river

Introduction
Importance of rivers
- Significance in early human settlements
- Significance to trade, agriculture, and industry
- Environmental problems attendant on river use
Distribution of rivers in nature
- World’s largest rivers
- Principles governing distribution and flow
  - Variation of stream regime
  - Determining factors
Drainage patterns
- Horton’s laws of drainage composition
- Morphometry of drainage networks
  - Relation of morphometric parameters and river flow
  - Evolution of drainage systems
Geometry of river systems
- Hydraulic geometry
- River channel patterns
  - Straight channels
  - Meandering channels
  - Braided channels
- Waterfalls
  - World distribution of waterfalls
    - High plateaus
    - Fall lines
    - Glaciated mountains
  - Types of waterfalls
    - Falls attributable to discordance of river profile
    - Falls attributable to differential erosion
    - Falls attributable to constructional processes
  - Development of waterfalls
Streamflow and sediment yield
- Peak discharge and flooding
- Sediment yield and sediment load
  - Measurement of the load
  - Sources of sediment and nature of deposition
    - Erosion in drainage basins
    - Environments of deposition
  - Factors that influence sediment yield
    - Short-term variations
    - Long-term or average sediment yield
  - Geomorphic variables
Rivers as agents of landscape evolution
- Valleys and canyons
  - Valley evolution
  - Formation of canyons and gorges
- Floodplains
  - Floodplain deposits, origins, and features
  - Time and the floodplain system
- River terraces
  - Origin of river terraces
  - Terraces and geomorphic history
- Alluvial fans
  - Size, morphology, and surface characteristics
  - Fan deposits and depositional processes
  - Economic significance
- Deltas
  - Classification of deltas
  - Morphology of deltas
  - Deposits and stratigraphy
  - Deltas and time
- Estuaries
  - Origin and classification
  - Sedimentation in estuaries
The river system through time
- Drainage diversion by stream capture
- Non-fluvial invasion and deposition
- Effects of climatic change

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images, Videos & Interactives

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Three Gorges Dam

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At a Glance

Danube River

Luxor, Egypt: feluccas on Nile River — Luxor, Egypt: feluccas on Nile River Feluccas on the Nile River near Luxor in Upper Egypt.

river

hydrology

Written by

Dale F. RitterAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 8, 2026 •History

river, (ultimately from Latin ripa, “bank”), any natural stream of water that flows in a channel with defined banks . Modern usage includes rivers that are multichanneled, intermittent, or ephemeral in flow and channels that are practically bankless. The concept of channeled surface flow, however, remains central to the definition. The word stream (derived ultimately from the Indo-European root srou-) emphasizes the fact of flow; as a noun, it is synonymous with river and is...

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