Igapó

Igapó (Portuguese pronunciation: [iɣɐˈpɔ], from Old Tupi: "root forest") is a word used in Brazil for blackwater-flooded Amazonian forests. These forests and similar swamp forests are seasonally inundated with freshwater. They typically occur along the lower reaches of rivers and around freshwater lakes. Freshwater swamp forests are found in a range of climate zones, from boreal through temperate and subtropical to tropical. In the Amazon Basin of Brazil, a seasonally whitewater-flooded forest is known as a várzea, which is similar to igapó in many regards; the key difference between the two habitats is in the type of water that floods the forest.