Bech32m | River Glossary (2024)

FAQs

What is a relatively large body of fresh water that flows within the bed and banks of a channel? ›

A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names.

Creeks? They are all names for water flowing on the Earth's surface. As far as our Water Science site is concerned, they are pretty much interchangeable. I tend to think of creeks as the smallest of the three, with streams being in the middle, and rivers being the largest.

All rivers have a starting point where water begins its flow. This source is called a headwater. The headwater can come from rainfall or snowmelt in mountains, but it can also bubble up from groundwater or form at the edge of a lake or large pond.

The energy of flowing river water comes from the force of gravity, which pulls the water downward. The steeper the slope of a river, the faster the river moves and the more energy it has. The movement of water in a river is called a current. The current is usually strongest near the river's source.

The Nile and Amazon rivers have shared a long rivalry to determine which is the world's longest stream. Stretching 6,695 kilometers (4,160 miles) from its source in Burundi to its mouth in the Mediterranean Sea, the Nile is generally considered the longest.

Braided streams typically get their start when a central sediment bar begins to form in a channel due to reduced streamflow or an increase in sediment load. The central bar causes water to flow into the two smaller cross sections on either side. The smaller cross section results in a higher velocity flow.

Streams smaller than rivers, roughly in order of size, may be called branches or forks, creeks, brooks, runnels, and rivulets. The very smallest kind of stream, just a trickle, is a rill.

A confluence occurs when two or more flowing bodies of water join together to form a single channel. Confluences occur where a tributary joins a larger river, where two rivers join to create a third or, where two separated channels of a river, having formed an island, rejoin downstream.

It may surprise you to know there is no technical difference between lakes and ponds, according to the National Park Service(Opens in a new window). However, a general rule of a thumb is if a body of water is large and deep it's a lake and if it's short and shallow it's a pond.

The Congo is the deepest river in the world. Its headwaters are in the north-east of Zambia, between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa (Malawi), 1760 metres above sea level; it flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

What is the widest river in the world? ›

Depending on the geographer, the Río de la Plata may be considered a river, an estuary, a gulf, or a marginal sea. If considered a river, it is the widest in the world, with a maximum width of 220 kilometres (140 mi). NASA photo of the Río de la Plata looking from northwest to southeast.

MOUTH/DELTA

The end of a river is its mouth, or delta. At a river's delta, the land flattens out and the water loses speed, spreading into a fan shape. Usually this happens when the river meets an ocean, lake, or wetland.

While there are no strict definitions to distinguish these waterways from one another, we tend to reserve the term river for the largest of these flowing bodies of water while creek is used for the smallest and stream often applies to waterways that are in between.

In the absence of rain, most of the flow in a river is water that drains slowly from the ground. As the groundwater is depleted, the flow rate in a river gradually recedes. The rate of recession is determined primarily by the underlying geology of the river basin.

Direction. Rivers flow downhill with their power derived from gravity. A common misconception holds that all or most rivers flow from north to south, but this is not so: rivers flow in all directions of the compass and often have complex meandering paths.

Lake. a body of water, usually freshwater, of relatively large size contained on a body of land.

A stream is a body of freshwater that flows downhill in a channel. The channel of a stream has a bottom, or bed, and sides called banks. Any size body of flowing water can be called a stream. Usually, though, a large stream is called a river.

Streambeds are what would be left once a stream is no longer in existence. The beds are usually well preserved even if they get buried because the banks and canyons made by the stream are typically hard, although soft sand and debris often fill the bed. Dry, buried streambeds can actually be underground water pockets.

A Stream is a body of water with a current, contained in a channel with a bed and banks. A River is a large body of flowing water, created by many smaller streams flowing together.