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20 Things You Didn't Know About the Amazon

A forest, a company, a mighty river.

By Daniel Bastardo Blanco
Nov 13, 2019 6:00 PMDec 13, 2019 4:29 PM
Amazon River - NASA
The Amazon River, seen from above. (Credit: NASA)

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1. Super-retailer Amazon is all about volume — during its annual Prime Day sale last July, the company says, it sold more than 1,000 items per second. When it comes to moving mass amounts, however, that’s nothing compared with the Amazon River.

2. Depending on the season, the mighty South American river pours more than 10 million cubic feet of water per second into the Atlantic Ocean.

3. Such a colossal water discharge would typically prevent reefs from forming in a river’s mouth due to changes in water properties, like salinity. But that’s not the case for the Amazon: A unique reef system stretches nearly 3,700 square miles into the Atlantic.

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