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Dendritic drainage: the Yarlung Tsangpo River, Tibet, seen from space: snow cover has melted in the valley system. In geomorphology, drainage systems, also known as river systems, are the patterns formed by the streams, rivers, and lakes in a particular drainage basin. They are governed by the topography of land, whether a particular region is ...
This stream operating together with its environment can be thought of as forming a river ecosystem. River ecosystems are flowing waters that drain the landscape, and include the biotic (living) interactions amongst plants, animals and micro-organisms, as well as abiotic (nonliving) physical and chemical interactions of its many parts.
Rivers rarely run in a straight line, instead, they bend or meander; the locations of a river's banks can change frequently. Rivers get their alluvium from erosion, which carves rock into canyons and valleys. Rivers have sustained human and animal life for millennia, including the first human civilizations.
This glossary of geography terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in geography and related fields, including Earth science, oceanography, cartography, and human geography, as well as those describing spatial dimension, topographical features, natural resources, and the collection, analysis, and visualization of geographic ...
The relationship between humans and rivers, which represent freshwater environments, is complicated. Rivers serve primarily as a freshwater resource and as sinks for domestic and industrial waste water. The consequences from this usage occur from diverse activities and root themselves in complex, interdisciplinary systems and practices. [4]
Logo of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act into law, October 2, 1968. The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (Public Law 90-542 [1]), enacted by the U.S. Congress to preserve certain rivers with outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values in a ...
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. [2] In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are used to characterize a riparian zone. The word riparian is derived from Latin ripa, meaning "river bank". [3]
A definition given by the state of Montana agrees, stating that a river source is never a confluence but is "in a location that is the farthest, along water miles, from where that river ends." [3] Under this definition, neither a lake (excepting lakes with no inflows) nor a confluence of tributaries can be a true river source, though both often ...