Amazon Canyon
submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean
The Amazon Canyon is a submarine canyon within the Amazon Fan in the Atlantic Ocean, located approximately 200 mi (322 km) from the mouth of the Amazon River, near South America. It covers an area of 2,250 km2 (870 sq mi). It was formed in the mid to late Miocene period. The canyon is believed to have formed through mass failures, and subsequently evolved through underwater erosion. Because of its relatively small size, the canyon has been extensively mapped.
Technical background and channel lobes
Continental shelves off major river deltas and estuaries act as interfaces between terrestrial environments and depositional regimes in the deep sea. They serve as a large means of carbon recycling and are a source of carbon hydrates. The Amazon River is 6,770 km long and with its numerous tributaries drains a watershed of 7,050,000 km2. The Amazon Shelf in front of the Amazon delta is more than 300 km wide. Despite how closely shelf sediment composition has been studied, very few high-resolution data have been published in the past about the shelf.
The public source identifies “Amazon Canyon” as submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Amazon, Canyon and submarine.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Amazon Canyon”, the useful work is to connect “submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 7, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q15179662. Authority coordinates are 3.300, -48.400. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amazon Canyon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.