Scientists discover massive underground river 13,000 feet beneath the Amazon

Published August 26, 2011 09:13 AM
Scientists discover massive underground river 13,000 feet beneath the Amazon

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.

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http://www.enn.com/ecosystems/article/43156?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EnvironmentalNewsNetwork+%28Environmental+News+Network%29

Underground river stretching 3,700 miles found under the Amazon
By Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo, AP
Saturday, 27 August 2011

A huge underground river appears to be flowing thousands of feet beneath the Amazon, Brazilian scientists have claimed.

Valiya Hamza of Brazil's National Observatory said researchers found indications that the subterranean river is 3,700 miles long, about the same length as the Amazon on the surface.

Mr Hamza said the discovery of the possible underground river came from studying temperature variations at 241 inactive oil wells drilled in the 1970s and 1980s.

He said "thermal information" provided by the state oil company Petrobras allowed his team to identify the movement of water 13,100 feet beneath the Amazon.

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/underground-river-stretching-3700-miles-found-under-the-amazon-2344707.html