Explain me, please, how do rivers take shape ?
599546
water always follow the less resistance route...
261598
They restrict the width of where the water can go. The narrower the area, the faster the flow.
309881
Traditionally river systems have been classified according to their stage of development as young, mature, or old. The young river is marked by a steepsided valley, steep gradients, and irregularities in the bed; the mature river by a valley with a wide floor and flaring sides, by advanced headward erosion by tributaries, and by a more smoothly graded bed; and the old river by a course graded to base level and running through a peneplain, or broad flat area. The age classification of rivers is diminishing in popularity now that quantitative studies of river behavior are more common.
115181
Heat from the sun that warms water in the Oceans, rivers,and lakes. The water evaporates goes up inot the clouds, evaporated watre dropplets cling to dust particles in the atmoshpere, These become clouds, and as soon as enough water is clinging to one drop it beginn, rivers to rain, as if the clouds are to heavy to hold anymore. If it is cold then it will snow. This falls to the ground and (if snow melts) runs into the ocean rivers and lakes. REpeat Process with heat from the sun. ^^
187858
Here is a website taken from a book titled "California Rivers and Streams" that does an excellent job of explaining river channel morphology. \nhttp://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/6664/6664.ch04.html\n\nIt discusses and explains channel cross sections, channel patterns of both single and multichannel rivers, channel patterns in deltas, and includes both diagrams and a list of references. The book is an excellent resource even if you are not specifically interested in California Rivers.
177913
water and any proximity of the water. in early stages, as larvae, they transform in water.
71535
No. Rivers have a number of characteristics common at different stages of their development. These are seen from their source down to the river mouth and are recognisable landforms and topographic features of the river valley, channel and adjacent flood plain. Such characteristics are divided into the stages of: young, mature and old. Meanders are characteristics of the old stage.
324148
They don't hold water that is why they are called rivers - the water flows out.
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
307714
because weathering breaks down rocks     in time it will bring down mountains      weatheing makes streams    plants use stream water    weathering makes rivers   and if not makes them it makes them bigger wich makes water more conveinient   and in old times rivers were the main and/or only way for travel to great distances and trade.    and thats just a tiny little detail me brother 11 yr old brother just thought of
74846
A delta is the mouth of a river where it flows into an ocean, sea, or lake, building outwards (as a deltaic deposit) from sediment carried by the river and deposited as the water current is dissipated. Deltaic deposits of larger, heavily-laden rivers are characterised by the river channel dividing into multiple streams (distributaries), these divide and come together again to form a maze of active and inactive channels. A related notion is estuary, which is another type of the river mouth.\n\n------\n\nAn alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain.
600189
Water (rain, snow, dew, ...) which ends up higher than sea level will flow toward the sea if there is any possible path. Since even a mountainous 'bowl' is likely to have a porous bottom, or to fill enough to find an outlet, there will almost always be a flow to lower levels. \n\nFlowing water is not a neglibible force. It will, over geologic time move, dissolve, pulverize, and remove material. Freeze/thaw cycles contribute more than a bit; the Old Stone Face in new Hampshire in N America has recently fallen (literally) to this. Some of that material will be dropped downstream, filling in an existing channel. Spring floods (in places in which snow and ice accumulate on high ground) will provide an annual increase in this erosion, and if they break over channel banks, will accelerate the deposition process (eg, the Nile floods until the installation of dams to stop them). \n\nOver geologic time, a stream (or river) will fill channels repeatedly and will find new flow paths after doing so. What with dumping material from higher levels, and doing it in channels here and there across the gap between highlands, there will be a gradual acretion of soil in that gap. \n\nEventually, the flowing water, combined on occasion with wind and plant and animal soil processing (earthworms, for instance), there will be a more or less level filiing of the gap between highlands, with water flowing across it on the way to the sea. \n\nThat space, with a history more or less as sketched is a valley. Tehy can be narrow (a kilometer or less) or wide (several hundred kilometes). In fact, they can be so wide that it's not possible for a human to see both highlands between which the water flows at the same time. Valleys can also be very long if the highlands are arranged to permit. Consider the Nile, the Danube, the Volga, the Mississippi, or the Ganges. \n\nIn short, highlands erode, flatten out, and fill in the gaps between them. This can be seen in Britain (whose hills and mountains wer once higher) and in the North American Appalacians (whcih were once very very impressively tall). The N American Rockies, S American Andes, and Asian Himalyas are examples of the early stages in this process. Some millions of years hence, all three of these mountain ranges will be much lower and rounder.
252385
Wow! At last I found a good question & that too with a sensible asker who is wiling to do the research part. Here is my answer just for you-\n\nIn case of a flood, the flow of river is most of the times "turbulent". Do a Google search on "turbulence"+"fluids". Also search for "Mechanics of fluids".\n\nBut, the force in case of turbulent motion is pretty complicated so, I'll explain it in case of a slower speed of flood when the flow is "streamline" i.e. when the flow is not irregular.\n\nWhile flowing, the magnitudes of the velocities of streamliness are inversely proportional to the spacing between two streamlines in a plane. So, the narrower the hole is, more speedily the water will pass from it & thus, would exert more force.\n\nNow, try and do a Google search on these topics-\n1- Bernoulli's Principle\n\n2- Torricelli's Law of Efflux\n\nThose laws will help you with your report a lot.
507135
Sorry, some rivers run raging wild and others just kinda flow along. He's just going to have to go with the flow.\n\nTerry
680735
Oh! Deltas! Estauries are sunken river mouths. Good examples: China's Pearl River Delta, Argentina's La Plata, Maryland's Chesapeake Bay.\n\nBird's foot or digitate, that's where the river branches out at the mouth. Nile River Delta, the classic. Niger River Delta, and Mississippi Delta. \n\nArcuate. Hmmmm...I'm guessing it's roundish, but...I'm going to have to look it up! Yes, it's arc shaped, and the Ganges Delta is an example. Darn it! The Nile is, too! Oooh! Nice photo illustrating the Nile Delta article! Oh the Niger delta is, too! Guess that leaves the Mississippi Delta as a bird's foot!
112400
*Pondering a long time on this* My visual description would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Escher_Waterfall.jpg\n\nScientifically, A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream (or river) flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a sudden break in elevation. Some waterfalls form in mountain environments where erosion is rapid and stream courses may be subject to sudden and catastrophic change. In such cases, the waterfall may not be the end product of many years of water action over a region, but rather the result of relatively sudden geological processes such as thrust faults or volcanic action. Waterfalls may also be artificial.\nGreat waterfall info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterfall\n\nMy personal description, absolutely lovely...
574299
Geographically speaking, a river which is said to be rejuvenated when the base level that it is flowing down to, is lowered. This can happen by uplift of land, or by a sea or lake that it is flowing into becoming lower. That makes the river suddenly start eroding its bed down faster as it gains in gravitational potential energy. That causes effects such as meanders cut down as gorges, steps where the river suddenly starts flowing faster, and terraces derived from old flood plains.\n\nOne example is the Nile, which was rejuvenated when the Mediterranean Sea dried up in the late Miocene. Its base level dropped from sea level to over 2 miles below sea level. It cut its bed down to several hundred feet below sea level at Aswan and 8000 feet below sea level at Cairo. After the Mediterranean re-flooded, those gorges gradually filled with silt.