| Pará River | |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | Brazil |
| Source1 Location: | Confluence of Anapu and Pacajá, Pará state |
| Source1 Coordinates: | -1.9077°N -50.8173°W |
| Source2: | Anapu |
| Source2 Location: | Carajás Mountains, Pará |
| Source2 Coordinates: | -4.0309°N -51.2314°W |
| Source3: | Pacajá |
| Source3 Location: | Carajás Mountains, Pará |
| Source3 Coordinates: | -4.9734°N -50.778°W |
| Mouth Location: | Marajó Bay, Pará |
| Mouth Coordinates: | -0.4301°N -48.1448°W |
| Progression: | → Atlantic Ocean |
| Length: | 320km (200miles) (Pará–Anapu [1] |
| Discharge2 Avg: | 9249m3/s[2] to [3] |
| Tributaries Left: | Anapu, Breves channel, Arari |
| Tributaries Right: | Pacajá, Jacundá, Tocantins, Acará, Guamá |
| Discharge3 Location: | Portel, Pará (320 km upstream of mouth; Basin size: |
| Discharge3 Avg: | (Period: 1971–2000)[4] |
| Discharge2 Location: | Confluence of Tocantins (141 km upstream of mouth; Basin size |
| Discharge1 Location: | Atlantic Ocean (near mouth) |
| Discharge1 Avg: | 20946m3/s[5] ~664km3/year[6] to [7] |
The Pará River, also called Parauaú River, Jacaré Grande River, Marajó River Channel, Macacos River Channel, Santa Maria River Channel and Bocas Bay, is a watercourse and immense estuarine complex that functions as a canal between the rivers Amazon (Amazon delta), Tocantins, Campina Grande (or Portel Bay) and Marajó Bay, in addition to numerous other smaller rivers. It can also be considered a distributary channel of the Tocantins River.
It is located in the state of Pará, Brazil. It presents muddy and turbid waters, rich in sediments originating from its source rivers.
Runs for approximately 40abbr=outNaNabbr=out, around the west and south of the island of Marajó. Belém, the state capital of Pará, is located near the south bank of the river.
Previously academic research has come to consider this watercourse as a distributary channel of the Amazon River. However, this statement is currently considered unlikely, since recent studies have shown the small contribution of the waters of the Amazon River to the formation of the Pará River,[8] with a greater contribution from the Tocantins River.