Did you Know? List of Interesting Facts about Rivers

Facts are statements which are held to be true and often contrasted with opinions and beliefs. Our unusual and interesting facts about Rivers, trivia and information, including some useful statistics will fascinate everyone from kids and children to adults. Interesting Facts about Rivers are as follows:

• Fact 1 - Definition: A river is a natural course of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. Rivers drains surplus water from a drainage basin.
• Fact 2 - All rivers start at the highest point in an area called the source. As it flows downstream, it gains more water from other streams, rivers, springs, rainfall, and other water sources.
• Fact 3 - Rivers have been a source of food since pre-history
• Fact 4 - The riverbed is the ground at the bottom of rivers - often made up of sand and stones
• Fact 5 - The gravel and sand, generated and moved by rivers are extensively used in construction
• Fact 6 - A Confluence is where two rivers meet
• Fact 7 - Downstream is the direction that rivers flow - towards the mouth of rivers
• Fact 8 - A Drainage Basin is the area of land that is drained by a river and its tributaries. The boundary of a river basin is called the watershed.
• Fact 9 - An Estuary occurs near or at the mouth of rivers, where the tide meets the current and the fresh and salt waters mix.
• Fact 10 - Flooding occurs when rivers are filled with too much water. The water breaks through the river banks and spreads over the surrounding land.
• Fact 11 - The flood plain is the flat land of the river valley close to the river banks. The floodplain is usually found in the lower course of a river. It is a fertile area of land, used for agriculture and growing crops.
• Fact 12 - The Mouth is the end of the river
• Fact 13 - Rapids are fast-flowing stretches of water formed where the river surface breaks up into waves because rocks are near to the surface.
• Fact 14 - Sediment is the material that has been carried by rivers or the sea and then deposited. Sediment may be called alluvium if it deposited on the bed or a river.
• Fact 15 - Rivers are divided into three primary zones: the crenon, rhithron and potamon
  • The crenon is the uppermost zone at the source of rivers
  • The rhithron is the upstream portion of rivers
  • The potamon is the downstream stretch of rivers
• Fact 16 - A watershed is the term given to the land that drains water into a particular stream, lake, or river.
• Fact 17 - A waterfall is a sudden drop in a river as it flows over a rock cliff.
• Fact 18 - The River Nile is the longest river in the world. It measures 6,695 kilometres from its source in Burundi to its delta on the Mediterranean Sea.
• Fact 19 - The Amazon River is the second longest river in the World approximately 6400 kilometres (4000 miles)
• Fact 20 - The world's shortest river is the Roe River which is 200 feet (61 meters) long and flows between Giant Springs and the Missouri River near Great Falls, Montana.
• Fact 21 - The longest river of Europe is the River Volga which flows through Russia into the Caspian Sea. The second longest is the Danube, flows west to east before entering the Black Sea.
• Fact 22 - The Chang Jiang is the longest river in China and in Asia and flows east for a distance of 6300 km before it drains into the Yellow Sea.
• Fact 23 - The 8 largest rivers in the U.S., based on volume, are (in descending order) the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, Ohio, Columbia, Yukon, Missouri, Tennessee and the Mobile.
• Fact 24 - A dam is a barrier built for holding back water or diverting the flow of water. 600,000 miles of our rivers lie behind an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 dams
• Fact 25 - 1.2 Billion people world-wide who do not have access to clean water