Why does the Mississippi river run backwards?
462582
the missisippi doesnt normally but it has before. sometime in the early 1900's (i cant remember when) a large earthquake, i think in the mossouri region, actually shifted the earths crust enough for it to run backwards for a short time. this was isolated however and has only happened once in recorded history
1065217
If you are referring to the phenomenon of water actually flowing "uphill"- it is only a myth.\n\nMany have thought themselves to observe such a thing but it is only an optical illusion. Usually the result of objects just below the surface causing a questionable rippling effect that makes the water appear to flow the "wrong" way.\n\nIt's neat to watch though.
86362
Nothing. The river just flows from it. If it has multiple sources or headwaters, however, then the actual river flows from the largest or main source, and is connected to the other headwaters through tributaries.
976679
Actually, they're not EXACTLY the longest rivers on their continents.\nAmazon and Nile, yes.\nBut the longest river in North America is the Mississippi-Missouri system. To track the longest river, you have to start at the mouth of the Mississippi (near New Orleans), travel generally northward to a point north of St. Louis, at which point you turn left and follow the Missouri River to Montana (where various streams join to form the Missouri). So the Mississippi (which begins in Minnesota) is NOT the longest river in North America, but the SOUTHERN HALF of the Mississippi River is PART of the longest river in North America.
101888
because in the book, most of the time they are outside on the mississippi river
418494
Generally, most river systems were formed on what were originally geological faults.  These areas were naturally lower then the surrounding land mass and as the surface water built up it would naturally drain towards the lowest point.\n\nAs to flooding this is usually where an excess of surface water has developed and the inability of the natural drain to remove or drain off the surface waters.  In this case the waters draining to the river bed simply rises to the point that the "bottle neck" can be over come and the excess water levels are removed from the area.  Once this happens the normal drain capacity and the normal inflow are balanced and the river returns to it's normal river bed.\n\nDave Cooke
756081
Definitely backwards.\nPS  What's an apex mill?
121595
The Red River flows north into Hudson's Bay -- Rivers flow from higher ground to lower ground because of gravity.
51505
Because it's STILL being taught! How can you stop a creek from turning into a river, you have to slowly close off the source. Until then, it is something we have to overlook, practice against, and stick to our mission of being 1, not 2 or two.
21377
Imagine you have a drainage network of rivers, tributaries, and streams.  Now imagine one particular path of drainage, from head waters to delta.  If somehow (erosion, for example) somewhere along this path the water found a new shortcut to another part of the drainge system, then that water would have been "autocaptured".\n\nGet out a map of Illinois and the surrounding area.  The Illinos Waterway goes from Lake Michigan at Chicago to the Mississippi river at St. Louis.  The Mississipi river flows along the western border of Illinois.  Now look at the area between LaSalle, Ill. (on the Waterway) and Davenport, Iowa (by the Mississippi).  There is a set of streams in this area.  If they managed to link together and cause the Mississippi to be diverted near Davenport to LaSalle, then the Illinois Waterway would have captured the Mississippi.  Since these are part of the same drainage system, it would be called an autocapture.\n\nThe link below may explain better with illustrations. Look at pages 9 and 10:
63593
When it rains and the rain hits mountains or other materials it cannot sink through small trickles appear in the direction of the downslope. The trickles come together eventually and pour looser materials with them (such as sand or loose earth for example). Eventually they can form a big enough stream to be a river. When a river runs with high speed it tends to have a straighter path, but if it becomes wide and slow it starts bend like a serpentine.
694386
Assuming you aren't asking a trick question, I would say that the greatest river that flows south through the North Central Region of the United States is the Mississippi. Another candidate would be the Missouri, if your idea of North Central is a little further west.
823827
the alphabet backwards
997299
It's all relative. Easiest way to see the answer to this problem is to first imagine the river and log stationary. Assuming the boat keeps the same speed S, he travels an hour and then turns around and takes an hour to get back(a total of 2hrs). If the river/log has some speed v then when he travels away from the log he has speed S+v (with current) but since the log has speed v he travels at speed S away from the log (same as the stationary case) and on the way back has speed S-v (against current) and the log has speed v  and so he travels at speed v+S-v = S towards the log. So it is the same as the stationary case: one hr out and one hr back = 2hr.
307686
If you think about it, the "source" of a river is not a real thing; It's just a single spot in the water cycle. Rain falls, collects, runs into streams, runs into rivers, run to a lake or an ocean, evapourates into clouds, and goes round again.  You could argue that anywhere in this cycle is a starting point, or nowhere.  Gravity & evapouration are driving this cycle.  In the same way, winds are just air moving from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure. What causes these differences in pressure is what starts the winds a-blowing.  Some of the factors involved are temperature changes in the oceans, and the friction of the atmosphere against the earth as it turns.
982093
Also called "misfit river"--river is much smaller than expected for the width of its valleys--very common in areas that were once glaciated.  \nIn the United States and Canada, several rivers are much smaller now  than when they  received vast outflow of water from glacial melts during the Ice Ages when there were vast continental glaciers covering Canada and the Great Lakes area. So, during Pleistocene time, the river systems cut wide valleys that seem not to "fit" the current volume of water flowing through the rivers. \nMinnesota River: "Some 9,000 to 12,000 years ago, the Glacial River Warren flowed with great volumes of meltwater from the southern end of the Glacial Lake Agassiz. Those icy currents carved the wide, trough-like, loam-covered valley of the Minnesota River that we see today."\nhttp://www.environmentaleducationohio.org/Biosphere/Case%20Studies/minnesota.html\nMilk River: "Most of the canyon cutting took place when virtually all of the runoff from southwestern Alberta was being diverted into the Milk River as a result of blockage by ice of drainage to the northeast. With recession of the Laurentide glacier out of the region and opening of a route around the Cypress Hills, evolution of the modern South Saskatchewan drainage began, waters that previously were feeding the Milk River became incorporated into the Hudson Bay catchment basin" (Beaty, 1975)." http://www.uleth.ca/vft/milkriver/milk_river.html\nIllinois River:"the old valley is exceptionally wide for the size of the new river. After the last glacier retreat ed, the Illinois permanently shrank to a much smaller river, fed only by rainfall and seepage from underground aquifers. The pulse of the river changed. In years with average rainfall, backwater lakes rose and expanded, temporary ponds developed, and grass lands became marshes in late winter and early spring. The water then drained out slowly; by midsummer the river flowed only in the main channel and much of the floodplain was dry again. "\nhttp://dnr.state.il.us/orep/c2000/assessments/lower_sangamon/page4.htm.\nUpper Mississippi River.\n\nYou can imagine drought, stream capture, and similar phenomenon causing a decline in flow.
234240
Because if it went counterclockwise time would be going in reverse? :)