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A river flows in a channel. The channel's bottom is called a bed, and the sides of the river are called banks.
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A tributary is a river or stream that feeds another river.
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Some rivers are fed from underground water sources that are released on the surface. These underground water sources are called springs.
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The longest river in the world is the Nile. The Amazon River in South America is the second longest river in the world at 4000 miles.
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The Missouri River is the longest river in the United States at approximately 2340 miles. The Missouri River combines with the Mississippi River, and together they make up the longest North American river system of 3902 miles (still shorter than the Nile and Amazon rivers).
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The most polluted rivers on earth include the Indus River, the Yangtze River, and the Ganges River.
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Throughout history the land along rivers have been popular sites for locating cities because they can supply water for many purposes such as food, drinking, irrigation, recreation and transportation. They are even used for creating energy today.
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Some of the longest rivers in the world are: the Nile, the Amazon, the Yangtze, the Mississippi River System, Yenesei River, Yellow River, the Ob, and the Parana.
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Rivers are often used for recreational activities such as swimming, sailing, rafting, canoeing, fishing, water skiing, and kayaking.
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The largest drainage basin in the world is the Amazon River's basin. It drains an area of 3,817,704 square miles.
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Almost half of the water on the planet is drained into the Atlantic Ocean.
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At the point where freshwater from a river meets the salt water from an ocean or sea the two types of water mix. This water is called brackish water. Only certain types of fish and plants can live in this water.
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A river that only flows at certain times of the year is called an intermittent river.
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Subterranean rivers flow underneath the ground in caverns or in caves.
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Rivers around the world are home to a large variety of plants and animals and support entire ecosystems.
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Rivers can be used to create electricity. An early method of harvesting energy from a river was a watermill. Today hydroelectric plants create energy for use by billions around the world.
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