Hamza River
The Hamza River (Portuguese: Rio Hamza) is an unofficial name for what seems to be a slowly flowing aquifer in Brazil, approximately 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) long. Its discovery was announced in 2011. The unofficial name is in honour of scientist Valiya Mannathal Hamza, of Brazil's National Observatory, who has undertaken research on the region for four decades.
Description
The Hamza and the Amazon are the two main drainage systems for the Amazon Basin. The reported flow rate of the Hamza, at approximately 3,000 cubic metres (110,000 cu ft) per second, is 3% of the Amazon's. It runs west to east, some 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) below the Earth's surface, and follows roughly the path of the Amazon river. The Hamza empties in the Atlantic Ocean, deep under the surface. Its own water has a high salt content.
Research status and debate
The Hamza was discovered by a team of scientists led by Valiya Hamza using thermal data collected from 241 inactive oil wells in the area, drilled in the 1970s and 1980s, by the Petrobras oil company. Calculations from these data showed that a larger flow should exist. Direct observation of water movement at a very low rate can be difficult. The speed of flow is slower than that of an average glacier, and Hamza himself says that the team uses the term ‘river’ in a general sense, not in the conventional sense. In the title to the original paper, the word ‘river’ appears in quotation marks.
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