Juruá-Purus moist forests
| Juruá-Purus moist forests | |
|---|---|
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| Ecology | |
| Realm | Neotropical |
| Biome | Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests |
| Geography | |
| Area | 242,681.88 km2 (93,700.00 sq mi) |
| Country | Brazil |
| Coordinates | 4°52′41″S 66°21′47″W / 4.878°S 66.363°WCoordinates: 4°52′41″S 66°21′47″W / 4.878°S 66.363°W |
The Juruá-Purus moist forests (NT0133) is an ecoregion in northwest Brazil in the Amazon biome. The terrain is very flat and soils are poor. The rivers flood annually. There are no roads in the region, and the dense rainforest is relatively intact, although plans to extend the Trans-Amazonian Highway through the region would presumably cause widespread damage to the habitat.
The Juruá-Purus moist forests ecoregion is in the state of Amazonas in northwest Brazil to the south of the Solimões, or upper Amazon River. It has an area of 24,268,188 hectares (59,968,000 acres). The ecoregion is bounded to the north, east and south by stretches of the Purus várzea ecoregion along the Solimões and Purus rivers. The ecoregion contains the Juruá River, which has typical flora and fauna. Urban centers include Carauari, Tefé, Coari and Jutaí.
The várzea, or flooded forest, extends along rivers within the ecoregion. To the west the Juruá-Purus moist forests adjoin the Southwest Amazon moist forests. The western boundary follows the boundary of "dense lowland ombrophilous Amazonian forest" defined by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in 1993. The limit in the southwest is northeast of the Carauari Arch, an ancient uplift zone.
The ecoregion is in the low Amazon basin, with elevations from 20 to 60 metres (66 to 197 ft) above sea level. The terrain consists of flat, forest-covered plains cut by large, meandering rivers with many oxbow lakes and thousands of smaller watercourses, all of which flood each year. Major rivers include the Jutaí, mid-lower Juruá, Tefé, Tapauá and mid-lower Purus rivers. The sediments of the low Amazon basin were formed during the late Tertiary period, and are relatively young and easily eroded. For this reason the rivers are whitewater rivers that hold suspended mineral and organic sediments. Soils include sandy podzols and hydromorphic clay, typically acidic and low in nutrients.
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