Marañón River

river, Peru
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://mainten.top/place/Maranon-River
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Also known as: Río Marañón, Rio Maranhão
Spanish:
Río Marañón

Marañón River, headwater of the Amazon, rising in the snowcapped Andes above Lake Lauricocha in central Peru, about 100 miles (160 km) from the Pacific Ocean. It flows northwest across windswept plateaus 12,000 feet (3,650 m) high and carves a deep canyon between Andean ranges. As the Marañón passes through high jungle in its midcourse, it is marked by a series of unnavigable rapids and falls. Emerging from the most spectacular of these rapids, the Pongo de Manseriche, the river is only 575 feet (175 m) above sea level. For the rest of its 879-mile (1,415-km) course, it meanders eastward through hot, sparsely populated rain forest and receives the Huallaga River. It combines with the Ucayali River below Nauta to form the Amazon.