The power of the Amazon River is so great that its waters can be found, almost unchanged, 100 miles into the Atlantic.
Dip a cup into the ocean anywhere else and try to drink the water. You can’t because it is too salty. But 100 miles off the coast of Brazil, where the Amazon flows into the Atlantic, the water is still sweet, not salty.
The mighty Amazon has indeed pushed the waters of the Atlantic aside! The mouth of the river is 200 miles. Right in the middle of it sits an island, Marajo, that is so big it is nearly the size of Switzerland.
Every day, 8 trillion gallons of water pour out of the mouth of this river. That is enough water to take care of every U. S. water need for three weeks. People think of the Nile River in Africa as being almost as large as the Amazon, but it isn’t.
The Nile is a little longer, but the Amazon carries 60 times more water.
