How does water flow in a river?
Does this rock your boat? Rivers are part of the hydrological cycle – a closed system which moves water from the oceans, through the atmosphere, and back to the oceans. The hydrological cycle (or water cycle) is a closed system in which water is continuously moved from the world’s oceans, through the atmosphere, falls to earth as rain, then travels back to the ocean in an endless loop. A geographical system such as the hydrological cycle operates using a series of flows (or transfers) and stores. Water flows, or is transferred through the system in many ways. One way is via rivers, another way is through the soil. The movement of water through the soil is called throughflow.Water is stored in a number of ways – for example, in lakes or as ice in glaciers. A river system is an open system. An open system has inputs, processes and outputs. So unlike water in the hydrological cycle, where there is an endless cycle of rain, rivers, sea and evaporation, water in the river system enters the
THE FACTS: Unless the land it totally flat, rivers of water run downhill. The vast percentage of rivers on the planet flow in a southerly direction because the source (usually in the mountains) is to the north of the mouth. If the source of a river is at a higher elevation than the mouth, that river will run from the source to the mouth. However, if that (higher) source is to the south of the mouth, that river will then flow to the north (downhill). Below is a partial list of rivers (length listed when known) that do just that. We haven’t listed rivers that run to the northwest, or rivers that don’t meet the exact requirements. Athabasca Alberta, Canada, 765 miles Bann Northern Ireland Bighorn Wyoming and Montana, USA, 336 miles Cauca Colombia, 597 miles Deschutes Oregon, USA, 250 miles Eel Northern California, USA, 78 miles Erne Ireland and Northern Ireland, 60 miles Essequibo Guyana, 600 miles Genesee New York, USA, 144 miles Jordan Utah, USA, 45 miles Lena Russian Federation, 2735 m
