THE HIDDEN RIVER

The worlds largest underground 'ocean'- a water body about the size of the artic ocean and located 700-1400 km below the ground and extending from Indonesia to the northern tip of Russia-has found its match. Scientists have discovered in Brazil the longest underground river-running for a length of 6000 km at a depth of nearly 4 km. It flows all the way from the andean foothills to the Atlantic coast in a nearly west-to-east direction like the mighty Amazon river. The river 'HAMZA' named after the discoverer, an indian born scientist Valiya mannathal Hamza who is working with the Nationa Observatory at Rio, makes it the first and geologically unusual instance of a twin-river system flowing at different levels of earths crust in Brazil. Unlike thn Hamza, the 153 km long underground river in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and the 8.2 km long Cabayugan River in the puerto princesa subterranean river National park in the philippines have come into being thanks to the karst topography. Water in these places drills its way downward by dissolving the carbonate rock to form an extensive underground river system.