What is the largest river in the world. What is the largest river on Earth

Life on Earth is impossible without fresh water, the main supplier of which is the waterways. The largest rivers were originally the cradle of human civilization.

It is difficult to overestimate their importance, it is not for nothing that they are called the rivers of life. This and drinking water, and solving the food problem, farming, and obtaining electrical energy, without which it is impossible modern life on the planet, and, finally, transport links.

Let's take a look at the top five leaders - the world's greatest blue arteries.

The list of honor is headed by the Amazon - the heart of South America.

Until recently, this great river was considered only the second longest on the planet after the Nile. But, having taken the source of the Ucayali as the true starting point, scientists have now officially recognized the Amazon as the longest waterway in the world, the length of which is over 7000 km.

This river contains the largest volume of water in the world. Originating in the highlands of the Peruvian Andes, the flow reaches the Brazilian delta and is lost in the Atlantic Ocean. It absorbs the power of 40% of the waters of South America.

The largest river on the planet overflows during the rainy season so much that under its waters there are forests with an area of ​​the territory of England, and during a drought, tons of fish are isolated in the formed lagoons. This creates a predator's paradise.

There are a lot of caimans - reptiles of the crocodile family. There are several million of them thanks to the state program for the protection of caimans, and in fact only 30-40 years ago this species of crocodiles was on the verge of extinction.

In the depths of the blue artery, about 3000 species of fish live, of which only 2/3 are well studied. The legendary Amazonian inia, a species of river dolphin, is also found here. The length of this exotic animal reaches 3 meters, and its weight is 90 kg. The Amazonian inia's brain is 40% larger than that of a human. Animals are incredibly intelligent and naturally very playful. There are such dolphins of different shades - from light gray to pink. And although they are naturally blind, nature gave them special organs - sonars, with the help of which they unmistakably find food for themselves.

The Amazon crosses across all of South America: from the Peruvian headwaters to the Brazilian delta. The river basin is confused by thousands of tributaries flowing into the largest artery on earth. Although its glacial origins lie high in the Peruvian Andes, the history of the Amazon begins 1,800 km downstream, where the Ucayali and Marañon rivers meet. Only after their confluence in the jungles of Peru is the river called the Amazon.

About 4,000 km downstream dark clear waters the Rio Negru rivers flow into the muddy stream of the Amazon. 11 km of black and brown waters flow side-by-side before finally mixing together. With a width of more than 8 km and a depth of up to 100 m, in this place, the Amazon turns into a trade route along which goods from the heart of the jungle (forest, soybeans) can enter the open sea.

To its 240-kilometer delta, the waterway exits with such force that it repels salt water Atlantic Ocean 100 km from land. The power of its flow is incredible!

The waters of the Amazon dominate everything that surrounds its shores. And although it flows through one of the most remote regions of the planet, 7 million people live on its shores. Neither the inhabitants of abandoned villages nor the townspeople of bustling metropolises can control the power of the largest river, adapting to the rules of life that it dictates to them.

Up to several hundred meters deep and up to 40 km wide, the largest river is also the deepest in the world. Man still has not been able to curb this majestic and capricious river. From the source to the very mouth, not a single bridge crosses it, not a single dam slows down its flow.

During the rainy season, the volume of the water flow increases dramatically, the water level rises by 20 meters. And the area occupied by the river triples. It is these powerful fluctuations in the water level that make it impossible to conquer the Amazon.

The strength of its waters and the inaccessible terrain through which it flows, for many centuries protected the Amazon from harmful human intervention. Until recently, it was still believed that nothing threatens this virgin forests river basin. But the aggressive commercial activity of man, the development of land destroys the jungle and the protection they gave to the river is gradually disappearing. But the trees of the Amazon produce about 20% of the oxygen on Earth.

Today, the region's delicate ecological balance is on the brink of no return. The river itself, its flora and fauna, and the people living here are more vulnerable than ever.

Only thanks to this river, which has been considered sacred since antiquity, people can survive in the most difficult conditions of an arid climate and a shortage of fertile soils. After a spill, during the rainy season, the world's second longest waterway leaves behind fertile silt, allowing rice and other crops to be cultivated on its shores. The length of this fertile water stream is 6852 km, and the area of ​​its basin exceeds 3.3 million square meters. km.

A stream begins in the East African Plateau. It carries its waters from the south to the north of the African continent and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The river separates the Arabian Desert from the Libyan Desert. In different places, the width of the valley of life ranges from 1 km to 25 km.

95% of the country's population lives in the valley of this greatest river. The Blue Artery Delta is the most fertile area on Earth, with 3 harvests per year.

This greatest and deepest stream of Eurasia is the third in the world ranking of the largest rivers on the planet.

The length of the blue artery is 6.3 thousand km, and the area of ​​its basin is more than 1.8 million square meters. km. The river originates in the Tibetan plateau. Passing the Sino-Tibetan Mountains, the Yangtze flows into the Sichuan Basin. On this section of the route, the river is especially beautiful, its path passes through deep gorges, famous for their difficult passability. Thanks to fast flow, the world's largest hydroelectric power station, called the Three Gorges, has been built along this stretch of the route.

Further, the river makes its way along the southern part of the Great Plain of China. Its waters are replenished by four of the five largest lakes in China. Dividing into branches, at the mouth the water stream forms a delta with an area of ​​about 80 thousand square meters. km. The Yangtze flows into the Pacific Ocean.

Many bridges have been built across the Yangtze, but the Sutunsky one should be especially noted, which is the world's first longest cable-stayed structure. Its length is 8 km.

The Blue Artery Delta is home to alligators and paddlefish, the largest freshwater fish on the planet. Moreover, this is the only place on earth where alligators are found outside the United States of America. There are also many such industrial fish as carp, grass carp, silver carp.

The river has a yellowish color due to the numerous deposits from loess soils, which is why the Chinese called it the "Yellow River". The sea into which the river flows is also called Yellow.

The Yellow River is the fourth in the world list of the greatest rivers, its length is 5464 km, and the area of ​​the water basin is 700 thousand square meters. km.

The waterway originates in the mountains of Tibet. Further, its path passes along the marshy plain of Sin-Su-Hai, where the river replenishes its waters and merges with lakes Tsarin-nor and Norin-nor, which are separated by a channel. Passing through the mountain ranges of Kunlun and Nanshan, the river, forming a large bend, goes out into the vastness of the Great China Plain and then flows into the Yellow Sea.

Like the Nile, after the Yangtze floods, it leaves a lot of fertile silt on its banks, which helps the people of China in their agriculture. However, the Yellow River often overflows its banks and changes its course, and even numerous dams cannot calm its stormy and unpredictable nature.

Once the river was rich in different types of flora and fauna. But now there are practically no living beings in it, since toxic waste from oil refineries and other harmful industries is merged into its waters. And although the local authorities annually allocate money to clean it, this does not bring tangible results. About 30% of the Yellow River waters are not suitable even for industrial use.

The largest Russian river is the fifth in the world among the longest water streams in the world. She closes our five largest waterways of the planet.

The length of the Ob is 5410 km. The river basin area is almost 3 million square meters. km. At the junction of the Katun and Biya, in Altai, the largest water stream originates. The river flows into the Kara Sea, having previously formed the Gulf of Ob (800 km long bay).

The river gives life-giving moisture to 30 million people, because the population of three countries of the world lives on its banks: Russia, China and Kazakhstan.

The largest water flow is of great importance for industrial and economic development adjacent territories. Here oil and gas are extracted, large-scale development and extraction of peat deposits are carried out. In addition, the Ob is a navigable river. Both freight and passenger traffic is developed on the river.

At the same time, the basin of the waterway is rich in numerous rocks of valuable industrial types fish. One third of the world's fish production comes from the Ob catches. The wealth of the Ob is sterlet, whitefish, omul, muksun. It contains a lot of pike, pike perch, ide and burbot.

Every person probably knows what a river is. The fact that the presence of rivers on our planet is important not only for the beauty of the landscape, for the flora and fauna, but also for nature in general, cannot be denied. All historical data indicate that for a person it has always been convenient in all respects to settle on the banks of rivers. We can say that the rivers connected people.

If you choose the largest rivers on earth, then you probably need to know the main characteristics that indicate the length of the river and its size. You also need to know about the annual flows of the river, the area drainage basin, what is the maximum flow rate of the river and many other indicators.

From the source (the place where the river originates) and to the mouth (the place where the river flows into another body of water, for example, a lake, sea, ocean or flows into another river), following the river bed, the length of the river is measured, otherwise - length. However, the length measurement procedure is not an easy task. As you know, the largest waterways have wide channels, but the length of one bank may not coincide with the length of the opposite bank. Although, this problem was solved in a certain way: when they talk about the length of rivers, they take into account the length of the channel along the so-called fairway - this is the line of the greatest depths.

The length of rivers can vary, and other obstacles can also arise. A more or less simple task is to determine the location of the river mouth. However, there was also a "but" here. From this list simple tasks those rivers come out with a wide estuary-estuary. In such cases, it is incredibly difficult to determine the end of the river and determine the beginning of the bay.

If we consider the mouth, which is called the delta, the following questions are possible: which of the branches is the most important? What's the widest? What is the longest and deepest? Sometimes these characteristics are the same, but rarely. If you determine the length of a water flow, you need to be extremely accurate, because even a few kilometers can change the location of the place occupied by this or that waterway in the general list of the longest rivers in the world.

Determining the source will not be painstaking work. For example, on the Valdai Upland there is a spring from which a stream originates, which from its upper reaches is called the Volga. A chapel was built in this place. And the place of the source in this example is determined with maximum accuracy. If the river flows out of the lake, then in this case, too, will not be special labor determine the place of the source. By the way, the Neva flows from Lake Ladoga (Shlisselburg region).

However, doubts still sometimes torment. There are times when the tributary is longer than the river itself. For example, the length of the Missouri River is 4,710 km, but the section of the Mississippi above the confluence of the Missouri is less than twice as long - 2,240 km. The Irtysh River is 4248 km long, and the section of the Ob River above the mouth of the Irtysh is 3176 km long.

We were able to note that historically it happened so that sometimes the tributary can be longer than the river. However, when determining the length of a river, the length of its tributary is always taken into account (for example, the Amur with Argun, Mississippi and Missouri and others).

It also happens that rivers form two smaller rivers merged together. The well-known Nile was formed thanks to the merger Blue Nile and the White Nile. The Amur River - from the confluence of Argun and Shilka, Pyanj - from the confluence of Vakhandarya and Pamir, and Amu Darya - from the confluence of Pyanj and Vakhsh. Along the way from source to mouth, some sections of the river bear different names. In this case, the longest arm is taken into account to determine the total length of the river. But if this arm was formed from the confluence of two rivers, then, again, they count the length, relying on the longest river.

Three rivers over the past 40-50 years have been eligible to claim the "mark" of the longest river in the world.
Initially, the Mississippi and Missouri were considered the longest rivers. Soon, when memory returned to the geographers, they recalled the fact that the Nile itself does not originate from the confluence of the Blue and White Nile, but only receives one name. The White Nile flows out of Lake Victoria, at the same time, a river flows into it in the upper reaches of the Rukar, a little further - Kater. Having counted, they got a longer river path than the Mississippi and Missouri paths.

Many years passed, and the Nile remained the longest river. And here again the scientists were advised. They remembered that the confluence of two rivers formed the Amazon. These are the Marañona and Ucayali rivers. For many years, the Marañon Sleeve was considered the deepest and most important. However, geographers have recently been able to admit that the Ucayali River is still longer than Marañon. The Ucayali River is formed by the confluence of the Urumaba and Tambo rivers.

In addition, there has always been controversy about which stream of the main artery of South America is considered its source.
Sometimes, the tributaries of rivers are so long that they can claim to be the longest streams. The Missouri, in turn, is the seventh longest in the world, however, it is considered only the main tributary of the Mississippi. This allows the latter to take third place among other rivers around the globe.

Rarely argue about the catchment basins of different rivers. Sometimes the thought arises, during the study of landforms, that a certain area should be considered a river basin, although moisture from it does not enter the river, because there is a desert there.

This ambiguity does not allow to correctly determine the western boundary of the Nile basin in its streams: lower and middle. But more often than not, catchment areas are not difficult to define.

There is a well-established rule according to which the size of the catchment area is the larger, the greater the volume of the annual flow of the river. In such data, the first place was taken by the Amazon basin. The second place was taken by the Congo River. It is two times inferior to the Amazon, and, according to the calculation of water flow per year, five times. The reason is understandable, because in the Congo region, the amount of precipitation is much less, although they are located with the Amazon in almost the same latitudes. The Yangtze ranks third in terms of annual flows. This is facilitated by heavy rains. They also favored Orinoco to take fourth place, and in terms of pool area they are in the top ten.

And the number of such examples is endless. But the conclusion is one: there are no identical natural conditions, and each river lives its own life with its own indicators. But the most common indicator is the length of the river.

The 5 largest, longest and largest rivers in the world by continent. Descriptions and characteristics of rivers.

1. The Amazon (6992 m.) Is the largest, longest and largest river in the world and South America.

Description of the Amazon River - the longest river in the world and South America.

Amazon is an absolute record holder both in length and in fullness and area of ​​the pool. For many years it was believed that the longest river in the world is Neil, but the latest research conducted by comparing photographs from space and computer processing has refuted this long ago known fact. The Amazon turned out to be 140 km longer than the Nile!

In 2011, according to the results of a worldwide competition, Amazon was recognized as one of the seven natural wonders the world. And this is no coincidence. The Amazon is not only the longest, largest and largest river in the world and in South America, but also a unique place on our planet, home to over a million species of various plants and animals. According to the researchers, there are 1,500 species of flowers, 750 species of trees, 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds and countless number of invertebrates per 10 km² of rainforest. Many of their species are not even described or identified. Up to 2000 species of fish live in the Amazon and its tributaries, one of which is the well-known voracious predatory piranhas.

The basin of the longest river in the world is home to the planet's largest tropical rainforest. The climate is hot and humid, all year round the air temperature fluctuates only in the range of 25-28 ° C and it rains very often. There is practically no wind in the forest - lush vegetation does not allow gusts of air to pass through. Even during a storm, only the tops of the trees sway here, and below it is twilight and tranquility.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the world's longest underground river was discovered under the longest surface river in the world., flowing parallel to the Amazon at a depth of 4000 m. It originates in the Andes and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Her while unofficial name Hamza - in honor of the scientist who discovered it. The speed of the Khamza River does not exceed several meters per year, and the width is about 400 meters.

Main characteristics of the Amazon River. Description of the longest river in the world in numbers. Table.

2. Nile (6852) - the second of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Africa.

Description of the Nile River - the second of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Africa.

Nile- this is a true "river of life", as it is the only river North Africa crossing the sands of the Sahara without drying up. The permanent watercourse is carried out due to precipitation falling in the upper reaches of the river.

Almost all of them are located along the Nile settlements Egypt and concentrated almost all economic activities. The waters of the second longest river in the world are used for irrigation of fields and the production of electricity (the energy resources of the Nile are estimated at 50 GW), fishing and fish farming, water supply and shipping.

The Nile originates on the East African Plateau (Kagera River), flows through Lake Victoria (some sources indicate this particular lake as the source of the Nile River). The exit from the plateau is characterized by an abundance of rapids and waterfalls. After the confluence of the El-Ghazal River, the river is called the White Nile and flows through semi-deserts and deserts to Khartoum, receives the main tributary, the Blue Nile, and under the name of the Nile itself flows to Mediterranean Sea, at the confluence with which it forms an extensive delta.

Floods in different parts of the river occur in different seasons: in the equator region - in summer and winter seasons, in the northern part of the river - in summer and autumn periods. Dams have been built to regulate the flow of one of the longest rivers in the world: Gebel-Aulia on the White Nile, Aswan and High Aswan. The construction of dams made the population safe from annual floods. This, on the one hand, deprived Agriculture the most important natural fertilizer is silt, but, on the other hand, it increased the area of ​​irrigated land and made it possible to take three crops a year from the fields.

Main characteristics of the Nile River. Description of the second of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world and the longest river in Africa in numbers. Table.

3. Yangtze (5800 km) - the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest, largest and largest river in Eurasia.

Description of the Yangtze River - the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in Eurasia.

Yangtze river originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of about 5600 km and flows through China from west to east, making a large turn south after Qinghai province. The lower reaches of the Yangtze flows through southern part The Great Plain of China, where the river is often divided into branches, while the width of the main channel reaches 2 km or more. In the area where it flows into the East China Sea, the Yangtze forms a large-scale delta with an area of ​​about 80 thousand km².

Four of the five largest freshwater lakes in China run off the Yangtze. The third of the longest rivers in the world has about 700 tributaries, the largest of which are Yalongjiang, Minjiang, Jialingjiang, Tuo, Hanshui (Juhe).

The Yangtze River has a huge cultural and economic importance for the country. This is the main waterway of China. Total length waterways the Yangtze basin exceeds 17 thousand km. The river is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The volume of freight traffic in 2005 reached 795 million tons.

The Yangtze River Basin, which covers a fifth of China, is home to a third of the country's population and produces about 20% of GDP. The world's largest hydroelectric power plant, the Three Gorges HPP, has been built on the longest river in Eurasia.

The Yangtze River is home to many animals, including several endangered species such as the Chinese river dolphin, Chinese alligators and Korean sturgeon. On the territory of the basin of the third of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world, there are several nature reserves and part national park"Three Parallel Rivers", a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Main characteristics of the Yangtze River. Description of the third of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world and the longest river in Eurasia in numbers. Table.

Description of the Mississippi River - the fourth largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the longest river in North America.

Mississippi Is one of the greatest rivers in the world. Together with the Missouri, it is the fourth longest river in the world and the largest, largest and longest river in North America. The Mississippi flows through ten US states from north to south. The source of the river the river Nicolette Creek is considered (according to other sources, Lake Itasca), flows into the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico. River basin(the third largest after the Amazon and Congo basins) stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians and from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, occupying an area of ​​3268 thousand km 2, which is 40% of the US area, not counting Alaska.

Mississippi River length is 3950 km (according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia) or 3774 km (Wikipedia). It takes a drop of water 90 days to get from the source to the mouth of the river.

Speaking of the Mississippi as the fourth of the longest rivers in the world, it should be borne in mind that we are talking about the length of the Jefferson-Missouri-Mississippi river system. In total, the length of the three rivers is 6275 kilometers. When it comes to the longest river in North America, various sources name either the Mississippi River (3774 km), then its tributary Missouri (3767 km). In our classification of rivers by length, we proceeded from determining the length of the river from the source of its longest tributary to the mouth. With this approach, the Mississippi is definitely the longest river in North America.

Mississippi- a convenient waterway from the Gulf of Mexico to the central parts of the mainland, an important transport artery of the United States, connecting the developed industrial and agricultural regions of the country. The rivers of the Mississippi system have a large economic value... The total length of the basin's navigable routes is over 25 thousand square meters. km. A number of large power plants have been built on the tributaries of the Mississippi.

River feeding mixed, snow and rain. The right tributaries bring mainly melt water formed by melting snow in the Rocky Mountains, the left tributaries feed the Mississippi with rain and storm waters. The Mississippi regime is characterized by spring-summer floods and violent rain floods.

The longest, largest and largest river in North America is divided into three sections, the boundaries of which are the places where its largest tributaries - the Missouri and Ohio - flow into the Mississippi.

On the upper section the river flows through shallow lakes, overcoming rocky rapids and rapids in many places, the most significant of which are in the cities. Minneapolis (St. Anthony Falls), Davenport and Kyokak. From Minneapolis to the Missouri estuary, the river is flooded, with more than 20 dams located on this stretch.

In the middle section the fourth longest river in the world flows mainly in one channel. The width of the river valley, bounded by steep slopes, is 15-20 km. In the middle section, the Mississippi has interesting feature: for 150-180 km, the dirty, muddy waters of Missouri flow next to the relatively clear water Mississippi without mixing.

In the lower section the Mississippi River flows through a vast valley, gradually expanding from 25 to 70 km. The river bed is meandering, with numerous branches and oxbows, forming in the lower reaches a labyrinth of channels, oxbow lakes, vast floodplain bogs, flooded during floods. At the end of the delta, the longest, largest and largest river in North America branches into 6 main relatively short branches 20-40 long km, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Main characteristics of the Mississippi River. Description of the fourth of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world and the longest river in North America in numbers.

5. Yellow River (5464 km) - the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the second longest river in Eurasia.

Description of the Yellow River - the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world and the second longest river in Asia.

Yellow he- one of the greatest rivers in the world, is the second longest river in Asia and the fifth of the longest rivers in the world. The name of the river translated from Chinese means "Yellow River". Yellow the waters of the river are given an abundance of sediments, of which there are so many in the river that the sea into which it flows is called the Yellow Sea. In terms of sediment volume, the Yellow River ranks first in the world (1.3 billion tons / year).

Yellow River begins in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of over 4000 m, flows through the lakes Orin-Nur and Dzharin-Nur, the spurs of the Kunlun and Nanshan mountain ranges. At the intersection of the Ordos and the Loess Plateau, it forms a large bend in its middle course, then through the gorges of the Shanxi Mountains it enters the Great China Plain, along which it flows about 700 km before the confluence of the Yellow Sea into the Bohai Bay, forming a delta in the confluence area. According to various sources, the length of the river is from 4670 km to 5464 km, and the area of ​​its basin is from 745 thousand km² to 771 thousand km².

Food method the Yellow River: rain, in the mountainous part of the basin also snow. The fifth of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world has a monsoon regime during summer floods with a rise in water level up to 5 m in the plains and up to 20 m in the mountains. For flood protection a system of dams with a total length of more than 5,000 km has been built along the river. Breakthroughs of dams led to catastrophic floods, accompanied by large-scale destruction and a change in the river channel (the maximum channel change was about 800 km). Because of the incredible catastrophic floods, the Yellow River received the nickname "Mountain of China". It is known that over the past two thousand years, the Yellow River overflowed the banks more than a thousand times, broke through dams and significantly changed the trajectory of its channel at least 20 times. In 1931, a flood on the Yellow River killed, according to various estimates, from 1,000,000 to 4,000,000 inhabitants of the North China Plain.

But despite this, the Yellow River basin provides about 140 million people drinking water and water for irrigation. A number of hydroelectric power plants have been built on the river. Through the Great Canal, the fifth of the largest, largest and longest rivers in the world is connected to the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers.

The Yellow River flows through a total of seven modern provinces and two autonomous regions, namely the following (from west to east): Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia Hui, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong. The Yellow River estuary is located in Kenli County (Shandong).

The river is usually divided into three parts.- upstream, middle and downstream. The upper course of the river runs along the northeast of the Tibetan Plateau and the Loess Plateau of northwestern China; the middle course includes the valley between Ordos and Shaanxi and gorges further downstream; the lower course of the river runs along the Great Plain of China.

The main characteristics of the Yellow River. Description of the fifth of the longest, largest and largest rivers in the world in numbers.

This was the article " The largest, largest and longest rivers in the world. List and descriptions."Read on:

Rivers are permanent or temporary streams of water flowing in the relief deepening they have developed, fed by runoff from their catchment area. Every river has a source, that is, the place where it begins. The source of the river may be the exit groundwater(Volga), spring, swamp, lake (Angara). V high mountains rivers usually start from glaciers (Amazon). The place where the river flows into another river, lake or sea is called the mouth. river natural pool

• 10 largest rivers in the world
• 1. Amazon. Length - 6992 km. The basin area is 6915 thousand km2. Location - Peru, Brazil (South America)
• 2. Neil. Length - 6671 km. The basin area is 3349 thousand km2. Location - Uganda, Sudan, Egypt (Africa).
• 3. Mississippi. Length - 6275 km. The basin area is 2980 thousand km2. Location - USA (North America)
• 4. Yangtze. Length - 5800 km. The basin area is 1800 thousand km2. Location - China (Asia)
• 5. Yellow River. Length - 5464 km. The basin area is 745 thousand km2. Location - China (Asia)
• 6. Ob. Length - 5410 km. The basin area is 2990 thousand km2. Location - China, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation (Asia)
• 7. Yenisei. Length - 5238 km. The basin area is 2580 thousand km2. Location - Russia, Mongolia
• 8. Lena. Length - 5100 km. The basin area is 2490 thousand km2. Location - Russian Federation (Asia)
• 9. Cupid. Length - 5052 km. The basin area is 1855 thousand km2. Location - China, Russian Federation (Asia)
• 10. Congo. Length - 4700 km. The basin area is 3680 thousand km2. Location - China, Laos, Cambodia (Asia)

Amazon river

The Amazon is a river in South America. Formed by the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali rivers. The length from the source of the Marañon River is 6992.06 km. The basin area is 7180 thousand km². In 2011, according to the results of a worldwide competition, the Amazon was recognized as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Most of the Amazon basin belongs to Brazil, the southwestern and western regions - Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Flowing mostly along the Amazonian lowland in a sub-latitudinal direction near the equator, the Amazon flows into the Atlantic Ocean, forming the world's largest delta (over 100 thousand km in area and including the world's largest river island Marajo). The Amazon is fed by numerous tributaries; about 20 of them are more than 1500 km long

Nile river

The Nile is a river in Africa, the largest longest river system in the world. The river originates in the East African Plateau and flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Upstream takes large tributaries- El Ghazal (left) and Achwa, Sobat, Blue Nile and Atbara (right). Below the mouth of the right tributary of the Atbara, the Nile flows through a semi-desert, having no tributaries for the last 3000 km. The length of the Nile is often measured from Lake Victoria, although rather large rivers flow into it. The most remote point can be considered the source of the Rukarara River - one of the components of the Kagera River, which originates from an altitude of more than 2000 m on one of the mountain ranges East Africa south of the equator and flows into Lake Victoria. The length of the Rukarara> Kagera> Nile river system is about 6700 km (most often the number is 6671 km). The basin area, according to various sources, is 2.8-3.4 million km². The Nile flows from south to north. The flow of the Nile is stormy, calm downstream.

The fauna of the Nile is quite diverse. Here you can find crocodiles, turtles, snakes are very diverse, including two species of cobras, the Nile perch, the mass of which can reach 140 kg. In addition to him, polypere are of commercial importance, tiger fish, catfish, toothed carp, African carp.

The value of the Nile.

Neil - the only river North Africa, which runs through the Sahara and carries its waters to the Mediterranean Sea, is the source of life in the waterless desert. The permanent watercourse of the Nile exists due to precipitation falling in the more southern regions and feeding its sources. Water resources The Nile has been used since ancient times for irrigation and natural fertilization of fields, fishing, water supply and shipping. Hydropower is also being used now.

Mississippi river

Mississippi - main river largest river system in North America... It flows exclusively in the United States of America, although its basin extends to Canada. The source of the Mississippi is either Nicolette Creek or Lake Itasca, into which it flows. The source is located in Minnesota at an altitude of approximately 530 m above sea level. The river mainly flows in a southerly direction and reaches a length of 3,770 kilometers, ending in a vast delta in the Gulf of Mexico. The river itself flows through 10 states, and its basin spans 31 states from the Rocky Mountains to mountain system Appalachian The Mississippi ranks fourth in the list of the longest rivers in the world and the ninth in the list for the deepest rivers.

Division of the river.

It is customary to divide the Mississippi into two large sections: the upper Mississippi and the lower Mississippi. The separation boundary is in Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio River flows into the Mississippi at an altitude of about 100 meters above sea level. The upper Mississippi is located at latitudes from 47 ° N to 37 ° N, the lower one from 37 ° N to 29 ° N.

Changing the channel.

Throughout the history of its existence, the Mississippi has changed the direction of the channel many times, both insignificantly and on a large scale. Also, numerous changes took place with its tributaries, some of which disappeared and others appeared. Through a natural process known as delta wandering, the lower Mississippi changes where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico approximately every thousand years. This is due to sediment accumulating in the channel, which causes the water to rise and find shorter paths to the bay. The old channel gradually decreases, overgrows and turns into a bayu (oxbow). The Mississippi Basin was formed in large part by the impact of the Laurentide Glacier during the last Ice Age.

Yangtze river

The Yangtze is the longest and most abundant river in Eurasia, the third river in the world in terms of abundance and length. It flows through the territory of China, has a length of about 6300 km, the basin area is 1 808 500 km².

The Yangtze Basin covers about a fifth of China's territory. The Yangtze is the most important river in the history, culture and economy of China. The thriving Yangtze Delta region produces up to 20% of China's GDP. The Three Gorges HPP on the Yangtze River is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. The river is an important physical and cultural dividing line between North and South China.

The Yangtze River flows through a large number of ecosystems and is itself the habitat of several endemic and endangered species, including Chinese river dolphins(now extinct), Chinese alligators and Korean sturgeon. Some sections of the river are currently protected as nature reserves. The Yangtze section in the west of Yunnan province, where the river flows through deep gorges, is part of the Three Parallel Rivers National Park.

Yellow River

The Yellow River is a river in China, one of the largest rivers in Asia. Translated from the Chinese language, its name is “ Yellow River», Which is associated with the abundance of sediments, giving a yellowish tint to its waters.

The Yellow River originates in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau at an altitude of over 4000 m, flows through the lakes Orin-Nur and Jarin-Nur, the spurs of the Kunlun and Nanshan mountain ranges. At the intersection of the Ordos and the Loess Plateau, it forms a large bend in its middle course, then through the gorges of the Shanxi Mountains it enters the Great China Plain, along which it flows about 700 km before the confluence of the Yellow Sea into the Bohai Bay, forming a delta in the confluence area. According to various sources, the length of the river is from 4670 km to 5464 km, and the area of ​​its basin is from 745 thousand km² to 771 thousand km².

The average discharge in the river is approximately 2000 m3 per second. The river has a monsoon regime during summer floods with a rise in water level up to 5 m in the plains and up to 20 m in the mountains.

National economic use.

The waters of the Yellow River are actively used for irrigation of agricultural land. A number of hydroelectric power plants have been built on the river. It is connected with the Huaihe and Yangtze rivers through the Great Canal.

The Yellow River is navigable in some areas, mainly on the Great Plain of China. The Yellow River Valley is densely populated.

The river is extremely prone to flooding. It has spilled extensively 1593 times in the last 3000-4000 years, while its channel has changed 12 times. changes in flow occur due to the large amount of loess deposits carried by the river and constantly settling at the bottom of the river channel. This sedimentation causes the formation of natural dams that build up slowly. The huge amount of water is forced to find new paths to the sea, causing flooding in a new valley.

River Ob

Ob is a river in Western Siberia... Formed in Altai at the confluence of Biya and Katun. The length of the Ob River is 3650 km, the area of ​​its drainage basin is 2 990 000 km². At the mouth, it forms the Gulf of Ob and flows into the Kara Sea.

By the nature of the river network, nutritional conditions and formation water regime The Ob is divided into 3 sections: upper (to the mouth of the Tom), middle (to the mouth of the Irtysh) and lower (to Ob lips). At the beginning, the Ob noticeably winds, and its course periodically changes in different directions - either to the north or to the west. The river is mainly fed by snow.

In the southern part of the Ob there is the Novosibirsk reservoir, formed by the dam of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station. The Ob Sea (as the locals call it) serves as a resting place for many Novosibirsk residents; numerous recreation centers and sanatoriums are located on its shores. Tourists from neighboring regions also come here.

V late XIX century, the Ob-Yenisei Canal was built, connecting the Ob with the Yenisei. It is currently out of use and abandoned. The main tributary of the river is the Irtysh.

Fishing has long been developed on the Ob. At the moment, about 50 species and subspecies of fish live in the waters of the Ob and Ob Bay, half of them are of industrial value.

Yenisei

The Yenisei is a river in Siberia, one of the greatest rivers in the world and in Russia. It flows into the Kara Sea of ​​the North Arctic Ocean... Length - 3487 km.

In terms of the basin area (2580 thousand km²), the Yenisei ranks 2nd among the rivers of Russia (after the Ob) and 7th among the rivers of the world. The Yenisei basin is characterized by a sharp asymmetry: its right-bank part is 5.6 times higher than the left-bank part.

Enisey - natural boundary between Western and Eastern Siberia. The left bank of the Yenisei ends the great West Siberian Plain, and the right bank represents the kingdom of the mountain taiga. From the Sayan Mountains to the Arctic Ocean, the Yenisei passes through all climatic zones Siberia. Camels live in its upper reaches, polar bears live in the lower reaches.

The Yenisei itself begins in the city of Kyzyl at the confluence of the Big Yenisei and the Small Yenisei. The Yenisei belongs to the type of rivers of mixed feeding with a predominance of snow. The Yenisei is characterized by intense formation of intra-water ice, autumn ice drift. Water discharge in the source of the Yenisei is 1009 m3 / s.

Household use.

The Yenisei is the most important waterway of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Regular shipping - from Sayanogorsk to the mouth (3013 km). The main cargo flows go from Krasnoyarsk to Dudinka.

Lena river

Lena is a river in Russia, the largest river Eastern Siberia, flows into the Laptev Sea of ​​the Arctic Ocean. Length - 4400 km, basin area - 2490 thousand km².

Flows through the territory Irkutsk region and Yakutia, some of its tributaries belong to the Transbaikal, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk Territories, Buryatia and the Amur Region. Lena is the largest of Russian rivers, whose pool lies entirely within the country. It is also the largest river in the world, flowing entirely in the area permafrost.

According to various estimates, the annual flow of the river ranges from 489 to 542 km³. The main food, as well as almost all tributaries, is melted snow and rainwater. The widespread occurrence of permafrost within the catchment area interferes with river feeding groundwater, the only exception is geothermal sources.

Due to the general precipitation regime, Lena is characterized by spring flood... The largest of the tributaries is the Aldan River.

Lena to this day remains the main transport artery of Yakutia, connecting its districts with the federal transport infrastructure. The main part of the "northern delivery" is produced along the Lena. The beginning of navigation is considered to be the Kachug pier.

Amur river

Amur is a river in the Far East in East Asia. It flows through the territory of Russia and the border of Russia and China. Length - 2824 km (from the confluence of Shilka and Argun). It flows into the Sea of ​​Okhotsk or the Sea of ​​Japan.

Within the Amur basin, there are four physical and geographical zones: forest (with subzones of coniferous-deciduous forests, middle and southern taiga), forest-steppe, steppe and semi-desert (with the northern subzone of semi-deserts and subzones of dry steppes). The Amur is formed by the confluence of the Shilka and Argun rivers (the eastern end of the Bezumny Island is considered to be the beginning of the river).

The Amur River basin is located within three states- Russia (995 thousand km², about 54% of the territory), also China (44.2%) and Mongolia (1.8%). The Russian sector of the river basin, in turn, can be divided into two unequal parts - the Siberian, to which the corresponding sections of the Shilka and Argun river basins belong, and the Far East, within which essentially the entire Amur valley is located - the left bank of the upper and middle Amur and the entire lower Amur, with the tributary basins corresponding to these areas.

In accordance with the Russian sailing direction, the Amur is divided into: the upper Amur - up to Blagoveshchensk; the middle Amur - from Blagoveshchensk to Khabarovsk and the lower Amur - below Khabarovsk.

In terms of basin area (1,855 thousand km²), the Amur ranks fourth among the rivers of Russia (after the Yenisei, Ob and Lena) and tenth among the rivers of the world. The average annual water consumption in the Komsomolsk-on-Amur area is 9819 m3 / s, in the area of ​​the mouth - 11,400 m3 / s.

The Amur is navigable along its entire length - from Pokrovka to the confluence with the Amur estuary. In the middle of the 20th century, the natural process of the Amur River's transition to a new channel began, which sharply accelerated at the beginning of the 21st century due to the actions of the Chinese side. The displacement of the channel, according to scientists, can lead to the washout of several Russian settlements and the destruction of the pillars of the Khabarovsk bridge.

Congo river

Congo - a river in Central Africa mainly in Democratic Republic Congo (partly flows along its borders with the Republic of Congo and Angola), the deepest and second longest river in Africa, the second largest river in the world after the Amazon. In the upper reaches (above the city of Kisangani) it is called Lualaba. The only large river that crosses the equator twice. The basin area is 4 014 500 km². Length - 4374 km.

It originates from the settlement of Mumena. In the formation of river runoff in the Congo Basin, abundant rainfall plays a predominant role. Most of the Congo's tributaries are dominated by autumn runoff.

Using the river.

Compared to other rivers in the world, the Congo has one of the largest reserves of hydropower. The largest hydroelectric power plant of the river is Inga. Most of the river sections accessible for navigation are concentrated in the Congo Basin, where they form a single ramified system of waterways. The rivers and lakes of the Congo basin are rich in fish - about 1000 species, many of which are of commercial importance: Nile perch, tilapia, barbel, large tiger fish, freshwater herring and others.