2015

RIVER SYSTEMS REPORT

Amazon river system

Sarah van Dusseldorp

E-9B
12/7/2015

River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

Table of Contents

1.

2.

3.

RIVER SYSTEM OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................. 2

1.1

Map of the river system ......................................................................................................... 2

1.2

Key characteristics .................................................................................................................. 2

RIVER SYSTEM ISSUES ..................................................................................................................... 3

2.1

Identification of key issues ..................................................................................................... 3

2.2

Causes of key issues ............................................................................................................... 3

2.3

Who is affected by key issues ................................................................................................. 4

MANAGEMENT STRATEGY ............................................................................................................. 5

3.1

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 6

APPENDICES ........................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix 1 ......................................................................................................................................... 7
Appendix 2 ......................................................................................................................................... 9

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River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

1. RIVER SYSTEM OVERVIEW

1.1 Map of the river system

1.2 Key characteristics

The amazon river system

Countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador
Tributaries: - left Maran, Japur/Caquet, Rio
Negro/Guaina, Putumayo
- right Ucayali, Purs, Madeira, Tapajs,
Xingu
Source: Andes
Location: Nevado Mismi, Arequipa, Peru
Elevation: 5.170m
Coordinates: 15315S




714555W
15.51806S 71.76528W / -15.51806; -71.76528
Mouth: Atlantic Ocean
Elevation: 0M
Coordinates:

04228N 50522W0.70778N

50.08944WCoordinates: 04228N
50522W0.70778N 50.08944W
Length: 6,992 km
Basin: 7.050,000 km2
Discharge: 209.000 m3/s

There are many rivers, seas and lakes in the world, of which only a few are well known. The amazon
river is one of those, and it has a good reason. The Amazon River carries more water than any other
river and actually carries one-fifth of all the fresh water that flows into the oceans. Also it has the
largest watershed and more tributaries than any other river (which is more than 200). But that is not
all, this river is the second longest (the longest river is the Nile River in Africa). It is about 6400 km
(4,000 miles) long. But many people believe that the Amazon river is actually the longest. Between
the dry season and wet season the area covered by the river and its tributaries is more than triples.
To give an idea of this drastic difference: in the wet season the flooded area basin rises to 350,000
km2 and in an average dry season, 110,000 km2. Its widest point is 40km in the wet season and
11km in the dry season. The Amazon river may sound like it is indestructible but that is not the case.
Over the past few decades, environmentalists started to get concerned about the future of the
forest and the river, due it being destroyed over time.




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River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

2. RIVER SYSTEM ISSUES

2.1 Identification of key issues

The main issues in the Amazon river are, deforestation, dams and pollution.

2.2 Causes of key issues

Effects of deforestation
In 2004 the annual forest loss rate was 27,423 km. This is an enormous number of plants, trees and
homes of animals being destroyed. Deforestation is one of the many factors that can affect the
Amazon river system in a bad way. It doesnt only cause issues for the animals but it also effects the
environment drastically.
Here are a few of the many impacts deforestation has on the river; if there is a deforest area it cant
hold onto the rain water. This is because the trees and plants which usually hold onto the water are
gone and the water will rush down the river and cause flooding in low places. Steep slopes are often
find at the Amazon river. When these slopes have no tree roots to hold the soil together there may
form landslides which would block the river. The rush of water in a river turn, can cut into banks.
This will change the shape and also destroy docks and houses. Now that there are no trees etc. left,
the rainwater can freely wash over the land and carry the soil with it. That soil will end up in the river
and be deposited at less steep and slower sections of the river, clogging the river and making the
navigation very difficult. Deforestation doesnt only affect the river but it does way more. It drives
climate changed for example. Forest soils are moist and will quickly dry out without protection from
sun-blocking trees to cover. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning the water vapor
back into the atmosphere. (water cycle) If there wouldnt be any trees to fill these roles, many
former forest lands can quickly become dry deserts, which is called desertification.
Dams
There are many dams build in the Amazon river. Dams have the purpose of suppressing floods and
providing water for such activities as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture,
and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. Dams
can also be used to storage or collect water. This are some pretty convenient things but it also has
its many negative sides. Dams provide the most productive fishery but it also affect the live cycle of
the fish. The fish are not able to go from one to another side and will not be able to migrate because
they cant go up and downstream. When one side of the dams water level gets too high, the dam
must be opened. But then suddenly a big flood appears because of all the sudden water. Those
floodings will cause sediments to get exposed and then it cant be used as farmland anymore. The
building process of the dam and the flooding caused by the sudden release of water will cause local
fisheries to suffer and have a loss of income. Also villages might have to be relocated.
Pollution
There are three main problems involving pollution; a waste pool filled with mercury overflowed and
went into the river, Chevron has been dumping toxic legacy and oil into the Ecuadorean Amazon
and agricultural plots, oil and gas extraction and mining are also an issue. The court ruled out
chevron and they were ordered to pay 18 billion dollars to clean it up. However chevron still has to
pay and because of that the people in Ecuadorean still dont have access to clean drinking water.
Agricultural plots (chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides), oil and gas extraction (drilling
waste and crude oil), and mining (mercury and heavy metals) is affecting freshwater ecosystems in
the Amazon.

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River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

2.3 Who is affected by key issues

The deforestation affected the river to start with. But the things such as flooding, can cause the
water to cut into banks and then destroy docks and houses. This will leave people homeless. These
sudden floods created by not deforestation but by dams, also exposes the sediments and will then
make farmland unusable. Animals are even more affected but it is still similar. Their homes get
completely destroyed. Due to the oil and mercury in the river lots of fishes and other animals in the
water die. Now the people wont be able to eat them anymore. The water now also becomes
undrinkable. For people and animals is a house and food the most important thing to survive. These
conflicts are the reason those two things are taken away from them.

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River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

3. MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

For every problem there is a solution. There are many people who created organisations and protest
groups to go against these conflicts, and we ourselves could also help.
Deforestation
Deforestation is a well-known problem in a lot of countries and when the decision of doing
something against it is made, there will be strict measures taken. Brazil is one of those countries.
Brazil has lowered its carbon dioxide output drastically. In fact more than any other country through
a historic effort to slow down the deforestation or better said, forest loss. The deforestation rate
was around 2005 was roughly 75%, which is below average for 1996-2005. This was almost the goal
of 80% Brazil wanted to achieve by 2020. Not only they have managed to put the deforestation rate
down by lowering their carbon dioxide output but also they managed this feat while increasing the
amount of food it produces. Most of this food was for export to a growing and hungry world.
Not only regular people have taken but also the soldiers from the IBAMA (the Brazilian Institute of
Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) team and its heavily armed police escort have done
some amazing things. They have started with looking at satellite images of the land surface to find
fresh openings in the forest. These people spend hours barrelling down shoddy roads in search of
these fresh clearings. When the encampments were found, they were burned to the ground putting
an end to that operation at least for the moment.
Dams
When such a big project like a dam is build it is hard to get rid of it. Still many people try to either
prevent the dam from being build or the will have protests. On the 16th of June 2012, protesters
stormed the construction site of the Belo Monte Dam. They dug a channel through the earth coffer
dam, chanting 'Free the Xingu.' They lay on the dam, their bodies spelling out the words 'Pare Belo
Monte:' Stop Belo Monte. (Bianca Jagger)
Pollution
The organisation called Amazon watch is an example of an organisation which fights against
pollution in the Amazon river. They know everything that has happed to the river and will do
everything to prevent it from or either happening again or getting worse. Projects are put up all
around the river with goals to get the bigger waste (plastic for example) out of the river.
All these things are examples of things that are done to prevent these issues, and things that we
should do. We can become a part of this. Or simple Plant a tree. Go paperless. Recycle and buy
recycled products. Look for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification on wood and wood
products. Eat vegetarian meals as often as possible. And if we would want to prevent the issues that
dams bring, we should let them know how bad the consequences are and make them think about
the environment and people before building. Pollution might sound like it cant be solved but simply
stopping with throwing substances into the water that can be harmful, it would already help a lot.
Also the government could make stricter rules about what can and cant be transported over water.

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River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

3.1 Conclusion
Rivers are a big part of our environment and pretty much essential in many people their lives. Not
everyone realises the influence they have on the river and the influence the river has on them.
Because of this things such as deforestation and pollution and dams exist. Deforestation and dams
might still sound like it has a reason but there are more pros than cons. We get a lot of wood and
wood products but in exchange for that the homes of so many animals get destroyed. Also water can
make its own way and take soil into the river to later clog it. Or this could either happen by the trees
and plants itself. Dams have so much influence on the people and their homes and farmland. The
process of building it, and the floodings that are created very often destroy their homes. Pollution
has a similar affect. It makes the water in the river undrinkable and it will kill many fish that live in
the water making them nonedible. There are a lot of organisations which fight for the Amazon forest
and its large river and they will keep working to make it better, even if it means that there has to be
taken some extreme changes and measurements. We can all make a part in the process of healing
the environment and solving the problems we and the river and the forest face.

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River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

APPENDICES

Appendix 1

Research Action Plan

MYP Assessment Criteria B: INVESTIGATION

Limited attempt to / partially / satisfactorily / effectively follows an action plan to

investigate a research question
Uses methods to collect and record limited / some / appropriate / appropriate & varied
information in line with the research question
Limited attempt to / partially / satisfactorily / effectively addresses the research question
Limited / reflection / detailed evaluation of the research process and results.

To help you successfully implement a research action plan you need to follow the steps below:


The main research
question

What factors affect the Amazon river system and its surroundings
and how can they be resolved?

Sub questions
By answering these
sub-questions, you
will enable
yourselves to answer
the main research
question.
Check your task
sheet and brainstorm
additional questions
with your group.
Include them all
here.
Methods to be used
in the investigation

How long is the Amazon river?

Where is the river located?
What factors affect the Amazon river and how?
How does deforestation affect the Amazon river?
Why is deforestation a big problem?
How to dams affect the river and surroundings?
Is it not just people who are affected?
Does pollution play a big role?

Where will you gather the information? (e.g. library)

Internet, books, notes/information given my teacher.
How/where are you going to record any relevant information?

e.g. describe the

capture sheet. How
will it be laid out? Will
you include your sub7 | P a g e

I will make a word document in which I will record all the

information I find that can be relevant. I will have some general
information and then answer my sub questions. This is will do

River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

questions? How
many websites will
you access per subquestion? Why?

because it will give me a nice overview and an easy guide in

writing my essay.

Identify the relevant

sources/evidence
that you will use

Is The Amazon River Being Polluted? Illegal Gold Mining Reportedly

Damaging Waterway. Susmita Baral. Oct 30 2013, 11:10AM, Oct 30
2015.http://www.latintimes.com/amazon-river-being-polluted-illegal-goldmining-reportedly-damaging-waterway-132412

Record the works

cited.

Amazon river. Wikimedia Foundation. Oct 24 2015.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River
Periphyton of Freshwater Ecosystems. PDF. Oct 25 2015
http://whrc.org/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/Castello_et_al.2013vulnerability.pdf
Jonova. Amazon River produces monster levels of pollution. Dec. 4
2015 http://joannenova.com.au/2013/05/amazon-river-producesmonster-levels-of-pollution-the-dilemma-should-we-stop-the-river/
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Wikimedia Foundation. Oct 24
2015
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deforestation_of_the_Amazon_rainforest
Inventory of Conflict and Environment (ICE), Amazon Dams. Amazon
Battle. Dec. 4 2015 http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/amazondams.html
International Rivers. The Belo Monte Dam: An Environmental Crime.
Bianca Jagger. Thursday, June 21, 2012, Dec. 2 2015
http://www.internationalrivers.org/es/resources/the-belo-monte-dam-anenvironmental-crime-7533

What steps will you

follow to address/
answer the
research question?
Develop an action
plan for the main
stages of the
investigation. The
action plan should be
framed by the subquestions but should
be treated like a
check list of thingsto-do.
Include what needs
to be done and
when you aim to
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What?

When?

Done?

Make action plan

24/11/15

Research relevant
information

24/11/15-25/11/15

Start essay

25/11/15

Finish essay

8/12/15

Check with rubric

8/12/15

Hand in on turn it
in

8/12/15

River Systems Report

Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

have it completed by

Appendix 2
Where the river turns, the rush of water could cut into the banks of the river, changing its shape and
destroying docks and houses.
Rainwater, washing freely over the land, carries away the soil, which ends up in the river. Then it is
deposited at less steep, slower sections of the river, clogging the river and making navigation
difficult.
Deforestation also drives climate change. Forest soils are moist, but without protection from sunblocking tree cover they quickly dry out. Trees also help perpetuate the water cycle by returning
water vapour back into the atmosphere. Without trees to fill these roles, many former forest lands
can quickly become barren deserts.

Deforestation
Conversion of native vegetation, here referred to as deforestation, has altered at least 697,770 km2
(10%) of the basin, mostly due to expansion of agriculture and cattle ranching in the south eastern
arc of deforestation (Figure 1; Evaet al.2004).Deforestation in the uplands increases water runoff
and stream discharge through decreased evapotranspiration (Hayhoeet al.2011)and alters the
morphological and biogeochemical conditions of freshwater ecosystems through soil erosion and
increased export of terrestrial sediments into streams (Neillet al. 2001). These local processes can
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Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B

have profound effects at regional scales. For example, deforestation of50% of the Tocantins and
Araguaia basins (Figure 1) has increased year-round water discharge by 25% and shifted the flood
pulse by one month in those rivers (Costa 2004; Coeet al.2009). In floodplains, deforestation reduces
the abundance and diversity of highly productive plant communities that sustain abundant animal
populations (e.g., fishes; Melack &Forsberg2001).IntheLowerAmazon,56%ofthe mainstem floodplain
was deforested between 1970 and 2008, mostly for cattle ranching (Figure 1; Ren oet al. 2011). In
the riparian zones of small streams and rivers, deforestation can lower water quality, increase water
temperature, and alter biotic assemblage composition and production through increased sediments
and removal of structures that provide habitat for aquatic biota (Williams et al. 1997; Neill et al.
2001). However, there are no basin-wide data on the extent of riparian or floodplain deforestation

Dams
Why do we use river systems?
Fishing/
DAMS
Most productive fishery but it affects the live cycle of the fish- but used as source of energy- stops
fish from migrating , (with goes up and downstream)
Generic issues
Environmental impact a
Infrastructure will keep going on
Fish latter
Locating the dam at the right place is very important
Energy requirement is large
Never ending energy source
Sell energy
Divergent of benefits: the local fisheries will suffer, loss of income, villages might have to be
relocated
Dams de/increase the flood levels
Sediments get exposed-no farmland
When one side of the dams level gets too high, they must open dam- suddenly a big flood because of
all the sudden water
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Dretching

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Sarah van Dusseldorp, I&S Class 9B