Covering more than 7 million square kilometres in South America, the Amazon basin is one of the biggest and most impressive river systems in the world.
Brazilian scientists have found a new river in the Amazon basin – around 4km underneath the Amazon river.
The Rio Hamza, named after the head of the team of researchers who found the groundwater flow, appears to be as long as the Amazon river but up to hundreds of times wider.
Both the Amazon and Hamza flow from west to east and are around the same length, at around 6,000km.
Amazon 1km to 100km in width, the Hamza ranges from 200km to 400km.
The underground river starts in the Acre region under the Andes and flows through the Solimões, Amazonas and Marajó basins.
It is opening out directly into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Amazon flows much faster than the Hamza, however, draining a greater volume of water.
Around 133,000 cubic metre of water flow through the Amazon per second at speeds of up to 5 metres per second.
The underground river's flow rate has been estimated at around 3,900 cubic metre per second and it barely inches along at less than a millimetre per hour.
The researchers used a mathematical model to predict the presence of the underground river, based on the measured changes in temperature down the wells.
Facts About Rio Hamza- The evidence of the river’s existence was discovered by a group of scientists from Brazil National Observatory’s geophysics department.
- The group was led by Valiya Mannathal Hamza and so, the river is named after him.
- The river is assumed to flow some 13,000 feet beneath the river Amazon.
- The river is identical to the Amazon in terms of its length and the direction.
- Hamza is around 3700 miles long and flows west to east.
- Water in Amazon flows at 5 meters per second but in Hamza, it flows at a speed of less than 1 millimetre per hour.
- Beneath the Andes is the Acre region where the Rio Hamza starts and flows through Solimões basin, Amazonas basin and Marajó basin and eventually opens directly into the depths of Atlantic.
- Scientists opine that the relatively low salinity of water where Amazon meets the Atlantic is probably due to Rio Hamza.
The river was discovered by using the data collected from 241 abandoned deep wells dug in Amazon region.
