A várzea forest is a seasonal floodplain forest inundated by whitewater rivers that occurs in the Amazon biome. Until the late 1970s, the definition was less clear and várzea was often used for all periodically flooded Amazonian forests.
A river in the Amazon
Amazonas floating village, Iquitos
Grove of açaí palms
Whitewater river (river type)
A whitewater river is classified based on its chemistry, sediments and water colour. Whitewater rivers have high levels of suspended sediments, giving the water a pH that is near-neutral, a high electric conductivity and a pale muddy, café au lait-like colour. Whitewater rivers are of great ecological importance and are important to local fisheries. The major seasonal Amazonian floodplains known as várzea receive their water from them.
The Meeting of Waters where the pale brownish (whitewater) Amazon River mixes with the dark (blackwater) Rio Negro
The Madeira showing the typical pale muddy colour of a whitewater river as it flows past Porto Velho, Brazil
The tambaqui, an important species in Amazonian fisheries, relies on whitewater to breed