See the Only Boiling River in the World Located in Peru
Do you know that there is a Boiling River in the world located in the South American country called Peru? Yes, a boiling river! Well there is a river that is hidden in a dense jungle of the Peruvian forest in the Amazon. According to legends, the headwaters of this river were marked by boulder shaped like a serpent’s head. The hot waters of the river supposedly came from a giant snake spirit called Yacumama (“Mother of the waters”). See more about this boiling river below.
The Shanay-Timpishka, also known as La Bomba, is a tributary of the Amazon River, called the “only boiling river in the world”. It is 6.4 km (4.0 mi0 long. It is known for the very high temperature of its waters – from 45 oC to nearly 100 OC.
Locals do say that a young explorer known as Andres Ruzo, listened to his Peruvian grandfather tell the story of Shanay-timpishka, also known as La Bomba and Boiling River, which is an ancient name that loosely translate to boiling with the heat of the sun. When Ruzo became a geophysicist, he decided to follow the trials to find out if such a river existed. He began by creating a thermal map of Peru, and eventually discovered an unusually large hot spot – which is one of the largest geothermal features found on any continent.
As per the reports, he went on an expedition to central Peru in November 2011, to see the Boiling River for himself. He found out that the river is protected by the Shaman of the small town called Mayantuyacu, which is a secluded healing center. There, he got special permission from the shaman to study the water.
He found out that the water temperature here ranges from 120 degrees to almost 200 degrees Fahrenheit, while the mud of the riverbank was also too hot to walk on. And, if by chance you fall in the water, you would suffer from third-degree burns in less than a second.
He also found dead animals floating in the water that might have accidentally slipped and lost their lives.
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The total Boiling River system is about 5.5 miles long. The waters of the river start off cold, but they heat up and flow hot for about the last four miles of the river. How hot? The steaming waters can reach temperatures of about 200 oF, which is hot enough to kill just about any creature unlucky enough to fall into its waters.
Andres Ruzo collected samples of different areas of the river, and found that the average temperature of the water is 187 degrees Fahrenheit, which is really hot!
This features seemed odd to him as the spot isn’t near any volcanic or magmatic activity. He conducted some investigation, and after testing different hypotheses, he believes that a fault-led hydrothermal feature was causing the river to reach such high temperatures.
Finally, the unusually-large thermal river is about as wide as a two-lane road for most of its length. It reaches up to 80 feet as its widest point, and its deepest point reaches nearly 16 feet. Despite its tremendous volume, the Boiling River is a natural feature that is non-volcanic.
What makes the Boiling River so unique is that there’s such a large volume of extremely hot water that is not related to a volcanic source. This means the water must come from very deep below the surface, but it also must come very quickly with a tremendous volume.
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