Do you know that there is a river that crosses the equator twice?

One of the largest natural watercourses of the Earth is located on the hottest continent in the immediate vicinity of the 0 ° parallel. What is this river that crosses the equator twice? On which continent is the watercourse? The proposed article provides detailed answers to fascinating geographic puzzles.

On what continent is the river that crosses the equator twice?

Usually, the geographical latitude is measured from the 0 ° parallel. This is the equator crossed by all meridians. The imaginary line on the globe and map is a conditional boundary between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The equator crosses:

• Africa - in the central part of this continent;
• South America - in the north;
• A number of large and small islands in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

Thousands of watercourses in these parts of the land flow near latitude 0 °. But there is only one largest river, which crosses the equator twice - p. Congo on the mainland Africa. The second largest and hottest of the continents of the Earth in its northern part is very arid. The center of the continent is located in the equatorial climate zone, where precipitation falls more than 2000 mm / year, but evaporation is also significant.

A huge area in this region is occupied by gilea - moist evergreen forests (jungle). The western part of Central Africa is washed by the relatively cold waters of the Gulf of Guinea. North of the forest belt is gradually moving into the boundless expanses of the savannah. From the east and west, the Congo River basin is bordered by mountain ranges that serve as a watershed.

Congo - the most abundant river in Africa

The largest natural watercourses of the Atlantic Ocean basin have similar features and differences. On the mainland Africa, the feeding of such rivers is dominated by the rain type. After all, the sources are in the equatorial regions, where a lot of precipitation falls. The Nile, the longest waterway, starts in the mountains of East Africa, flows north and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Congo River crosses the equator or a 0 ° parallel twice. It's easy to see this if you look at the map of the world or Africa. First, the watercourse from the region in the Southern Hemisphere is directed north, taking along the way numerous tributaries. The river turns about 2 ° north of the equator to the south-west. Congo returns to the Southern Hemisphere and rushes to the Gulf of Guinea. This is the most full-flowing river that crosses the equator twice. Congo on the volume of runoff in the world ranking is second only to the South American River. Amazon. On the maps of Africa often indicate another hydronym - Zaire. It happened historically that the river has two names.

The basin of the Congo is located in the subequatorial and equatorial climatic zones. Numerous tributaries the river receives in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The area to the south of the equator accounts for about 75% of the basin, which imposes an imprint on the water regime. Thus, the level rise is observed from March to October, when the northern tributaries receive the most rainfall. The second peak occurs in October-March, when the most humid conditions are observed to the south of the equator. The flow of the Congo River is uniform throughout the year. To this, it is also necessary to add the presence of a significant fall in the channel, rapids and waterfalls in the upper reaches.

Depth of Congo

A well-known American publication National Geographic gives a comparative analysis of the abundance of the rivers of the Earth. The first line is occupied by the Amazon, which crosses the continent of South America from west to east. The African river, which twice crosses the equator, surpasses in depth the other water arteries of the planet studied by specialists. According to National Geographic, the depth of the Congo on some sections of the channel is more than 230 m. This is almost twice as much as the Amazon's.

Geographers explain the considerable depth of the Congo with the structure of the riverbed and the whole valley of the river. The largest watercourse of Central Africa on its way to the Gulf of Guinea for thousands of years paved its way through the gorge in the mountainous terrain. Now it is the South Guinean plateau, where the Congo river bed narrows to 300-500 m. But on the plain the African river is spreading for 10-15 km. A powerful stream of water breaks into the gorge and fills it. The flow of the river in this area reaches a record level of 42 thousand m ³ / sec.

Study of the Congo Basin

The Portuguese merchant and navigator Diogu Kahn explored the west coast of Africa and the place where the Congo flows into the Gulf of Guinea, and in 1482 discovered the sources in the mountains. The river crosses the equator twice in Central Africa. For a long time this region was the least studied on the continent, abounded with "white spots".

Difficult jungle, swampy terrain, lack of roads made it difficult for cartographers and other scientists. One of them compared gilei with the "green hell", because in the forest travelers had to struggle their way with a machete. Around the ramparts and do not give to pass the vines, grow powerful and numerous stilted roots. Under the forest canopy gloomy and damp, because almost every day it rains, and the crowns of several tiers of trees and bushes cover the light. Animals prefer to live and eat on branches, occasionally going down.

Main characteristics of the Congo River

Having learned which river of Africa twice crosses the equator, we can describe it in more detail. The length of the channel is estimated at 4.3-4.7 thousand km. A more precise answer depends on which of the tributaries of the river is taken for its source. In general, the area of the basin reaches an impressive magnitude - almost 3.7 million km ² . Most of the geographical publications as a source name the river, originating on the plateau of Shaba, west of the city of Kisangani.

Congo on the way to the Atlantic Ocean receives numerous left and right tributaries. The largest of them: Mobangi, Hands, Lulongo and others. Significant differences between the height of the sources and the mouth, the fall and slope of the river in some areas provide its huge hydropower potential. Several powerful hydropower plants have been constructed, supplying energy to the Central African countries. The lower part of the river is actively used for navigation, timber alloys. Developed fishing, mined in the waters of Congo Nile perch, freshwater herring.