Marajó Bay

The Pará River and a small fraction of the Tocantins River are the main providers of water for Marajó Bay. The river is vital to the surrounding areas and makes different areas and ports very accessible for locals. The river also eventually clashes with salt water from the Atlantic Ocean in the Marajó Bay. A circulation process of salinity, temperature, and tidal range in the two different water types occurs in the bay as they meet. Salt water concentrations are also impacted by low water periods of the Amazon River.

Ecology

Marajó Bay's estuarine waters provide a diverse feeding and nursery area for marine species in this ecosystem, and provides overall habitat for an estimated 108 marine species. There are many different marine species found in the Bay's waters, some examples of which are Scomberomorus brasiliensis, Cynoscion acoupa, Mugil sp. and Bagre bagre, are vital to the fishing health of locals. On the shorelines of the bay, mangroves can be found, and the general classifications of surrounding lands in "vegetation mosaics" are floodplain forests, upland forests, mangroves, and grassland. The bay provides a home to a unique variety of marine life, and mangroves in particular are vital to different life cycles of marine species such as fish or crustaceans.