A tributary or affluent[1] is a stream A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, crick, kill, lick, rill, river syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or runnel. In some countries or communities a stream may be defined by or river A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including stream, creek, brook, rivulet, and rill; there is no which flows into a main stem In rivers and hydrology, the main stem is defined as the principal channel within a given drainage basin, into which all of the tributary streams in a drainage basin flow. Viewed in terms of the Strahler stream order system, the main stem would be the highest order stream amongst the streams in a given drainage basin. In rivers that anabranch or (or parent) river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea, ocean, or lake. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin A drainage basin is an extent or area of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels, of its surface water and groundwater Groundwater is water located beneath the ground surface in soil pore spaces and in the fractures of lithologic formations. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated deposit is called an aquifer when it can yield a usable quantity of water. The depth at which soil pore spaces or fractures and voids in rock become completely saturated with water is called by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body of water.
A confluence Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water. The opposite of a watershed, it usually refers to the point where a tributary joins a more major river, called the mainstem, when that major river is also the highest order stream in the drainage basin. It is also used in vernacular language as the source —headwaters is where two or more bodies of water A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water, usually covering the Earth or another planet. The term body of water most often refers to large accumulations of water, such as oceans, seas, and lakes, but it may also include smaller pools of water such as ponds, puddles or wetlands. Rivers, streams, canals, and other meet together, usually referring to the act of tributaries.
Reciprocal to a tributary is a distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary is a tributary. Distributaries usually occur as a stream nears a lake or the ocean, but they can occur inland as, a river that branches off of and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river. Over long periods of time, this deposition builds the.
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Terminology
Walton Creek, a small tributary of the Lochsa River in northeastern Idaho North Central Idaho is an area which spans the central part of the state of Idaho and borders Oregon, Montana, and Washington. It is the southern half of the Idaho Panhandle region and is rich in agriculture and natural resources. Lewis and Clark travelled throughout this area on their journey to the Pacific Ocean in 1805-06.[citation needed] The, flowing slightly upstream The source of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates of its confluence with a larger stream.'Right tributary' and 'left tributary' (or 'right-bank tributary' and 'left-bank tributary') are terms stating the position of the tributary relative to the flow of the mainstem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream (in the direction the water current A current, in a river or stream, is the flow of water influenced by gravity as the water moves downhill to reduce its potential energy. The current varies spatially as well as temporally within the stream, dependent upon the flow volume of water, stream gradient, and channel geometrics. In tidal zones, the current in rivers and streams may reverse is going).
Ordering and enumeration
The Pfinz The Pfinz is a right-side tributary of the Rhine in Baden-Württemberg. Its origin is located at the northern edge of the Black Forest near the Straubenhardt borough of Pfinzweiler. Near Durlach it enters the Upper Rhine River Plains and continues, splitting into several beds and canals, in northwesterly direction through several towns and, a right tributary of the Rhine The Rhine is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at about 1,232 km (766 mi), with an average discharge of more than 2,000 m3/s (71,000 cu ft/s), located in Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, bordering Alsace (France) to the west, Switzerland to the south, Bavaria to the east and northeast, Hessen to the north, and Rhineland Palatinate to the northwestIn orography Orography is the study of the formation and relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as oreography, orology or oreology) falls within the broader discipline of geomorphology, tributaries are ordered from those nearest to the source of the river The source of a river or stream is the place from which the water in the river or stream originates to those nearest to the mouth of the river A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river. Deltas are formed from the deposition of the sediment carried by the river as the flow leaves the mouth of the river. Over long periods of time, this deposition builds the.
The Strahler Stream Order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy A hierarchy (Greek: hierarchia , from hierarches, "leader of sacred rites") is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another and with only one "neighbor" above and below each of of first, second, third, and higher orders, with the first order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second order tributary would be composed of two or more first order tributaries combining to form the second order tributary.
See also
- Distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary is a tributary. Distributaries usually occur as a stream nears a lake or the ocean, but they can occur inland as
- Estuary An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea
References
- ^ "affluent". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Viewed 30 Sep. 2008.
Categories: Physical geography Physical geography is a subfield of geography, closely related to geology, that focuses on the spatial characteristics of natural processes, within the hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and lithosphere | Tributaries
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