Juruá River

The Juruá River (Portuguese Rio Juruá; Spanish Río Yuruá) is a southern affluent river of the Amazon River west of the Purus River, sharing with this the bottom of the immense inland Amazon depression, and having all the characteristics of the Purus as regards curvature, sluggishness and general features of the low, half-flooded forest country it traverses.

Yuruá River
Yuruá River in Breu, Peru
Map of the Amazon Basin with the Juruá River highlighted
Location
Country	Brazil, Peru
Physical characteristics
Mouth	Amazon River
• coordinates	2°38′9″S 65°45′22″W
Length	3,283 km (2,040 mi)
Basin size	190,573 km2 (73,581 sq mi)[1]
Discharge
• location	mouth
• average	6,004 m3/s (212,000 cu ft/s)[2]
Discharge
• location	Gavião (basin size 162,000 km2 (63,000 sq mi)
• average	4,882 m3/s (172,400 cu ft/s)

For most of its length the river flows through the Purus várzea ecoregion.[3] This is surrounded by the Juruá-Purus moist forests ecoregion.[4] It rises among the Ucayali highlands, and is navigable and unobstructed for a distance of 1,133 miles (1,823 km) above its junction with the Amazon. It has a total length of approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 km), and is one of the longest tributaries of the Amazon.

The 251,577 hectares (621,660 acres) Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve, created in 1997, is on the left bank of the river as it meanders in a generally northeast direction through the municipality of Carauari.[5] The lower Juruá River forms the western boundary of the 187,982 hectares (464,510 acres) Baixo Juruá Extractive Reserve, created in 2001.[6] Since 2018 the lower portion of the river in Brazil has been designated as a protected Ramsar site.[7]