the Amazon River

Peru is host to one of the largest fresh water rivers. The Amazon river is located in the northern part of South America; stretches from the east to west. It supplies 1/5 of earth’s fresh water. The Amazon is a suspended bed load river that transports sediments along the bed of the river by sliding and rolling. 

small debris tumbling along the bed load

                                              

The Amazon is a Perennial river which means it flows year round.The rain, flooding of tribute rivers, and snow melting in the mountains supply the rivers water. 

Rainfall over the Amazon

The Amazon is a single channeled river with wiggles across its floodplains. The wiggles are formed when there is a deposition at point bars and cut banks are eroded by high velocity water flows.

Sediments make the water look dirty and muddy

Sometimes high velocities can cause a river to flood and create levees. If the levee does not reconnect with river and turns into a mini-lake it’s called an oxbow. Strangely enough, the Amazon maybe a big river but it carries small particles and it rarely over floods. 

cut banks being formed by erosion and deposition, an oxbow formed from a previous flood

The Amazon River maybe a large fresh water supplier, but its water is drinkable only after proper treatment. People get sick and often die when the river water is not properly treated. The Amazon River does not over flood often, but when it does, cut banks erode and collapse. People who build their houses on the cut banks lose their homes. 

 

house sitting on a cut bank next to a river