Sunday, October 29, 2006

Amazon river 'switched direction'

The world's largest river, the Amazon, once flowed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific - the opposite of its present direction, a study shows.
Sedimentary rocks in the central part of South America contain ancient mineral grains that must have come from the eastern part of the continent. Geologist Russell Mapes says this must mean that about 145-65 million years ago, the Amazon flowed east to west.
Weird, huh?!
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3 comments:

  1. pimp-a-lot bear29 October, 2006 21:31

    weird indeed.
    The biggest river!

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  2. cybrbeast30 October, 2006 00:09

    Very weird, especially when you consider that the Amazon comes from rain/melt water from the Andes.
    So what could have formed the rivers in the east? Maybe it used to cut straight through the continent from sea to sea or something.

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  3. cybrbeast30 October, 2006 00:11

    I read the rest of the article and it appears that their used to be a mountain range on the east of the continent long ago.
    That explains it :)

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