Study Confirms That Peruvian Stream Is Amazon’s Source

Using sophisticated satellite technology to precisely map their position, a National Geographic Society team led by a high school math teacher has confirmed that the source of the Amazon River is a stream beginning on Nevado Mismi, an 18,363-foot mountain in southern Peru. Mismi was identified as the Amazon’s source in 1971, but in recent years, another stream flowing from a separate peak has also been identified as the source.

The “source” of the Amazon can be defined as the most distant point in the drainage basin from which water runs year-round or the furthest point from which water could flow to the Atlantic. The mapping expedition found that the other stream is, in fact, slightly longer than the one on Mismi, but that water does not run year-round.

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--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II