amazon Details

• Amazon’s mouth varies from 202 mi. To 9.3 mi. depending on what is considered .
• The giant otter and piranha are two famous fauna.
• Hamza River parallels Amazon underground.
• It is 3700 mi. long and 13,000 ft. deep.
• Amazon varies in width from .6 to 62 mi. while the Hamza is from 120 to 250 mi. wide.
• Amazon flows at 16 ft./sec. while the Hamza flows at 0.039 in./sec. in a salt aquifer.

Mississippi River

• 5^th largest catchbasin - 1,245,000 sq. mi.
• 5^th largest flow - 3,065,000 cu.ft./sec.
• 4^th longest in the world
• 1^st RR bridge in 1856 at Rock Island, Ill.
• Now has 40 highway bridges over Mississippi
• 29 locks and dams in Upper Mississippi
• Mississippi is Ojibewe for great river

Rio de la Plata, 2^nd largest basin in the world

Although the river has a large basin, it’s flow is only 770,000 cu.ft./sec. Instead of a rainforest like the Amazon, much of it’s area is much more arid.

Nile River is the longest in the world at 4,132 miles?

There is some dispute as the actual length of the Nile and the Amazon. The Nile has a flow of only 99,940 cu.ft./sec even though it’s basin is the 3^rd largest in the world at 1,600,000 sq.mi.

Congo River has 2^nd largest flow in the world.

The Congo’s basin area is 1,550,000 sq.mi. (4th largest in the world) and is mostly rain forest which is why it’s flow is 2^nd to the Amazon. It has the deepest channel at 720 feet. It has 40 hydro-electric dams.

Yangtze River at 3,915 mi. is 3^rd longest in the world.

The Yangtze River basin is only 698,300 sq. mi. which is why it’s flow is only 1,065,000 cu.ft./sec. That’s still more than the Nile or the Rio de la Plate.

The Volga is the longest in Europe at 2,294 mi.

The Volga is only a few miles shorter than the Mississippi (26). While considered the longest in Europe, it’s basin is east of the Ural Mountains and drains into the Caspian Sea which has no outlet making it quite saline.