Pará River

This article is about the river in Pará. For the river in Minas Gerais, see Pará River (Minas Gerais). For the river in Russia, see Para River (Russia). For rivers in Australia, see Para River.

The Pará River (Portuguese: Rio Pará), 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.

Pará River
View of the Pará River in Brazil
Location
Country	Brazil
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Confluence of Anapu and Pacajá, Pará state
• coordinates	1°54′27.6048″S 50°49′2.1396″W
• elevation	0.5 m (1 ft 8 in)
2nd source	Anapu
• location	Carajás Mountains, Pará
• coordinates	4°1′51.1032″S 51°13′53.112″W
• elevation	250 m (820 ft)
3rd source	Pacajá
• location	Carajás Mountains, Pará
• coordinates	4°58′24.3624″S 50°46′40.7532″W
• elevation	233 m (764 ft)
Mouth
• location	Marajó Bay, Pará
• coordinates	0°25′48.234″S 48°8′41.4096″W
• elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Length	320 km (200 mi)(Pará–Anapu 784 km (487 mi)[1]
Basin size	1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)
Discharge
• location	Atlantic Ocean (near mouth)
• average	20,946 m3/s (739,700 cu ft/s)[2] ~664 km3/a (21,000 m3/s)[2] to 26,000 m3/s (920,000 cu ft/s)[3]
Discharge
• location	Confluence of Tocantins (141 km upstream of mouth; Basin size 84,027 km2 (32,443 sq mi)
• average	9,249 m3/s (326,600 cu ft/s)[2] to 10,000 m3/s (350,000 cu ft/s)[3]
Discharge
• location	Portel, Pará (320 km upstream of mouth; Basin size: 52,066.5 km2 (20,103.0 sq mi)
• average	(Period: 1971–2000)2,206.7 m3/s (77,930 cu ft/s)[1]
Basin features
Progression	→ Atlantic Ocean
Tributaries
• left	Anapu, Breves channel, Arari
• right	Pacajá, Jacundá, Tocantins, Acará, Guamá

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 64 kilometres (40 mi), 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,^[4] with a greater contribution from the Tocantins River.

See also

• List of rivers of Pará