Das Amazonas-Entwässerungssystem in Zeit und Raum

The history of the Amazon river system is fixed by two geologic main events: the development of the Atlantic Ocean caused by the break up of the Gondwana continent, and the evolution of the Andean orogenesis. On the other hand the direction of the drainage flow is caused by the Amazon Graben in the subsoil. Also the pleistocene glaciation influenced the Amazon drainage system by lowering the sea level as result of ice fixing in polar regions.