to by one of these names as determined by its size.

Many names for small rivers are

specific to geographic location; examples are "run" in some parts of the United
States, "burn" in Scotland and Northeast England, and "beck" in Northern England.
Sometimes a river is defined as being larger than a creek,[2] but not always; in
English the language is vague compared to some languages like French, where a
fleuve flows into the sea and a rivière is a tributary of another rivière or fleuve. [1]

Melting toe of Athabasca Glacier, Jasper

National Park, Alberta, Canada
Rivers are an important part of the water cycle. Water from a drainage
basin generally collects into a river through surface
runoff from precipitation, meltwater released from natural ice and snowpacks, and
other underground sources such as groundwater recharge and springs. Rivers are
often considered major features within a landscape; however, they actually only
cover around 0.1% of the land on Earth. Rivers are also an important natural
terraformer, as the erosive action of running water carves out rills, gullies,
and valleys in the surface as well as transferring silt and
dissolved minerals downstream, forming river deltas and islands where the flow
slows down. As a waterbody, rivers also serve crucial ecological functions by
providing and feeding freshwater habitats for aquatic and semiaquatic fauna and
flora, especially for migratory fish species, as well as enabling terrestrial
ecosystems to thrive in the riparian zones.

Rivers are significant to humankind since many human

settlements and civilizations are built around sizeable rivers and streams.[3] Most of
the major cities of the world are situated on the banks of rivers, as they are (or were)
depended upon as a vital source of drinking water, for food
supply via fishing and agricultural irrigation, for shipping, as natural borders and/or
defensive terrains, as a source of hydropower to drive machinery or
generate electricity, for bathing, and as a means of disposing of waste. In the pre-
industrial era, larger rivers were a major obstacle to the movement of people, goods,
and armies across regions. Towns often developed at the few locations suitable
for fording, building bridges, or supporting ports; many major cities, such as London,
are located at the narrowest and most reliable sites at which a river could be crossed
via bridges or ferries.[4]

In Earth science disciplines, potamology is the scientific study of rivers,

while limnology is the study of inland waters in general.
Topography

The Colorado River at Horseshoe

Bend, Arizona
Source and drainage basin
A river begins at a source (or more often several sources) which is usually
a watershed, drains all the streams in its drainage basin, follows a watercourse, and
ends at a terminus, either at a confluence or a mouth or mouths, which could form
a river delta. The water in a river is usually confined to a channel, made up of
a stream bed between banks. In larger rivers, there is often also a
wider floodplain shaped by floodwaters over-topping the channel. Floodplains may
be very wide in relation to the size of the river channel. This distinction between river
channel and floodplain can be blurred, especially in urban areas where the floodplain
of a river channel can become greatly developed by housing and industry.

The terms "upriver" and "downriver" refer to the direction towards the source of the
river and towards the mouth of the river, respectively.

Channels

Cross-section of a river channel and its valley

Rivers can flow down mountains and hills through valleys and can
create canyons or gorges, especially when traversing plains. The river channel
typically contains a single stream, but some rivers flow as several interconnecting
streams, producing a braided river,[5] which occur on peneplains and some of the
larger river deltas. Anastamosing rivers are similar to braided rivers and are quite
rare; they have multiple sinuous channel – one carrying large volumes of sediment.
There are rare cases of river bifurcation in which a river divides into distributaries,
and the resultant flows end in different seas. An example is the Nerodime
River in Kosovo.
A river flowing in its channel is a source of energy that acts on the river channel to
change its shape and form. In 1757, German hydrologist Albert Brahms empirically
observed that the submerged weight of objects that may be carried away by a river is
proportional to the sixth power of the river flow speed.[6] This formulation is also
sometimes called Airy's law.[7] Thus, if the speed of flow is doubled, the flow would
dislodge objects with 64 times as much submerged weight. In mountainous torrential
zones, this can be seen as erosion channels through hard rocks and the creation of
sands and gravels from the destruction of larger rocks. A river valley that was
created from a U-shaped glaciated valley can often easily be identified by the V-
shaped channel that it has carved.

In the middle reaches where a river flows over flatter land, meanders may form
through erosion of the river banks and deposition on the inside of bends. Sometimes
the river will cut off a loop, shortening the channel and forming an oxbow
lake or billabong. Rivers that carry large amounts of sediment may develop
conspicuous deltas at their mouths. Rivers whose mouths are in saline tidal waters
may form estuaries.

Throughout the course of the river, the total volume of water transported downstream
will often be a combination of the free water flow together with a substantial volume
flowing through sub-surface rocks and gravels that underlie the river and its
floodplain (called the hyporheic zone). For many rivers in large valleys, this unseen
component of flow may greatly exceed the visible flow.

Types and ratings

 Nile River delta, as seen from Earth orbit. The
Nile is an example of a wave-dominated delta that has the classic Greek letter delta (Δ) shape
after which river deltas were named. A radar image of a 400-
kilometre (250 mi) river of methane and ethane near the north pole of Saturn's moon Titan
Rivers have been classified by many criteria including their topography,
their biotic status, and their relevance to white water rafting or canoeing activities.

Subsurface rivers: subterranean and subglacial

Most but not all rivers flow on the surface. Subterranean rivers flow underground
in caves. Such rivers are frequently found in regions with limestone geologic
formations. Subglacial streams are the braided rivers that flow at the beds of glaciers
and ice sheets, permitting meltwater to be discharged at the front of the glacier.
Because of the gradient in pressure from the overlying weight of the glacier, such
streams can even flow uphill.

Permanence of flow: perennial and ephemeral

An intermittent river (or ephemeral river) only flows occasionally and can be dry for
several years at a time. These rivers are found in regions with limited or highly
variable rainfall or can occur because of geologic conditions such as a
highly permeable river bed. Some ephemeral rivers flow during the summer months
but not in the winter. Such rivers are typically fed from chalk aquifers which recharge
from winter rainfall. In England, these rivers are called bournes and give their name
to places such as Bournemouth and Eastbourne. Even in humid regions, the location
where flow begins in the smallest tributary streams generally moves upstream in
response to precipitation and downstream in its absence or when active summer
vegetation diverts water for evapotranspiration. Normally dry rivers in arid zones are
often identified as arroyos or other regional names.

The meltwater from large hailstorms can create a slurry of water, hail, and sand or
soil, forming temporary rivers.[8]

Stream order classifica