Scientists discover massive underground river 13,000 feet beneath the Amazon
By Contributor
Mongabay.com
Researchers at Brazil’s National Observatory have discovered evidence of a massive underground river flowing deep beneath the Amazon River, reports the AFP.
Presenting this week at the 12th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society in Rio De Janeiro, Elizabeth Tavares Pimentel reported the existence of a 6,000-kilometer-long (3,700-mile) river flowing some 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) under the Amazon.
Like the Amazon, the river flows west to east, but is considerably wider (200-400 kilometers) and moves at only a fraction of the speed of the giant surface river. The hidden river — dubbed the Hamza after Pimentel’s supervisor Valiya Hamza — discharges into the Atlantic deep underground.
“It is likely that this river is responsible for the low level of salinity in the waters around the mouth of the Amazon,” said a statement released by the National Observatory.
“The Amazon region has two discharge fluid systems: the surface drainage [through] the Amazon River… and the flow of groundwater through the deep sedimentary layers.”
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