RE: What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?
September 1, 2022 at 6:36 pm
(This post was last modified: September 1, 2022 at 6:37 pm by Anomalocaris.)
The Amazon river, currently the world’s largest river by discharge volume by a factor of 4, and the Congo river, the world’s second largest river by discharge volume, were once the down stream and upstream halves of one single river, when South American was joined to Africa during the age of the dinosaurs. That river’s headwater was in central Africa and it flowed west and discharged into the sea on what is now the western coast of South America.
When south American and Africa rifted from each other about 8n million years ago and south Atlantic opened up, the west flowing Amazon was severed from the Congo. So it established a new headwater on the east coast of South America on the new plateau recently created by the rifting process.
The Amazon kept flowing west for 60 million more years until the Andes rose up and blocked its exit to the pacific. So it established yet a third headwater on the newly formed Andes plateau, reversed it direction of flow in its old channel, cut through what is left of the ancient eastern highland of South America to discharge into the Atlantic.
When south American and Africa rifted from each other about 8n million years ago and south Atlantic opened up, the west flowing Amazon was severed from the Congo. So it established a new headwater on the east coast of South America on the new plateau recently created by the rifting process.
The Amazon kept flowing west for 60 million more years until the Andes rose up and blocked its exit to the pacific. So it established yet a third headwater on the newly formed Andes plateau, reversed it direction of flow in its old channel, cut through what is left of the ancient eastern highland of South America to discharge into the Atlantic.
