Rivers

All rivers start at the highest point in an area. As the river flows downstream, it gains more water from other streams, rivers, springs, added rainfall, and other water sources.

River Name Location Length (miles approx) Length (km approx) Drainage Area(sq miles) Flow at mouth(cubic m per second) Nile Africa 4,160 6,695 1,170,000 1,584 Amazon South America 4,000 6,400 2,270,000 180,000 Yangtze Asia (China) 3,900 6,240 698,000 35,000 Mississippi USA 3,870 6,192 1,247,000 17,545 Ob Asia (Russia) 3,459 5,534 1,154,000 12,600 Yenisei/Angara Asia (Russia) 3,440 5,504 996,000 19,600 Yellow River Asia (China) 3,440 5,504 290,000 1,365 Congo Africa (Zaire) 2,900 4,640 1,440,000 42,000 Amur Asia 2,800 4,480 730,000 12,500 Parana Uruguay 2,795 4,472 1,197,000 19,500 Lena Asia (Russia) 2,700 4,320 961,000 16,400 Mackenzie North America 2,640 4,224 697,000 7,500 Niger Africa 2,600 4,160 850,000 5,700 Mekong Asia 2,500 4,000 750,000 15,900 Volga Europe 2,300 3,680 533,000 8,000 Murray-Darling Australia 2,300 3,680 410,000 391 Rio-Grande USA 1,885 3,016 310,000 82

Rivers for Kids

Got a project or test on rivers, well we’re here to help! Maybe you’re just keen to find out all about rivers. Well we’ve got it all, so read on!

What is a River?

All rivers start at the highest point in an area. As it flows downstream, it keeps on getting more and more water from other streams, rivers, springs, rainfall and other sources of water. So it actually gets bigger along the way.A river is mostly freshwater that flows across the surface of the land, normally winding its way to the sea.There is something called a river channel. All rivers flow in channels and the bottom on the channel is the bed, and the sides are called the banks.How are Rivers Formed?When one stream meets another, they join together. The smaller stream is called a tributary. It takes lots and lots of tributaries to form a river.A river grows larger as they collect more and more water from these tributaries.