Rivers
The water in a river is usually confined to a channel, made up of a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers there is also a wider flood-plain shaped by flood-waters over-topping the channel. Flood plains may be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel.
The flora and fauna of rivers have developed to utilise the very wide range of aquatic habitats available from torrential waterfalls through to lowland mires Although many organisms are restricted to the fresh-water in rivers, some, such as Salmon and Hilsa have adapted to be able to survive both in rivers and in the sea.
Because rivers are approximately fractal in nature it is difficult to measure the length of a river. The more precise the measurement, the longer the river will seem. Also, it is difficult to determine where a river begins or ends, as very often, upstream rivers are formed by seasonal streams, swamps, or changing lakes. |
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Rivers
