Question

Explain the characteristics of
amazon basin

Answer 1

The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basincovers an area of about 7,500,000 km2(2,900,000 sq mi), or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.[1]

Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia. With a 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) area of dense tropical forest, this is the largestrainforest in the world.

Answer 2

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Amazon basin

This article is about the drainage basin. For the geologic feature, see Amazon Basin (sedimentary basin).



Amazon River Basin (the southern Guianas, not marked on this map, are part of the basin)



The mouth of the Amazon River

The Amazon basin is the part of South Americadrained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about 7,500,000 km2 (2,900,000 sq mi), or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.[1]

Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia. With a 5,500,000 km2 (2,100,000 sq mi) area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world.

GeographyEdit

The Amazon River begins in the Andes Mountainsat the west of the basin with its main tributary the Marañón River in Peru. The highest point in the watershed of the Amazon is the peak of Yerupajáat 6,635 metres (21,768 ft).

With a length of about 6,400 km (4,000 mi) before it drains into the Atlantic Ocean, it is one of the two longest rivers in the world; a team of Brazilian scientists has claimed that the Amazon is longer than the Nile [2] but debate about its exact length continues. [3]

The Amazon system transports the largest volume of water of any river system, accounting for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers.

Some of the Amazon rainforests are deforestedbecause of the increasing of cattle ranches and soy beans field.

The Amazon basin formerly flowed west to Pacific Ocean until the Andes formed, causing the basin to flow eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean.[4]

Politically the basin is divided into the Brazilian Amazônia Legal, the Peruvian Amazon, the Amazon region of Colombia and parts of Bolivia, Ecuador and the Venezuelan state