- 22 hours ago
Did you know there's a river in Canada that flows in both directions? Scientists call it a "bifurcation" - and it happens more often than you'd think. In this video, we explore some of the incredible waterways that refuse to follow the rules. We also answer a question many people ask: why are there no bridges over the Amazon River? Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/
Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.
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FunTranscript
00:00There's a river in North America that shouldn't exist.
00:03Well, at least according to scientists.
00:06Most normal rivers in the world join downstream, flow downhill,
00:11and finally deliver their waters to an ocean or a lake.
00:14But the Icamemish River in Canada doesn't like to follow the rules and flows in both directions.
00:20Its name even means water that flows both ways, in the local dialect, Cree.
00:27The Icamemish is just around 37 miles long,
00:30but it used to be an important part of the fur traders' route from Hudson Bay to Lake Winnipeg.
00:36It runs between the Hayes River and the Nelson River.
00:39Its waters are rather shallow and dark as it flows through peat bogs.
00:44Things get interesting when you reach the beaverpods.
00:46People who venture there say the Icamemish flows toward both the Hayes and the Nelson Rivers,
00:52starting from the central beaver pond.
00:55It's hard to tell where exactly the water divides as the river goes through a nearly flat, swampy country,
01:02and its current is barely noticeable.
01:06The next river on our list is the Casi Chare in South America,
01:10and it's like a hydrologic equivalent of a wormhole between two galaxies.
01:15It's the only natural canal on Earth that links two great rivers,
01:20the Upper Orinoco, which eventually flows into the Atlantic Ocean,
01:24and the Rio Negro, the largest left-bank tributary of the Amazon River.
01:29This rare sort of division is called a bifurcation,
01:32and it happens when a single river splits and sends its water into two different places.
01:37The Orinoco actually loses parts of its water to the Casi Chare.
01:42From there, the water slowly flows down toward the Rio Negro.
01:46During the rainy months, there is more flooding and stronger currents,
01:50so a larger amount of water gets diverted.
01:53For many local communities, the Casi Chare is more than just a river.
01:58It's sacred.
01:59They see it as a path that the ancestral spirits made to bring the great rivers together.
02:05Other stories say powerful deities shaped the land to create this special waterway.
02:12The Wayambo River in Suriname can flow either east or west, depending on its mood.
02:18Just kidding.
02:19You gotta blame rainfall and human activity for this unusual behavior.
02:23People put locks on the river to divert it.
02:26One lock, for example, is there to help the rice farmers get enough water.
02:31There are at least three bifurcation points in the river.
02:34It's tricky to control the Wayambo and to predict where the pollutants will spread along the river.
02:40It's close to gold mining and oil production sites, so it's a real problem.
02:46If you've ever wanted to drink water from two oceans at once,
02:50North Two Ocean Creek in Wyoming is the place to go.
02:53It begins high up in the Teton Range and later splits into two branches.
02:58The Pacific Creek joins the larger Snake River, which merges with the Columbia River,
03:03and finally reaches the Pacific Ocean.
03:06The Atlantic Creek heads east and flows into the Yellowstone, Missouri, and Mississippi rivers,
03:12and eventually empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
03:15If you connect the two creeks' watersheds on a map, you'll get a single blue line between Oregon and Louisiana.
03:23Explorers who are looking for the northwest passage between the two oceans never knew they could have used the creek.
03:29They would just need really tiny boats.
03:32Some scientists believe that cutthroat trout knew about this route long before people.
03:37They managed to migrate from the Snake River to Yellowstone River, most likely using this creek.
03:45The next star on our list could take over the mighty Mississippi.
03:49About 12,000 years ago, the Mississippi started drifting toward the basin of the Red River.
03:55The Mississippi stuck to its original path, and the water from the old Red River route became what we now
04:01call the Ochefaliah River.
04:03It used to be jammed up with logs for about 30 miles and wasn't fit for navigation.
04:09By the middle of the 19th century, European settlers cleared the log jam.
04:14But the flow of water changed so much that it could mess with the lower Mississippi River.
04:19So, people built special structures at the bifurcation to control the way water flowed between the rivers.
04:26At times, up to half the water from the Mississippi can get pulled down the Ochefaliah.
04:31You can see this massive amount of water even in satellite photos.
04:35Digital elevation maps and computer models also show exactly how the rivers split.
04:41If those control systems weren't there, the Ochefaliah would probably take over and steal most of the Mississippi's water.
04:49New Orleans could lose its main source of freshwater, and shipping along the Mississippi would take a big hit.
04:56The Arroyo Partido, meaning parted stream in Spanish, in southern Argentina, also carries its waters to two oceans at once.
05:05It starts high up in the Andes Mountains and cuts through a steep forest covered in trees.
05:10When it comes out of the canyon, it enters a wider area, where a big, rocky outcrop sits right in
05:17the middle of the stream and splits it in two.
05:20One side of the stream, the left, turns south and eventually reaches the Atlantic Ocean.
05:25The other side turns north and flows into the Pacific Ocean.
05:29It's pretty unique because the bifurcation doesn't happen in a flat lowland, but in a mountain saddle.
05:35It's kind of like a dip between two mountain peaks.
05:39You won't find much about Arroyo Partido on most maps, though.
05:43That's partly because the area wasn't well mapped until the late 1800s,
05:47and partly because the stream is small and surrounded by lots of bigger rivers and lakes that usually get all
05:53the attention.
05:54Also, there are no public water flow models available for this stream yet.
05:59Still, people have confirmed the split using aerial images and photos taken by hikers and travelers.
06:06A digital elevation model also shows that if you poured water right in the area where it's supposed to split,
06:11it would naturally flow both ways.
06:15Divide Creek is located on the border between British Columbia and Alberta in Canada.
06:20This stream flows down a mountain and reaches a saddle-shaped area called Kicking Horse Pass, where it splits in
06:27two.
06:27It happens because of Summit Lake, which sits just west of the Continental Divide.
06:33A long time ago, Summit Lake was much bigger and probably stretched across the entire pass,
06:39possibly causing the stream to split back then, too.
06:42But over time, the lake got smaller and now only exists on the west side.
06:47It left behind a swampy wetland right at the highest point of the pass.
06:52Like Arroyo Partido, Divide Creek didn't show up on many old maps.
06:57It's small, and the area is covered with thick forest, so even aerial photos don't clearly show the stream splitting.
07:03The best proof we have today comes from Yoho National Park, where a marker explains the bifurcation.
07:09It's placed along a hiking trail, and if you're up for an adventure,
07:13you can take a short side path that leads right to the spot where Divide Creek divides.
07:21Now, how about a lake for a change?
07:24Wollaston Lake is tucked away in the far northwest corner of Saskatchewan, Canada.
07:28The coolest part about it is that it also bifurcates.
07:32Near its northern end, about 90% flows into the Cochrane River and heads northeast,
07:37and around 10% flows into the Fond du Lac River and goes northwest.
07:42Where the water ends up, either toward the Arctic Ocean or the Hudson Bay,
07:47depends on which side of a long peninsula it's on.
07:50Maps and models show that there might still be some water flowing between the two sides of the peninsula,
07:56so technically it's not a perfect bifurcation,
07:59but it's still one of the most fascinating natural features around.
08:03The peninsula itself is slowly eroding, and eventually it might disappear.
08:08But geologists say that because of the Y-shaped layout of the lake,
08:12the water will keep splitting into both river systems no matter what.
08:16Even long before European explorers came around,
08:19the local people already knew how special Wollaston Lake was.
08:23They called it Lake Manitou, which means spirit.
08:26They believed the lake had supernatural powers because of its rare position at the top of two major watersheds.
08:34A bridge, a very helpful structure that traces back to the Neolithic times.
08:39The oldest bridge in the world, at least the one that is still standing,
08:43is the Arcadeco Bridge, built more than 3,000 years ago.
08:47But there's a river you cannot cross using a bridge.
08:50The Amazon River, the largest and longest river in the world.
08:55Okay, the Nile River is actually the longest river in the world,
08:58but the Amazon wants both titles for itself.
09:02The Amazon River is born in Peru and crosses Colombia and Brazil,
09:06until it reaches a massive delta at the Atlantic Ocean.
09:09Its waters travel a longer distance than Frodo and Sam,
09:14and yet, not a single bridge has ever been built over it.
09:17Why is that?
09:20First of all, seasonal floods change the size of the river.
09:23During dry seasons, the Amazon is about 3 miles wide,
09:27but during heavy rains, it can get up to 30 miles wide in a few weeks.
09:33Not only that, but the flood also makes the river change its position.
09:37Now imagine trying to build a bridge in a place where the ground turns into water for about 4 months.
09:44Not an impossible task, but not the easiest one either.
09:48Now, if you look back at your geography classes,
09:51you might remember that the soil of the river bank can be very soft,
09:54especially in the Amazon, which means it can erode and shift.
09:59Heavy rains also create marshes,
10:01a type of wetlands that actually reduces the magnitude of the floods and purifies the water.
10:07It's also home to many animals.
10:10This means that to build a bridge, part of this wetland would have to be drained,
10:14which would ruin the lives of all those animals.
10:17Besides, the foundations of said bridge would have to be deep,
10:21and that would cost a lot of money.
10:24The rain creates yet another problem for the potential bridge.
10:27It increases the river's water level by 13 to almost 50 feet.
10:32Of course, bridges have been built in deep rivers before, like the Padma Bridge,
10:37a gigantic structure with a foundation of 417 feet.
10:42But because the soil of the Amazon River can erode easily,
10:46a bridge would have to be built using floating structures, known as pontoons,
10:50and they're not helpful in a river that changes depth whenever it feels like it.
10:55Next on our list of things that are a problem to human endeavors is the Amazon Rainforest.
11:00This forest spreads over nine countries and is so big and so dense,
11:06it could cover about half of Europe.
11:08This means that a bridge would almost likely connect one patch of the forest to another,
11:13a pointless improvement to the lives of capybaras and jaguars.
11:17Of course, the real users of such a bridge would be humans.
11:21Most people live around the tributaries of the Amazon River, not around the river itself,
11:26because who wants to live like a beaver at a dam?
11:30There's even a state called Amapa on the left side of the Amazon River
11:34that is completely cut off from the rest of Brazil.
11:37You could easily take your car and visit its neighbor, a place called French Guiana.
11:42But if you wanted to go to another part of Brazil, you'd have to find other means of transportation.
11:49Aside from small riverside populations that live right on the riverside,
11:54duh, of the Amazon, bigger cities were built near tributary rivers,
11:58like the Rio Negro, which has a bridge, by the way, and the Nanai River in Peru.
12:04The bridges that go over the Nanai and the Rio Negro
12:07are the only two bridges over the rivers in the Amazon Basin.
12:11The lack of good roads and highways inside the Amazon
12:14also makes the creation of bridges a pointless endeavor.
12:18Back in the 70s, humans had big ideas on how to explore the Amazon ever more,
12:24which is why they decided to build a highway which would cut the Amazon Basin from left to right.
12:30The road, called the Trans-Amazonian Highway,
12:32was supposed to bring people to the heart of the Amazon.
12:35But it seems like the difficulties of building
12:39more than 2,000 miles of road inside a dense rainforest were not foreseen.
12:44Halfway through, the project was abandoned
12:47because it was super expensive and problematic.
12:50Nowadays, highways in the Amazon Basin
12:53are always flooded, filled with holes and mud.
12:56This whole situation creates a ripple effect.
12:59People don't live near the river because it's hard to access it.
13:02The roads don't go there either, because it's hard to build them.
13:06Which, in turn, makes even fewer people want to settle on the banks of the Amazon River,
13:11because they have no roads to get them there.
13:14So, if there are no roads and no bridges, how do people live there?
13:18You're not going to believe this,
13:20but the riverside population uses a very old but reliable invention called a boat.
13:27The Amazon River is fully navigable,
13:29and the people that live there use it like a road.
13:32Much like motorcycles, cars, and buses,
13:35the Amazon River has canoes, speedboats, and ferries.
13:38There's even a very specific ferry called Obedense,
13:42transporting people to the municipality of Obedos, hence the name.
13:46Locals do everything on boats.
13:49They even have a boat hospital that floats around and visits riverside populations,
13:54and a boat bank, so you can do all your bank-related things
13:57while looking at the vastness of the Amazon.
14:01Honestly? Genius invention!
14:04The downside to this lack of bridges is that it stops us from exploring
14:08the truly hidden gems of the world.
14:11In the Amazon, for example,
14:12there are over 10,000 undiscovered archaeological sites.
14:17We may never be able to dig out stuff like fortified villages,
14:21geoglyphs, and many other structures.
14:23It would be pretty neat to go full-on Laura Croft in the middle of the Amazon,
14:28but these findings are tucked deep in the heart of the forest.
14:31At the same time,
14:33only on a boat are you able to witness the crazy phenomenon
14:36of the unmixed waters of the Hio Negru and the Solimoines on the Amazon River.
14:41For more than three miles,
14:43these two tributaries of the Amazon River flow side by side without mixing.
14:48The speed and the temperature of these waters are different,
14:51so you'll see a river that looks like coffee and Coca-Cola mixed.
14:55This awesome phenomenon is called the meeting of waters.
15:02But the Amazon River is not the only river in the world deemed bridgeless.
15:06The Congo River, the second longest river in Africa,
15:09only has one bridge crossing it.
15:12The two Congos,
15:13yes, there are two different countries in the world named Congo,
15:17are separated by the Congo River,
15:19and so far, no roads connect them.
15:22Also, fun fact,
15:23some geologists believe that back when Gondwana existed
15:27and the continents were all cuddled together,
15:30the Amazon and the Congo River were one river connected to each other.
15:35Another place with a lack of bridges is the east side of the Thames in London.
15:40The west side of the river is narrower,
15:42which makes building a bridge easier.
15:44There are about 33 bridges on the west side alone,
15:48but if you want to cross the river from the east side,
15:50it's going to be a hassle.
15:52The thing is, back in the 1800s,
15:55shipping companies decided that building too many bridges over the Thames
15:58was too expensive,
16:00because this was a shipping route
16:01and the bridges would have to be taller than usual.
16:04The structure would also have to be long,
16:07since some parts of the Thames are about 1870 feet wide.
16:12But building long bridges is not a problem per se.
16:15In Rio de Janeiro, for example,
16:18you can find the Rio Nitaoy Bridge,
16:21which is about 8.26 miles long.
16:24Back when it was built in the 70s,
16:26it was the second longest bridge in the world.
16:29The bridge is so long that in 2018,
16:32a girl was born while her mother was crossing it,
16:35and now the birthplace in her birth certificate
16:37is literally the bridge.
16:40There's also no U-turn on it,
16:41so if you drive onto the bridge by mistake,
16:44you're in for a long drive.
16:47So next time you feel like exploring the Amazon,
16:50remember to pack your own boat.
16:54That's it for today.
16:55So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
16:58then give the video a like
16:59and share it with your friends.
17:00Or if you want more,
17:01just click on these videos
17:03and stay on the bright side.
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