Xingu River Explained

Xingu River
Map:Xingurivermap.png
Map Size:250
Pushpin Map Size:250
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:Brazil
Length:[1]
Discharge1 Avg:(Period: 1973–1990)[2] (Period: 1971–2000)[3]
Source1:Culuene and Sete de Setembro confluence
Source1 Location:Mato Grosso
Source1 Coordinates:-12.9249°N -52.826°W
Source2:Sete de Setembro
Source2 Location:Mato Grosso
Source2 Coordinates:-14.1705°N -52.7632°W
Source3:Culuene
Source3 Location:Mato Grosso
Source3 Coordinates:-14.7806°N -54.5188°W
Mouth:Amazon River
Mouth Coordinates:-1.5272°N -51.8692°W
Progression:Amazon → Atlantic Ocean
River System:Amazon
Basin Size:[4]
Tributaries Left:Culuene, Curisevo, Tamitatoale, Ronuro, Manissauá-Miçu, Iriri, Pardo, Jaraucu
Discharge2 Location:Altamira, Pará State (Basin size: 449493km2
Discharge2 Avg:(Period: 1971–2000)[5] (Period: 1970–1996)[6]
Discharge3 Location:Belo Horizonte, Pará State (Basin size:
Discharge3 Avg:(Period: 1971–2000)[7] (Period: 1970–1996)
Discharge4 Location:São Félix do Xingu, Pará State (Basin size: 250626km2
Discharge4 Avg:(Period: 1971–2000)[8] (Period: 1970–1996)

The Xingu River (; Portuguese: Rio Xingu, pronounced as /pt/; Mẽbêngôkre: Byti, pronounced as /[bɯˈti]/[9]) is a [1] river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River and one of the largest clearwater rivers in the Amazon basin,[10] accounting for about 5% of its water.[11]

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Description and history

The first Indigenous Park in Brazil was created in the river basin by the Brazilian government in the early 1960s. This park marks the first indigenous territory recognized by the Brazilian government and it was the world's largest indigenous preserve on the date of its creation. Currently, fourteen tribes live within Xingu Indigenous Park, surviving on natural resources and extracting from the river most of what they need for food and water.[12]

The Brazilian government is building the Belo Monte Dam, which will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam, on the Lower Xingu. Construction of this dam is under legal challenge by environment and indigenous groups, who assert the dam would have negative environmental and social impacts along with reducing the flow by up to 80% along a 100abbr=onNaNabbr=on stretch known as the Volta Grande ("Big Bend").[13] The river flow in this stretch is highly complex and includes major sections of rapids.[14] More than 450 fish species have been documented in the Xingu River Basin and it is estimated that the total is around 600 fish species, including many endemics.[15] At least 193 fish species living in rapids are known from the lower Xingu,[14] and at least 26 of these are endemic. From 2008 to 2018 alone, 24 new fish species have been described from the river.[14] [16] [17] Many species are seriously threatened by the dam, which will significantly alter the flow in the Volta Grande rapids.[14] [18] [19]

In the Upper Xingu region was a highly self-organized pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape, including deposits of fertile agricultural terra preta, black soil in Portuguese, with a network of roads and polities each of which covered about 250 square kilometers.[20]

Near the source of Xingu River is Culuene River, a tributary.[21]

In popular culture

See also

References

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Ziesler . R. . Ardizzone . G.D. . The Inland waters of Latin America . 1979 . http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/ad770b/AD770B06.htm . . 92-5-000780-9 . Amazon River System . https://web.archive.org/web/20131021061745/http://www.fao.org/docrep/008/ad770b/AD770B06.htm . 21 October 2013 . live.
  2. Book: HYDROLOGIE DU BASSIN AMAZONIEN. 1997. 2-7011-1532-9. Théry . Hervé . Maurence . Pascale .
  3. Web site: Amazon.
  4. Web site: Amazon.
  5. Web site: Amazon.
  6. 10.1.1.549.3854. Long-term simulations of discharge and floods in the Amazon Basin. Michael. T. Coe. Marcos. Heil Costa. Aurélie. Botta. Charon. Birkett. 23 Aug 2002.
  7. Web site: Amazon.
  8. Web site: Amazon.
  9. Passos . João Lucas Moraes . 2018 . Caminhos mẽbêngôkre: andando, nomeando, sentando sobre a terra . Ph.D. dissertation . Brasília . Universidade de Brasília.
  10. News: Perez, M.S. . Where the Xingu Bends and Will Soon Break . American Scientist . 1 October 2017 .
  11. Web site: Waters . Amazon Waters . 10 October 2017 . 29 June 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180629130803/http://amazonwaters.org/waters/flows-and-floods/ . dead .
  12. Web site: Xingu - Indigenous Peoples in Brazil . 2023-09-25 . pib.socioambiental.org.
  13. Web site: Summary and History of the Belo Monte Dam: Rainforest Foundation . Summary and History of the Belo Monte Dam: Rainforest Foundation . 9 March 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110106172656/http://rainforestfoundationuk.org/files/Belo%20Monte%20Factsheet.pdf . 6 January 2011 .
  14. Fitzgerald . Perez . Sousa . Gonçalves . Py-Daniel . Lujan . Zuanon . Winemiller . Lundberg . 2018 . Diversity and community structure of rapids-dwelling fishes of the Xingu River: Implications for conservation amid large-scale hydroelectric development . Biological Conservation . 222 . 104–112 . 10.1016/j.biocon.2018.04.002 . 53625155 . free .
  15. Camargo, M., T. Giarrizzo and V. Isaac (2004). Review of the geographic distribution of fish fauna in the Xingu River Basin, Brazil. Ecotropica 10: 123–147
  16. Hyland, T: Race against time. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  17. Sousa, L.M. . M.S. Chaves . A. Akama . J. Zuanon . M.H. Sabaj . 2018 . Platydoras birindellii, new species of striped raphael catfish (Siluriformes: Doradidae) from the Xingu Basin, Brazil . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . 166 . 1 . 1–13 . 10.1635/053.166.0106 . 90673235 .
  18. Ekström, J. (23 December 2007) Hydroelectric dam constructions in Amazonas. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  19. Survival International (2009). Experts Panel Assesses Belo Monte Dam Viability. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  20. Heckenberger. Michael J.. J. Christian Russell . Carlos Fausto . Joshua R. Toney . Morgan J. Schmidt . Edithe Pereira . Bruna Franchetto . Afukaka Kuikuro . 29 September 2008. Pre-Columbian Urbanism, Anthropogenic Landscapes, and the Future of the Amazon. Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science. 321. 5893. 1214–1217. 10.1126/science.1159769. 18755979. 41438038.
  21. Book: Junk . Wolfgang J. . The Central Amazon Floodplain: Ecology of a Pulsing System . 1997 . Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg . Plön, Germany . 978-3-64208214-6.

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