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Table of Contents
A river is a body of water that resembles a ribbon and moves downward under the influence of gravity. Unlike a lake, a river is not an enclosed body of water. A river can be wide and deep enough to be navigable by ships and boats, or only shallow enough to wade across.
See the fact file below for more information on Rivers, or you can download our 33-page Rivers worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
Characteristics of Rivers
- A stream, creek, or brook is a flowing body of water smaller than a river.
- Some rivers run continuously, while others only do so during specific seasons or when it has been pouring.
- Many thousands of miles of landscapes can be found along the longest rivers. Rivers’ ability to erode rock can create natural wonders like the Grand Canyon.
- Every river has a beginning place where the water flow starts. We refer to this source as headwater. The headwater may originate from mountain snowmelt or rainfall but may also bubble up from the Earth or form at a lake or large pond’s edge.
- A river’s mouth is where the water pours into an enormous body of water, such as a lake or the ocean.
- Rivers may travel through wetlands along the way, where vegetation filters out contaminants and slows the water down.
Importance of a River
- Water: Rivers transport water and nutrients to all parts of the planet.
- They serve as surface water drainage routes, a crucial role in the water cycle.
- Rivers drain nearly 75% of the land on Earth.
- Habitat: By rivers, many uncommon plants and trees flourish.
- On the banks of the river, ducks, voles, otters, and beavers live. Along the river banks, bulrushes and other plants like reeds thrive.
- Many of the Earth’s creatures find ideal habitats and nourishment in rivers.
- The river is a source of food and water for other creatures.
- Birds like kingfishers consume small fish from the river. Elephants, lions, and antelopes travel to rivers in Africa to drink water. Bears and other animals fish from rivers.
- Wildlife in river deltas includes a wide variety of animals. The delta is a habitat and food source for insects, animals, and birds.
- Transportation: Rivers offer pathways for exploration, trade, and leisure travel.
- Farming: Fertile soils are found in plains and river valleys.
- Farmers in arid areas use water transported by irrigation ditches from adjacent rivers to irrigate their farms.
- Energy: Rivers are a significant source of energy. Early factories, shops, and mills were constructed next to swift-moving rivers so that water could be used to power machinery.
- Humans: People use rivers for various purposes, including irrigation of agricultural land, drinking water supply, transportation, the generation of energy by hydroelectric dams, and recreation activities like boating and swimming.
Three Main Courses of River
- Upper Course: A river in the hilly route traverses a high slope. As a result, its water rushes down quickly. In such a situation, the water can thoroughly erode the riverbed and carry or pool down large rocks and pebbles.
- The primary functions of a river in its upper course are conveyance and erosion.
- In this stage, a river has a long, narrow channel. In addition, some of the rocks that rivers flow over are tough, while others are soft.
- This causes the river channel to be uneven. Rapids, cataracts, and falls can be found along its path.
- Here, the deep river valley has a V-shaped shape with steep sides. At this point, both erosion and transportation are occurring.
- The river occasionally passes through incredibly tough rocks. In that situation, the river’s two sides become so steep that they nearly touch one another.
- The rock formation is called Gorge. There are many gorges on the higher courses of the Brahmaputra, Indus, and Ganges.
- Once more, a river’s bed becomes extremely deep, and its two sides are vertical when it travels across an arid desert.
- The river valley has an I shape rather than a V shape.
- Middle Course: A river’s middle course begins as it exits the hilly region and enters a plain.
- On a plain, the river bed has less slope. As a result, the current moves slower than it was on the upper course.
- Numerous tributaries feed the river, increasing its water volume.
- The slope of the river bed gets much less as you move down the introductory course. Additionally, the current pace slows down. It is currently too advanced to erode or transfer.
- This area receives the additional sediments that the river carries during floods.
- The water moves slowly, making it unable to transfer much material or degrade the bed very much. However, the river’s banks erode and grow wider as the water level rises.
- The river’s path frequently varies and becomes meandering, and the channel can occasionally become obstructed. A meander is a twisting waterway like this.
- Lower Course: The lower course refers to the final stretch of a river close to its mouth. In this area, the river bed’s gradient is not particularly steep.
- Also, the current moves very slowly. At this point, a river’s principal activity is deposition. The river deposits the silt and other stuff it has brought.
- New branch channels are dug out, and the river channel is frequently blocked.
- At a river’s mouth, branching happens in this manner. The river is referred to as braided, and these branching channels are referred to as distributaries.
- The river’s flow nearly stops as it enters the sea. The river’s mouth receives the sediment that the water carries. The resulting silt deposit eventually shapes a triangle island near the river’s mouth. Delta is the name for this.
- A delta cannot form when tidal waves and ocean currents wash away the river’s mouth. An estuary is a river’s open mouth.
Features of River
- Upper Courses – V-shaped valleys: The river cuts fast into its bed as it flows. Vertical erosion is the name given to this phenomenon. It creates the deep, steep-sided valleys known as “V-shaped valleys.”
- Interlocking spurs: The perimeter of the bends is where most erosion occurs as the river meanders around obstructions. Vertical erosion also occurs concurrently.
- As a result, ridges of high ground that protrude toward the river get smaller as they get closer.
- Interlocking spurs are the names given to these ridges that run parallel to the river on either side.
- Waterfalls: A waterfall is created when a river flows vertically over a rocky cliff.
- Waterfalls can develop in many ways, including when a river drops down the edge of a plateau. Waterfalls frequently develop when a river crosses a band of hard rock or resistant rock.
- Gorges: A gorge is a narrow, steep-sided formation left behind as a waterfall retreats upstream.
- There are several methods for creating gorges. The surrounding ground was elevated, creating the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River in the United States.
- Rapids: A river runs down a steep slope at rapids quite quickly. Rough rocks are visible at the surface of the riverbed.
- The river bed may be uneven due to bands of alternate hard and soft rocks. Rapids are a region of turbulent water caused by these circumstances.
- Middle: River cliffs and slip-off slopes: The outside banks of a river’s meander are carved as it flows. Thus, river cliffs are produced. Deposition occurs inside the meander, where the water moves more slowly.
- A slip-off slope is created as a result, and it is a mild slope.
- Lower Courses: Flood Plain: The alluvium is deposited on the valley floor in a river’s middle and lower courses, primarily where the river floods.
- The resultant broad, level deposits are referred to as the river’s floodplain.
- The width of a floodplain might range from a few hundred meters to several kilometers.
- Levees: A river’s floodplain receives material as it floods. Near the river, the heaviest debris is left behind. Levees, or natural embankments, are built alongside the river after several floods.
- Oxbow lakes: These small crescent-shaped lakes are created when a river abandons a meander.
- When the river is flooded, this neck is broken, and the river begins to flow in a shorter, more direct path.
- In some instances, a meander becomes so severe that only a little neck of land separates the two ends of it. Deposition occurs, shutting off the meander’s ends, and forming an oxbow lake.
- Braiding: This happens when a river splits into two or more channels across various distances. Bars are sedimentary islets that divide the channels.
- Braiding can happen when a river carries a heavy load or when its water volume changes quickly from season to season.
- Deltas: A river transports much material, which ends up in the ocean. If the circumstances are right, this silt may build up to the point where it rises above the sea’s surface.
- The term “delta” refers to the flat, alluvial region where a river empties into the sea.
- Over time, the sediment accumulation impedes the river’s flow, forcing it to divide into several distributaries.
Most Famous River in the World
- The Amazon River flows across South America‘s Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. It is the world’s largest river, with a discharge of 208,978 cubic meters per second (in terms of volume).
- It is also usually considered to be the world’s longest river, with a length of 6993 kilometers, albeit the method of measurement is controversial.
- The Amazon is also well-known for its diverse and rich ecosystem. The river and the coastlines along its banks are rich in valuable plant and animal species, many of which are found nowhere else.
- The Nile River is a substantial north-flowing river that traverses much of northern Africa on its way to the Mediterranean Sea.
- It flows through Egypt and Sudan, but it has three primary sources: the Blue Nile River, the White Nile, and the Atbara, all of which flow via Ethiopia and Uganda before reaching Sudan and South Sudan.
- Apart from its peculiar northward flow, the Nile is best known for its existence in the middle of a desert.
- Because Egypt and much of Sudan have a dry, desert, sandy landscape, the Nile River serves as the principal water source for all species in the region. It is the sole reason that some important cities could be created in the area, and it provided irrigation and the prospect of fertile land to ancient Egyptian civilizations.
- The Ganges River divides India and Bangladesh. The river is 2510 kilometers long and is a prominent landmark, but it is best known for its religious significance. The Ganges is considered the most sacred body of water in Hindu culture and religion. In mythology, the river represents the goddess Ganga, who was the daughter of Himalaya, the mountain god.
- Because of the river’s significance, cities and pilgrimage sites can be found along its banks, and people can be seen washing clothes, bathing, and burning funeral pyres on its banks. This one water supply is used and returned to by all parts of existence.
- Mississippi comes second as the longest river in North America, stretching approximately 3730 kilometers. This vast and meandering river travels through or borders ten states in the United States, namely Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.
- It is one of the most sustainable commercial water sources in the world, supplying electricity to a number of nearby communities. Its massive size also serves as a habitat for a wide range of species and a migratory route for many birds and fish.
Most Useful River in the United States
- There are numerous rivers in the United States, not just the Mississippi, and we will look at all of the essential American rivers in this post, but we will begin with the Mississippi, which is the longest.
- The Mississippi River is largely used for transportation, while recreational boats can be found on the river.
- The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and runs into the Gulf of California.
- This river stretches for 1,450 miles (2,333 kilometers). The water of this river has cut away canyons in the terrain over many thousands of years, including the famed Grand Canyon in Arizona.
- Unlike the Mississippi River, the Colorado River is used to generate energy rather than convey products.
- Along this river, there are around 30 water-powered electric power plants.
- The Columbia River is large and swiftly moving (the velocity of water is referred to as its ‘flow’). This river originates in the Canadian Rockies and flows south via Washington.
- The river also serves as a border between the American states of Washington and Oregon before it flows into the Pacific Ocean.
- The Columbia River is 1,152 miles (1,857 kilometers) long. The salmon runs on the Columbia River are well-known. Salmon has pink flesh and is a pink-colored fish.
- Salmon move upstream (against the flow of water) in the Columbia River every year to breed (deposit their eggs). Wild Columbia River salmon are among the best in the world.
- The Rio Grande begins in southern Colorado and runs south through the state of New Mexico. Before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, it creates a natural border between a portion of the state of Texas and the country of Mexico. The Rio Grande is 1,885 miles (3,034 kilometers) long.
- This river is not commonly referred to as the “Rio Grande River” since “Rio” means “river” in Spanish, and we don’t say “river” twice when referring to it. Unfortunately, due to cultivation and human waste, this river has gotten progressively polluted over time.
- There are other rivers in the United States, including the Ohio and Missouri Rivers, but the four rivers listed above are the most important in the country.
Rivers Worksheets
This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about Rivers across 33 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching kids about Rivers, which are bodies of water that resembles a ribbon and move downward under the influence of gravity.
Complete List of Included Worksheets
Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.
- River Facts
- River or Not
- Complete Me
- Stacks Collapse
- Impostor!!!
- Track Me Down
- Draw Knowledge
- Four Facts
- Your Answer is Valid
- How Do You See Me?
- Row Your Boat
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a river a river?
Carved and shaped by the unyielding force of gravity, a river is an ever-changing ribbon that flows downstream. Whether wide and deep or shallow enough to cross on foot – rivers are majestic marvels regardless of their size, while creeks, streams, and brooks serve as smaller tributaries winding across the land.
Why is a river important?
From supplying us with drinking water to hosting wildlife, rivers are an indispensable resource of immense significance for people everywhere. They give clean water, enable transportation, and provide irrigation services that aid food production. But even more remarkable is their ability to act as a shelter for various fish species – benefitting the ecosystem and humanity alike!
How is a river born?
From the top of a mountain, rivers form as small streams resulting from melting snow and ice or rainwater that run along the cracks and folds in land. As they move downhill, these little flows combine to become larger until it reaches an expanse large enough to be considered a river.
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Use With Any Curriculum
These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.