The Purus River (Portuguese: ''Rio Purus''; Spanish: ''Río Purús'') is a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the Amazon River in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is , and the mean annual discharge is . The river shares its name with the Alto Purús National Park and the Purús Province (and its conformed Purús District), one of the four

provinces of Peru The provinces of Peru () are the second-level administrative subdivisions of the country. They are divided into districts (). There are 196 provinces in Peru, grouped into 25 regions, except for Lima Province which does not belong to any reg ...

in the

Ucayali Region Ucayali () is an inland department and region of Peru. Located in the Amazon rainforest, its name is derived from the Ucayali River. Its capital is the city of Pucallpa. It is the second largest department in Peru, after Loreto, and it is s ...

Geography

The Purus River rises in Peru. It defines the boundary between Peru and Brazil in the centre of the state of

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

, then runs for a short distance along the boundary of the Santa Rosa do Purus National Forest, a sustainable use conservation unit created in 2001 after it is joined by the Santa Rosa River. The Purus then flows north east through

Manoel Urbano Manoel Urbano () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality located in the center-western region of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Acre (state), Acre. As of 2010 it was one of the poorest municipalities in Brazil, with a low Human De ...

It runs through a continuous forest at the bottom of the great depression, lying between the Madeira River, which skirts the edge of the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

plateau, and the

Ucayali River The Ucayali River (, ) is the main headstream of the Amazon River. It rises about north of Lake Titicaca, in the Arequipa region of Peru and becomes the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón river, Marañón close to Nauta city. The city of ...

, which hugs the base of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. In the state of Amazonas the river runs through the Arapixi Extractive Reserve, created in 2006 and past the town of Boca do Acre at the end of the BR-317 highway. Further down, it forms the west boundary of the Purus National Forest, created in 1988. From the town of Pauini down to the town of Lábrea the river is bordered by the Médio Purus Extractive Reserve, created in 2008. Below this it runs through the Canutama Extractive Reserve along the stretch between the towns of Lábrea and Canutama. In the lowest reaches the river flows through the Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserve, established in 2003, which holds a large part of its floodplain. It enters the Amazon River west of the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...

, which it parallels as far south as the falls of the latter stream. William Chandless found its elevation above sea level to be only from its mouth. It is one of the most crooked streams in the world, and its length in a straight line is less than half of its length following its curves. It is practically only a drainage ditch for the half-submerged, lake-flooded district it crosses. Its width is very uniform for up, and for its depth is never less than . Purus Red Howler Monkey

Biodiversity

The Purús red howler (''Alouatta puruensis'') is a species of howler monkey native to Brazil, Peru and north of Bolivia. '' Peckoltia brevis'', a kind of catfish, is found in the middle and upper Amazon within the Purus river basin. Most of the central and lower sections of the river flow through the Purus várzea ecoregion. In the municipality of Tapauá, Amazonas, the river flows through the Abufari Biological Reserve, a strictly protected area.

Earthworks discovery

In 2008, a previously unknown

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

civilization was discovered in the upper region of the river close to the

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n border. After much of the forest in the region was cleared for agricultural use, satellite pictures revealed the remains of large geometric earthworks.Martti Pärssinen, Denise Schaan, Alceu Ranzi
''Pre-Columbian geometric earthworks in the upper Purús: a complex society in western Amazonia''
Antiquity, Volume 83, 2009, p. 1084–1095

References

Purus River. (2010). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.
Retrieved January 12, 2010, from

Encyclopædia Britannica Online An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles or entries that are arranged alphabetically by artic ...

External links

Map of Amazon State with Purus River
Brazilian Ministry of Transport * * {{Authority control Tributaries of the Amazon River Rivers of Acre (state) Rivers of Amazonas (Brazilian state) Rivers of Peru International rivers of South America Brazil–Peru border Rivers of the Department of Ucayali Border rivers

Geography

Biodiversity

Earthworks discovery

See also

References

External links