The Shanay-timpishka, more popularly known as the "Boiling River of the Amazon," is a tributary of the Pachitea River, which subsequently flows into the Ucayali River, the main headstream of the Amazon River. It is one of the largest documented thermal rivers in the world. Though the entire river system is about 9 km (5.6 miles), it is only the lower 6.24 km (3.9 miles) that is thermal. Its deepest point is around 4.5 m (nearly 15 ft), and its widest is around 30 m (nearly 100 ft).
At its headwaters, its temperatures are that of a typical jungle stream at around 27 °C (around 80 °F). As the stream flows over geologic fault-zones, hot geothermal waters rise from deep in the earth and increase the temperature to “boiling”. The hottest temperature ever measured at the Boiling River was 99.1 °C (210 °F) in a hot spring, while the hottest average river temperature ever recorded was nearly 95 °C (203 °F).
Add new comment