Basin Amazon

Bois de Rose. Bois de rose oil is obtained by steam distillation of wood chips from South American rosewood trees, Aniba rosaeodora. The tree, a wild evergreen, grows mainly in the Amazon basin. The oil is used as obtained in perfumery for its sweet, woody-floral odor and as a source of linalool [78-70-6] (3), which it contains to the extent of 70%. Linalool distilled from bois de rose oil is also used directly in perfumery and for conversion to esters, eg, the acetate (1). 

Prior to the eastern adventures of Linschoeten and Tradescant, the sailors of Columbus had discovered the natives of Central America playing with lumps of natural mbber. These were obtained, like gutta percha, by coagulation from a latex the first recorded reference to natural mbber was in Valdes La historia natural y general de las Indies, published in Seville (1535-1557). In 1731 la Condamine, leading an expedition on behalf of the French government to study the shape of the earth, sent back from the Amazon basin mbber-coated cloth prepared by native tribes and used in the manufacture of waterproof shoes and flexible bottles. 

Burning fossil fuel releases carbon into the atmosphere—more than 6.3 billion tons in 1998 alone. Significant amounts of carbon also come from burning of live wood and deadwood. Such fires are often deliberately set to clear land for crops and pastures. In 1988 the smoke from fires set in the Amazon Basin covered 1,044,000 square miles. By far the most serious implication of this is the significant threat to Earth s ecosystems by global climate change. 

Figure 3. An undisturbed primary tropical rainforest in the eastern Amazon Basin, Brazil. Although these forests only comprise 7% of the earth s surface, they contain as much as 40% of all species and are significant global C sinks.

The synthesis of 1 kg of dry plant biomass requires the evapotranspiration of about 300 L of water, although smaller amounts of water are needed by some plants such as desert cacti. Approximately one-third of the annual continental rainfall (100 cm/yr) is returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration. Although it accounts for only about 10-15% of global evaporation, plant evapotranspiration can play a major role in local climates. For example, a molecule of water falling on the upper Amazon Basin is recycled on average five times during its eventual return to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Klammer, G. (1984). The relief of the extra-Andean Amazon basin. In "The Amazon, Limnology and Landscape Ecology of a Mighty Tropical River and its Basin" (H. Sioli, ed.), pp. 47-83. Dr. W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 

However, not all the chloride is cyclic, a fact first appreciated in recent years. An example comes from a detailed study of river geochemistry conducted in the Amazon Basin. In the inland regions, rains typically have a chloride content of 10 pM, while major inland tributaries have chloride contents of 20-100 pM. These data suggest that only 25% of the Cl is cyclic, whereas 75% is derived by weathering of evaporites. Indeed, 90% of this 75% can be shown to have its origin in the Andean headwaters, derived from evaporites that make up only 2% of the area of the Amazon Basin (Stallard and Edmond, 1981). As the ratio of sulfate to chloride in evaporite deposits is generally much higher... 

For instance, clearing tropical forests in the Amazon basin for pasture alters rates of soil nitrogen cycling (Table 5). 

I said to her, "Look, I like this woman, and she speaks Spanish." This was my best argument, appealing as it did to reason. "Are you seriously suggesting that we trek many days into the Amazon Basin with our specious grip on the local language It makes very good sense that Ev come."... 

Most of the Amazon Basin is made up of alluvial deposits from the Andes. La Chorrera is different. A river, the Rio Igara-Parana, narrows and flows into a crack. It becomes very rapid then drops over an edge—a lip—creating not exactly a waterfall but a narrow channel of water (chorro means "chute"), a flume whose violent outpouring has made a sizable lake. 

Having left the vicinity of Puerto Leguizamo a few hours ago with our cargo of beer and cattle, Ev and I are once again enclosed by and moving through the dream that is the forests and rivers of the Amazon Basin. This return to continue the contemplation of the phenomenon in the pure medium of tropical nature in which we discovered it marks a dedication to and an immersion in the phenomenon that, I imagine, anyone familiar with the events which overtook us in March finds incredible and even perhaps not without an element of risk. 

This seemed an unusual number of coincidences and so I pressed my search. Consultation with the almanac of the Naval Observatory brought a real surprise. On the very day that I was researching, December 22, 1973, a total, annular eclipse of the sun would occur and the path of totality would sweep directly across La Chorrera and the Amazon Basin. I was dumbfounded. I felt like a person in a novel this string of clues was actually real I researched the eclipse to determine exactly where it would achieve totality. This would occur, I learned, almost directly over the city of Belem in Brazil, in the delta of the Amazon River. The vertiginous elf chatter of hyperspace rose squealing in my ears. Was it mocking me or egging me on ... 

Ayahuasca (yage) Banisteriopsis caapi Bark of vine Harmine, harmaline Drink Hallucinogenic Shamans, various indigenous groups Amazon basin... 

Eb6na Virola theiodora Inner bark Several tryptamines, including the most potent hallucinogen known from nature 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine Snuff Hallucinogenic Yamomami Amazon basin... 

Longinelli A, Edmond JM (1983) Isotope geochemistry of the Amazon basin. A reconnaissance. J Geophys Res 88 3703-3717... 

Natural rubber can be found as a colloidal emulsion in a white, milky fluid called latex and is widely distributed in the plant kingdom. The Indians called it wood tears. It was not until 1770 that Joseph Priestly suggested the word rubber for the substance, since by rubbing on paper it could be used to erase pencil marks, instead of the previously used bread crumbs. At one time 98% of the world s natural rubber came from a tree, Hevea brasiliensis, native to the Amazon Basin of Brazil which grows to the height of 120 ft. Today most natural rubber is produced on plantations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Other rubber-bearing plants... 

However, it is not only in marine areas that nitrate is found associated with larger particles. Table 9.14 for example, shows the composition of particles from the Amazon Basin where there was no significant sea salt contribution (Artaxo et al., 1988). Concentrations of... 

TABLE 9.14 Average Elemental and Nitrate Concentrations of Particles Measured at Ducke Reserve in the Amazon Basin"... 

FIGURE 9.39 Analysis of particles as a fraction of particle size in the Amazon Basin using factor analysis (adapted from Artaxo and Hansson, 1995). 

Artaxo, P., F. Gerab, M. A. Yamasoe, and J. V. Martins, Fine Mode Aerosol Composition at Three Long-Term Atmospheric Monitoring Sites in the Amazon Basin, J. Geophys. Res., 99, 22857-22868... 

Artaxo, P., and H.-C. Hansson, Size Distribution of Biogenic Aerosol Particles from the Amazon Basin, Atmos. Environ., 29, 393-402... 

Copaiba (balsam) oils are obtained by steam distillation of the exudate (balsam) from the trunk of several species of Copaifera L. (Fabaceae), a genus of trees growing in the Amazon basin. They are colorless to light yellow liquids with the characteristic odor of the corresponding balsams and an aromatic, slightly bitter, pungent taste. 

During the 16th century, European explorers found that natives in the Amazon Basin of South America were using curare, an arrow poison that produced skeletal muscle paralysis, to kill animals. The active compound, d-tubocurarine, and its modern synthetic derivatives, have had a major influence on the practice of anesthesia and surgery and have proved useful in understanding the basic mechanisms involved in neuromuscular transmission. 

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