Amazon is the largest river in terms of volumetric capacity of the world and runs full through out the year , as it is located in equatorial regions where every day raining takes place. Now question is what is the average and maximum speed of water flow in km/hr , passing through this river?
I just found this German article claiming that the Amazon river has a flow velocity of between 0.1 m/s and 2 m/s (0.36-7.2 km/h): "Der Amazonas legt zwischen 0,1 und zwei Meter pro Sekunde zurück." https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article13580876/4000-Meter-tief-Der-geheime-Fluss-der-Unterwelt.html
No sources are stated and it is not a scientific journal.
It may however be quickly checked when using the average flow rate of roughly 200.000 m³/s, an average depth of 30-40 m (that's why it's shippable until quite far upstream) and a width of about 4-10 km (after Rio Negro and Rio Madeira join it). For simplicity's sake, we assume a rectangular cross section, then we get a flow velocity of 0.5-1.67 m/s (1.8-6 km/h), which is well within the range stated above.
Lennart Steffen and Neils H.Batjes thank you for your response . Amazon river is the largest river in the world and receives the year round rain water being located at wettest region of the earth where raining takes place almost daily. The flowing water has very high kinetic energy that can be harnessed through a technological method to produce /generate electricity without constructing any dam/embankment across the river. This power generated can be utilized by the local inhabitants for their economic development of the region.
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