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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 ...
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]
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 ...
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.
Rain falling over a drainage basin in Scotland.Understanding the cycling of water into, through, and out of catchments is a key element of hydrology. Hydrology (from Ancient Greek ὕδωρ (húdōr) 'water' and -λογία () 'study of') is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and ...
The five largest river basins (by area), from largest to smallest, are those of the Amazon (7 million km 2), the Congo (4 million km 2), the Nile (3.4 million km 2), the Mississippi (3.22 million km 2), and the Río de la Plata (3.17 million km 2). The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganges, and Congo ...
Major divides separating rivers that drain to different seas or oceans are continental divides. The term height of land is used in Canada and the United States to refer to a drainage divide. [ 2 ] It is frequently used in border descriptions, which are set according to the "doctrine of natural boundaries ". [ 3 ]
Stream capture by headward erosion, leaving a wind gap. Stream capture, river capture, river piracy or stream piracy is a geomorphological phenomenon occurring when a stream or river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows down to the bed of a neighbouring stream.