The largest river by discharge of water in the world, Scientists have discovered a new reef system at the mouth of the Amazon River. Scientists from University of Georgia in the U.S. and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on an expedition to study the Amazon River plume looked for evidence of a reef system along the continental shelf.

The Amazon plume — an area where freshwater from the river mixes with the salty Atlantic Ocean — affects a broad area of the tropical North Atlantic Ocean in terms of salinity, pH, light penetration and sed imentation, conditions that usually correlate to a major gap in Western Atlantic reefs. Patricia Yager said “Our expedition into the Brazil Exclusive Economic Zone was primarily focused on sampling the mouth of the Amazon,” an associate professor at UGA.

The team used multi-beam acoustic sampling of the ocean bottom to find the reef and then dredged up samples to confirm the discovery. We brought up the most amazing and colourful animals I had ever seen on an expedition.” Reef transitions “In the far south, it gets more light exposure, so many of the animals are more typical reef corals and things that photosynthesise for food,” she said. “But as you move north, many of those become less abundant, and the reef transitions to sponges and other reef builders that are likely growing on the food that the river plume delivers,” Ms. Yager said.