The Murray River in AustraliaThe Mitchel River Australia
A river is a large natural waterway. It is a specific term in the vernacular for large streams, stream being the umbrella term used in the scientific community for all flowing natural waterways. In the vernacular, stream may be used to refer to smaller streams, as may creek, run, fork, etc.
Passage via a river or stream is the usual way rainfall on land finds its way to the ocean or other large body of water such as a lake. A river consists of several basic parts, originating from headwaters or a spring at the source, that flow into the main stream. Smaller side streams that join the river are tributaries. Water flow is normally confined to a channel, with a bottom or bed between banks. The lower end of a river is its mouth.
1 Topography
A river conducts water by constantly flowing perpendicular to the elevation curve of its bed, thereby converting the positional energy of the water into kinetic energyKinetic energy (also called vis viva or living force is energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion. The kinetic energy of a body is equal to the amount of work needed to establish its velocity and rotation, starting from rest. Equations Definition. Where a river flows over relatively flat areas, the river will meanderThe word meander has a number of senses. Some places in Tasmania, Australia: Meander, Tasmania Meander River, Tasmania Meander Valley A bend in a river, also known as an oxbow loop. This usage derives from the name of the Maeander River in Turkey. To mean: start to form loops and snake through the plain by erodingErosion is the displacement of solids ( soil, mud, rock, and so forth) by the agents of wind, water, ice, or movement in response to gravity. Although the processes may be simultaneous, erosion is to be distinguished from weathering, which is the decompos the river banks. Loops that are formed are sometimes cut off, forming a shorter river channel and leaving a remnant, oxbow lakeAn oxbow lake is a type of lake which is formed when when a meander from a stream or a river is cut off to form a lake. They are called oxbow lakes due to the distinctive curved shape that results from this process. In Australia, an oxbow lake is referred. Rivers that carry large amounts of sedimentSediment is any particulate matter that can be transported by fluid flow and which eventually is deposited as a layer of solid particles on the bed or bottom of a body of water or other liquid. Sedimentation is the deposition by settling of a suspended ma develop conspicuous deltaA delta is the mouth of a river where it flows into an ocean, sea, or lake, building outwards (as a deltaic deposit from sediment carried by the river and deposited as the water current is dissipated. Deltaic deposits of larger, heavily-laden rivers are cs at their mouths. Rivers whose mouths are in saline tidal waters may form estuaries.
Where a river descends quickly over sloped topography, rapids with whitewater or even waterfalls occur. Rapids are often used for recreational purposes (see Whitewater kayaking). Waterfalls are sometimes used as sources of energy, via watermills and hydroelectric plants.
Rivers begin at their source in higher ground, either rising from a spring, forming from glacial meltwater , flowing from a body of water such as a lake, or simply from damp, boggy places where the soil is waterlogged . They end at their base level where they flow into a larger body of water, the sea, a lake, or as a tributary to another (usually larger) river. In arid areas rivers sometimes end by losing water to evaporation and percolation into dry, porous material such as sand, soil, or pervious rock.
The area drained by a river and its tributaries is called its watershed.
