Rivers by dyron ellul 3.02

RIVERS

BYDyron Ellul

3.02

Rivers

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards 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, tributary and rill. There are no official definitions for generic terms, such as river, as applied to geographic features, although in some countries or communities a stream may be defined by its size. Many names for small rivers are specific to geographic location; one example is "burn" in Scotland and northeast England. Sometimes a river is said to be larger than a creek, but this is not always the case, because of vagueness in the language.

Nile (Africa)

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is 6,650 km (4,130 miles) long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.

The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile is the source of most of the water and fertile soil. It begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.

Po (Italy)

The Po is a river that flows either 652 km or 682 km– considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face of Monviso through a delta projecting into the Adriatic Sea near Venice. It has a drainage area of 74,000 km² in all, 70,000 in Italy, of which 41,000 is in mountain environments and 29,000 on the plain. The Po is the longest river in Italy; at its widest point its width is 503 m .The Po extends along the 45th parallel north.

Tiber (Italy)

The Tiber is the third-longest river in Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing 406 kilometres through Umbria and Lazio to the Tyrrhenian Sea. It drains a basin estimated at 17,375 square kilometres .The river has achieved lasting fame as the main watercourse of the city of Rome, founded on its eastern banks.

The river rises at Mount Fumaiolo in central Italy and flows in a generally southerly direction past Perugia and Rome to meet the sea at Ostia. Popularly called flavus , in reference to the yellowish colour of its water, the Tiber has heavily advanced at the mouth by about 3 km since Roman times, leaving the ancient port of Ostia Antica 6 km inland.[However, it does not form a proportional delta, owing to a strong north-flowing sea current close to the shore, to the steep shelving of the coast, and to slow tectonic subsidence.

Segura (Spain)

Segura is a medium-sized river in southeastern Spain.

It starts at Santiago Pontones passes Calasparra, Cieza, Murcia, Beniaján, Orihuela, Rojales and ends in the Mediterranean Sea near Guardamar del Segura in the province of Alicante. Some of its tributaries are the Mundo the Alhárabe the Mula and the Guadalentín.

The Segura is usually in a state of semi-permanent drought, however, now and then, it does occasionally flood as the consequence of the torrential rains which typically take place once every 6–9 years approximately, always in Autumn.

Ebro (Spain) The Ebro or Ebre is one of the most

important rivers in the Iberian Peninsula. It is the biggest river by discharge volume in Spain. Its source is in Fontibre, from the Latin words Fontes Iberis, source of the Ebro. The upper Ebro rushes through rocky gorges in Burgos Province. Flowing roughly eastwards it begins forming a wider river valley when it reaches Navarre and La Rioja thanks to many tributaries flowing down from the Iberian System on one side, and the Navarre mountains and the western Pyrenees, on the other.

Rhine (Netherland)

The Rhine is a river that flows from Grisons in the eastern Swiss Alps to the North Sea coast in the Netherlands and is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe, at about 1,233 km ,with an average discharge of more than 2,000 m3/s. The Rhine and the Danube formed most of the northern inland frontier of the Roman Empire and, since those days, the Rhine has been a vital and navigable waterway carrying trade and goods deep inland. It has also served as a defensive feature and has been the basis for regional and international borders. The many castles and prehistoric fortifications along the Rhine testify to its importance as a waterway. River traffic could be stopped at these locations, usually for the purpose of collecting tolls, by the state that controlled that portion of the river.

Rhone (Switzerland, France)

The Rhone is one of the major rivers of Europe, rising in Switzerland and running from there through southeastern France. At Arles, near its mouth on the Mediterranean Sea, the river divides into two branches, known as the Great Rhone and the Little Rhone . The resulting delta constitutes the Camargue region.

In French, the adjective derived from the river is rhodanien, as in le sillon rhodanien ,which is the name of the long, straight Saone and Rhone river valleys, a deep cleft running due south to the Mediterranean and separating the Alps from the Massif Central.

Tagus (Portugal,Spain)

The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is 1,038 km long, 716 km in Spain, 47 km along the border between Portugal and Spain and 275 km in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean near Lisbon. It drains an area of 80,100 square kilometers The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course. Several dams and diversions supply drinking water to most of central Spain, including Madrid, and Portugal, while dozens of hydroelectric stations create power. Between dams it follows a very constricted course, but after Almourol it enters a vast alluvial valley prone to flooding. At its mouth is a large estuary on which the port city of Lisbon is situated.

Guadalquivir (Spain)

The Guadalquivir is the fifth longest river in the Iberian peninsula and the second longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is 657 km long and drains an area of about 58,000 square km. It begins at Canada de las Fuentes in the Cazorla mountain range ,passes through Córdoba and Seville and ends at the fishing village of Bonanza, in Sanlucar de Barrameda, flowing into the Gulf of Cadiz, in the Atlantic Ocean. The marshy lowlands at the river's end are known as Las Marisma. It borders Donana National Park reserve.

The Guadalquivir river is the only great navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable to Seville, but in Roman times it was navigable to Córdoba.

Jordan (Israel)

The Jordan River or River Jordan (Hebrew: נהר is a 251 kilometres long river in West Asia flowing to the Dead Sea. Currently, the river serves as the eastern border of the State of Israel and of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In Christian tradition, Jesus was baptised in it by John the Baptist. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan takes its name from this river.

Amazon (Brazil)

The Amazon River in South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, about 7,050,000 square km, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow.

In its upper stretches, above the confluence of the Negro River, the Amazon is called Solimoes in Brazil however, in Peru, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, the river is generally called the Amazon downstream from the confluence of the Maranon and Ucayali rivers in Peru. The Ucayali-Apurímac river system is considered the main source of the Amazon.

Seine ( France)

The Seine is a 776 km long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine, 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen, 120 km from the sea. Over 60% of its length, as far as Burgundy, is negotiable by commercial riverboats and nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating; excursion boats offer sightseeing tours of the Rive Droite and Rive Gauche within the city of Paris.

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