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The Amazon River (UK: / ˈ æ m ə z ən /, US: / ˈ æ m ə z ɒ n /; Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the longest or second-longest river system in the world, a title which is disputed with the Nile. [3] [19] [n 2]
Total length of waterways per country in kilometers. This is a list of waterways, defined as navigable rivers, canals, estuaries, lakes, or firths.In practice, and depending on the language, the term "waterway" covers maritime or inland transport routes, as suggested by "way".
It can be thought of as a list of the biggest rivers on Earth, measured by a specific metric. For context, the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool is 2,500 m 3 (88,000 cu ft). The average flow rate at the mouth of the Amazon is sufficient to fill more than 83 such pools each second.
Most water in Earth's atmosphere and crust comes from saline seawater, while fresh water accounts for nearly 1% of the total. The vast bulk of the water on Earth is saline or salt water, with an average salinity of 35‰ (or 3.5%, roughly equivalent to 34 grams of salts in 1 kg of seawater), though this varies slightly according to the amount of runoff received from surrounding land.
The headwater of a river or stream is the point on each of its tributaries upstream from its mouth or estuary into a lake, sea, or confluence with another river. Each headwater is considered one of the river's sources, as it is the place where surface runoffs from rainwater, meltwater, or spring water begin accumulating into a more substantial ...
The Amazon River is the largest river in the world in terms of its flow rate. In addition, it is the second longest river, measuring 6,575 km (4,086 mi) [3] from its source to the mouth of the Atlantic Ocean [4] after the Nile River which is considered to be the longest river in the world (see Source of the Nile River), although there is some dispute.
There are also substantial areas of the world that do not "drain" in the commonly understood sense. In polar deserts , much of the snowfall sublimates directly into the air and does not melt into flowing water, while in tropical deserts precipitation may evaporate before joining any substantial water course.
Water first enters rivers through precipitation, whether from rainfall, the runoff of water down a slope, the melting of glaciers or snow, or seepage from aquifers beneath the surface of the Earth. Rivers flow in channeled watercourses and merge in confluences to form drainage basins, areas where surface water eventually flows to a common ...