A river is a big physique of water that flows over land. It flows in an extended channel, or passageway.
Rainfall supplies a lot of the water for rivers. Rivers additionally get their water from melting snow and ice, a spring, or an overflowing lake. As a river flows, it receives extra water from streams, different rivers, and rainfall. On the mouth, or finish, of a river, the water empties into a bigger river, a lake, or an ocean.
As a result of a river slows down at its mouth, the soil that the river carries alongside typically builds up there. The soil builds up into an space of land referred to as a delta. The delta stretches out into the lake or ocean the place the river empties.
Rivers are available all sizes. Some are so small that they dry up throughout scorching, dry seasons. Others are lengthy sufficient to circulate via many nations. The longest river is the Nile River in Africa. The second longest river is the Amazon River in South America. Though the Nile is longer, the Amazon carries extra water.
Rivers have been necessary to individuals for hundreds of years. They’ve been essential in transportation, carrying individuals or issues from one place to a different. They’ve additionally been essential in commerce, the enterprise of exchanging merchandise for cash or different issues. Individuals have constructed houses and villages alongside main rivers. For instance, the U.S. cities of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Saint Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans are all on the Mississippi River.
Rivers are additionally necessary to farming. The land round a river has excellent soil for rising crops. Farmers in dry areas use river water to water their land. They dig ditches to direct water from a river to the farmland.
Rivers are also an necessary power supply. The pressure of flowing water at waterfalls or different steep locations alongside a river can be utilized to run machines and to make electrical energy. At present, water helps make a lot of the world’s electrical energy.
Heavy rainfall or the quick melting of winter snow typically makes rivers overflow and causes floods. Flooding might wash away giant quantities of farm soil, destroy buildings, and hurt or kill individuals and animals.