What is the difference between a tributary and an estuary

The larger, or parent, river is called the mainstem. At any point where two rivers meet, one will be somewhat straighter, and one will approach at an angle, even an oblique one. Johns River and the Nile River are the only two rivers in the world that flow north. The storm surge ahead of Hurricane Isaac made the Mississippi River run backwards for 24 hours.

Every week our guests swim in the Nile without any problems or cause for concern. The currents ensure that you are swimming in clean, non-stagnant water. In short, it is an area where tides flow in and out, and the river becomes wider and slowly converges the sea. It meanders to meet the sea. It may also be called as bay, lagoon and slough. Depending upon the location and climate, the size and shape of the estuary may differ.

In addition to this, the water level and salinity varies with tides. Delta is defined as the landform, created out of deposition of sand, clay and slit, brought by the river, as the river enters another river, sea, ocean, lake, etc.

It occurs where the river joins a larger watercourse whose flow of water is slow and is not able to transport the supplied sediment and leaves it at the river mouth which results in the formation of the delta.

Delta is build up by continuous deposition of sediments, which makes the water shallow, causing the landform to rise above the sea level. A delta is divided into four parts, i. While an estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water, where river meets the ocean, the delta is a low-lying plain, formed by the accumulation of alluvium.

There is four major type of estuaries which are drowned river valley estuary, bar-built estuary, fjord estuary and tectonic estuary. On the contrary, various types of delta include wave-dominated delta, tide-dominated delta, Gilbert delta, tidal-freshwater delta, inland delta and mega-delta. These channels are known as distributaries. How do distributaries form? River channels near the mouth of a river become choked filled in with sediments.

At some point the river breaks out another channel to the ocean or lake. When this happens several times, a distributary system develops. In terms of length, catchment area and discharge, the Godavari is the largest in peninsular India, and had been dubbed as the Dakshina Ganga Ganges of the South. It is km long that makes it the second-largest river of India after Ganga km.

Gaula or locally more popular as Gola is a small seasonal river near Nainital. It originates near Sattal, fed by many springs which come to life during monsoon and ends in Ramganga which further opens in Ganga thereby travelling around km in length. A large number of tributaries like Alaknanda, Ramganga, Kali, Yamuna, Gomti, Ghagra, Gandak, Kosi and Sone, draining 11 states of the country join River Ganga at different confluence points during its journey. The high denudation rate, particularly in the Brahmaputra, is attributable to high relief and heavy rainfall.

Sutlej is not a tributary of the Ganga. It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River. The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to irrigation canals in India.

It flows some 1, miles 2, km from its source in the Himalayas to its confluence with the Ganges Ganga River, after which the mingled waters of the two rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal.

Brahmaputra River.