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Correct placement of the most distant source of the A mazon R iver in the M antaro R iver drainage
Author(s) -
Contos James,
Tripcevich Nicholas
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
area
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1475-4762
pISSN - 0004-0894
DOI - 10.1111/area.12069
Subject(s) - hydrography , drainage basin , geology , drainage , digital elevation model , amazon rainforest , hydrology (agriculture) , elevation (ballistics) , global positioning system , confluence , drainage system (geomorphology) , geodesy , cartography , geography , remote sensing , oceanography , biology , geometry , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , telecommunications , computer science , programming language , ecology
The A mazon R iver (‘ R ío de las A mazonas’) has the highest discharge of any river in the world and is also the longest or second longest. Its source has therefore intrigued scholars and explorers for centuries. A river's source is often defined as the most distant upstream point in the drainage basin. For the past several decades, the longest upstream extension of the A mazon R iver has been held to be the Nevado M ismi area of the R ío A purímac drainage. We overturn this longstanding view by employing topographic maps, satellite imagery, digital hydrographic datasets and GPS tracking data to show that the Cordillera Rumi Cruz (10.7320° S , 76.6480° W ; elevation ∼5220 m) in the R ío M antaro drainage lies 75–92 km further upstream than Nevado M ismi. We compare various methods for measuring each of the R ío A purímac and R ío M antaro lengths, and show that high‐resolution satellite imagery and GPS tracking most closely follow the path of the water. Our results reposition the ‘most distant source’ of the A mazon to a more tropical location, change the uppermost ∼800 km of river to this point, and add 75–92 km to the river's maximal length.