What is the difference between a tributary and a river

This creek has a distributary that splits into two streams: one that flows to the Atlantic Ocean and one that flows to the Pacific Ocean. World View. The process in which a distributary branches off from a river is called bifurcation. More From Reference. What Are Genes? Genetics for All Ages. What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Nylon? The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited. Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing. Caryl-Sue, National Geographic Society.

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If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives. A watershed, also called a drainage basin or catchment, is an area drained by a river and its tributaries. Differing in size and shape, watersheds can encompass a small stream or span thousands of miles like the Mississippi River watershed.

As water flows over and through the landscape, it transports materials like plastics, and often times, pollutants, moving them downstream and ultimately to the ocean.

Teach your students how water moves through a watershed with these resources. A habitat is an environment where an organism lives throughout the year or for shorter periods of time to find a mate. The habitat contains all an animal needs to survive such as food and shelter. A microhabitat is a small area which differs somehow from the surrounding habitat.

Its unique conditions may be home to unique species that may not be found in the larger region. Unfortunately, some habitats are threatened by pollution, extreme weather, or deforestation. This puts many of the species that live there in danger and is causing many populations to decline. Explore different types of habitats and microhabitats with this curated collection of classroom resources.

Freshwater is a precious resource on the Earth's surface. It is also home to many diverse fish, plant, and crustacean species. The habitats that freshwater ecosystems provide consist of lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, streams, and springs. Use these classroom resources to help students explore and learn about these places.

Of that, only about 1. Most of our drinking water comes from rivers and streams. This water is the lifeline of ecosystems around the world. A new chapter of river mapping reveals the true intricacies of river flow as headwaters feed consecutively larger tributaries that surrender their water to the main stream. Most rivers are now yoked with dams and reservoirs, but on this map, rivers run free. Use these maps and infographic to teach students about water issues in the Klamath River watershed.

The surrounding river basin has a population of more than four hundred million people. Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Skip to content. Twitter Facebook Pinterest Google Classroom. Encyclopedic Entry Vocabulary. A tributary is a freshwater stream that feeds into a larger stream or river.

The larger, or parent, river is called the mainstem. The point where a tributary meets the mainstem is called the confluence. Tributaries, also called affluents, do not flow directly into the ocean. Most large rivers are formed from many tributaries. Each tributary drains a different watershed , carrying runoff and snowmelt from that area. Each tributary's watershed makes up the larger watershed of the mainstem.

The Missouri River's massive watershed, for example, is created by the watersheds of dozens of tributaries extending from the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada, through seven states in the Upper Midwest of the U. The Missouri, in turn, is the largest tributary of the Mississippi River, which it meets at a confluence in St. Louis, Missouri. The Mississippi River watershed is the fourth-largest in the world. A "left-bank tributary" or "right-bank tributary" indicates the side of the river a tributary enters.

When identifying a left-bank or right-bank tributary, a geographer looks downstream the direction the river is flowing. The Euphrates River, the longest river in southwestern Asia, stretches 2, kilometers 1, miles.