by: Angela A.

A river is one of the main types of landforms. They are large natural waterways that flow across a surface of land. Rivers eventually lead to seas or oceans. Rivers are very important to the world. They are used to transport goods from place to place.

Every river flows in a channel. Channels have a bottom which is called the bed and two sides, called the banks. Rivers are made of tributaries. Tributaries are small streams that lead to other small streams to form a river. Most streams begin at a high elevation, such as mountains or hills. The streams start by the melting of snow on mountains, as the river flows there are curves in the channel, to make it look snake-like.

Some rivers carry a lot of sediment. The longest river in the world is the Nile and the deepest river in the world is the Amazon. There are four main types of river: Youthful rivers, Mature rivers, Old rivers, and Rejuvenated rivers. A Youthful river is a faster flowing river with few tributaries and a deep channel. A Mature river is a slower river that has many tributaries. The channel is wider rather then deeper and has a lot of discharges. An Old river has a low erosive energy. The last main type of river, Rejuvenated is a river with a gradient raised by the earth’s movement.