River - Wikipedia [Link]

org/wiki/River

River
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards
another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A
river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it runs out of water, or only
flow during certain seasons. Rivers are regulated by the water cycle, the processes by
which water moves around the Earth. Water first enters rivers through precipitation,
whether from rainfall, the runoff of water down a slope, the melting of glaciers or
snow, or seepage from aquifers beneath the surface of the Earth.

Rivers flow in channeled watercourses and merge in confluences to form drainage

basins, areas where surface water eventually flows to a common outlet. Drainage
divides keep rivers separated from other courses of water and causes upstream water A boat floats on the Mekong in Laos
within the confines of the divide to fall into the downhill stream. Rivers have a great
effect on the landscape around them. They may regularly overflow their banks and
flood the surrounding area, spreading nutrients to the surrounding area. Sediment or alluvium carried by rivers shapes the landscape
around it, forming deltas and islands where the flow slows down. Rivers rarely run in a straight line, instead, they bend or meander;
the locations of a river's banks can change frequently. Rivers get their alluvium from erosion, which carves rock into canyons and
valleys.

Rivers have sustained human and animal life for millennia, including the first human civilizations. The organisms that live around or
in a river such as fish, aquatic plants, and insects have different roles, including processing organic matter and predation. Rivers have
produced abundant resources for humans, including food, transportation, drinking water, and recreation. Humans have engineered
rivers to prevent flooding, irrigate crops, perform work with water wheels, and produce hydroelectricity from dams. People associate
rivers with life and fertility and have strong religious, political, social, and mythological attachments to them.

Rivers and river ecosystems are threatened by water pollution, climate change, and human activity. The construction of dams, canals,
levees, and other engineered structures has eliminated habitats, has caused the extinction of some species, and lowered the amount
of alluvium flowing through rivers. Decreased snowfall from climate change has resulted in less water available for rivers during the
summer. Regulation of pollution, dam removal, and sewage treatment have helped to improve water quality and restore river

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habitats.

Topography

Definition
A river is a natural flow of freshwater that flows on or through land towards another
body of water downhill.[1] This flow can be into a lake, an ocean, or another river.[1] A
stream refers to water that flows in a natural channel, a geographic feature that can
contain flowing water.[2] A stream may also be referred to as a watercourse.[2] The
study of the movement of water as it occurs on Earth is called hydrology, and their
effect on the landscape is covered by geomorphology.[2]

South America's Amazon River (dark blue) and

Source and drainage basin
the rivers which flow into it (medium blue). The
Rivers are part of the water cycle, the continuous processes by which water moves darker green marks the Amazon's drainage basin
about Earth.[3] This means that all water that flows in rivers must ultimately come or watershed
from precipitation.[3] The sides of rivers have land that is at a higher elevation than
the river itself, and in these areas, water flows downhill into the river.[4] The
headwaters of a river are the smaller streams that feed a river, and make up the river's source.[4] These streams may be small and
flow rapidly down the sides of mountains.[5] All of the land uphill of a river that feeds it with water in this way is in that river's
drainage basin or watershed.[4] A ridge of higher elevation land is what typically separates drainage basins; water on one side of a
ridge will flow into one set of rivers, and water on the other side will flow into another.[4] One example of this is the Continental
Divide of the Americas in the Rocky Mountains. Water on the western side of the divide flows into the Pacific Ocean, whereas water
on the other side flows into the Atlantic Ocean.[4]

Not all precipitation flows directly into rivers; some water seeps into underground aquifers.[3] These, in turn, can still feed rivers via
the water table, the groundwater beneath the surface of the land stored in the soil. Water flows into rivers in places where the river's
elevation is lower than that of the water table.[3] This phenomenon is why rivers can still flow even during times of drought.[3] Rivers
are also fed by the melting of snow glaciers present in higher elevation regions.[3] In summer months, higher temperatures melt
snow and ice, causing additional water to flow into rivers. Glacier melt can supplement snow melt in times like the late summer,
when there may be less snow left to melt, helping to ensure that the rivers downstream of the glaciers have a continuous supply of

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water.[3]

Flow
Rivers flow downhill, with their direction determined by gravity.[6] A common misconception
holds that all or most rivers flow from North to South, but this is not true.[6] As rivers flow
downstream, they eventually merge to form larger rivers. A river that feeds into another is a
tributary, and the place they meet is a confluence.[4] Rivers must flow to lower altitudes due
to gravity.[3] The bed of a river is typically within a river valley between hills or mountains.
Rivers flowing through an impermeable section of land such as rocks will erode the slopes on
the sides of the river.[7] When a river carves a plateau or a similar high-elevation area, a
canyon can form, with cliffs on either side of the river.[8][4] Areas of a river with softer rock
weather faster than areas with harder rock, causing a difference in elevation between two
The major drainage basins in North
points of a river. This can cause the formation of a waterfall as the river's flow falls down a America
vertical drop.[9]

A river in a permeable area does not exhibit this

behavior and may even have raised banks due to
sediment.[7] Rivers also change their landscape
through their transportation of sediment, often
known as alluvium when applied specifically to
rivers.[10][7] This debris comes from erosion
Melting toe of the Perito Moreno Glacier
performed by the rivers themselves, debris swept in Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina
into rivers by rainfall, as well as erosion caused by
The Grand Canyon was carved by the the slow movement of glaciers. The sand in deserts
Colorado River. and the sediment that forms bar islands is from rivers.[10] The particle size of the debris is
gradually sorted by the river, with heavier particles like rocks sinking to the bottom, and finer
particles like sand or silt carried further downriver. This sediment may be deposited in river
valleys or carried to the sea.[7]

The sediment yield of a river is the quantity of sand per unit area within a watershed that is removed over a period of time.[11] The
monitoring of the sediment yield of a river is important for ecologists to understand the health of its ecosystems, the rate of erosion
of the river's environment, and the effects of human activity.[11]

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Rivers rarely run in a straight direction, instead preferring to bend or meander.[10] This is
because any natural impediment to the flow of the river may cause the current to deflect in a
different direction. When this happens, the alluvium carried by the river can build up against
this impediment, redirecting the course of the river. The flow is then directed against the
opposite bank of the river, which will erode into a more concave shape to accommodate the
flow. The bank will still block the flow, causing it to reflect in the other direction. Thus, a
bend in the river is created.[7]

Rivers may run through low, flat regions on their way to the sea.[12] These places may have
floodplains that are periodically flooded when there is a high level of water running through
the river. These events may be referred to as "wet seasons' and "dry seasons" when the The Nile in Egypt is known for its fertile
floodplains, which flood annually.
flooding is predictable due to the climate.[12] The alluvium carried by rivers, laden with
minerals, is deposited into the floodplain when the banks spill over, providing new nutrients
to the soil, allowing them to support human activity like farming as well as a host of plant and animal life.[12][4] Deposited sediment
from rivers can form temporary or long-lasting fluvial islands.[13] These islands exist in almost every river.[13]

Non-perennial rivers
About half of all waterways on Earth are intermittent rivers, which do not always have a continuous flow of water throughout the
year.[14] This may be because an arid climate is too dry depending on the season to support a stream, or because a river is seasonally
frozen in the winter (such as in an area with substantial permafrost), or in the headwaters of rivers in mountains, where snowmelt is
required to fuel the river.[14] These rivers can appear in a variety of climates, and still provide a habitat for aquatic life and perform
other ecological functions.[14]

Subterranean rivers
Subterranean rivers may flow underground through flooded caves.[15] This can happen in karst systems, where rock dissolves to form
caves. These rivers provide a habitat for diverse microorganisms and have become an important target of study by microbiologists.
[15] Other rivers and streams have been covered over or converted to run in tunnels due to human development.[16] These rivers do

not typically host any life, and are often used only for stormwater or flood control.[16] One such example is the Sunswick Creek in
New York City, which was covered in the 1800s and now exists only as a sewer-like pipe.[16]

Terminus

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While rivers may flow into lakes or man-made features such as reservoirs, the water they
contain will always tend to flow down toward the ocean.[3] However, if human activity siphons
too much water away from a river for other uses, the riverbed may run dry before reaching the
sea.[3] The outlets mouth of a river can take several forms. Tidal rivers, often part of an estuary,
have their levels rise and fall with the tide.[3] Since the levels of these rivers are often already at
or near sea level, the flow of alluvium and the brackish water that flows in these rivers may be
either upriver or downriver depending on the time of day.[7]
The Blue Water Cave in Quezon,
Rivers that are not tidal may form deltas that continuously deposit alluvium into the sea from Philippines features an underground
their mouths.[7] Depending on the activity of waves, the strength of the river, and the strength of river.
the tidal current, the sediment can accumulate to form new land.[17] When viewed from above, a
delta can appear to take the form of several triangular shapes as the river mouth appears to fan
out from the original coastline.[17]

Classification
In hydrology, a stream order is a positive integer used to describe the level of river branching in a
drainage basin.[18] Several systems of stream order exist, one of which is the Strahler number. In
this system, the first tributaries of a river are 1st order rivers. When two 1st order rivers merge, the
resulting river is 2nd order. If a river of a higher order and a lower order merge, the order is
incremented from whichever of the previous rivers had the higher order.[18] Stream order is The delta of the Lena River in
correlated with and thus can be used to predict certain data points related to rivers, such as the size Russia is formed from the river's
of the drainage basin (drainage area), and the length of the channel.[18] sediment.

Ecology

Models

River Continuum Concept

The ecosystem of a river includes the life that lives in its water, on its banks, and in the surrounding land.[19] The width of the

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