river

Also known as rivers

thumb|upright=1.2|A boat floats on the Mekong in Laos thumb|upright=1.2|South America's Amazon River (dark blue) and the rivers which flow into it (medium blue). The darker green marks the Amazon's [[drainage basin or watershed]]

AI overview

A river is a large natural stream of water that flows across land, typically toward an ocean, sea, or lake. Rivers matter because they provide water for drinking and agriculture, support diverse ecosystems, enable transportation, and shape the landscape around them.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

155,000 papers

Backwater makes the tributaries of large river becoming phosphorus "sink".ReviewWater research · 2024Cheng B, Zhang Y, Xia R et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2024.122012
The Urban River Syndrome: Achieving Sustainability Against a Backdrop of Accelerating Change.ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Richardson M, Soloviev MDOI: 10.3390/ijerph18126406
A river's pulse.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2023Moutinho SDOI: 10.1126/science.adg4958
Global meta-analysis of river bacterial communities and responses to human activities.Journal of environmental management · 2025Tan Q, Wang X, Xing Y et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127658
Geographic patterns of microbial traits of river basins in China.The Science of the total environment · 2023Xu N, Hu H, Wang Y et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162070
The biogeographic and genomic signatures of dynamic river networks for terrestrial species in Amazonia.ReviewBiological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Musher LJDOI: 10.1111/brv.70042
River water quality management using an integrated multi-objective optimization-simulation approach based on bankruptcy rules.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2024Babamiri O, Dinpashoh YDOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-31603-4
Integrative approaches to river ecosystem assessment and restoration: a review of methodologies and strategies for coherent implementation.ReviewEnvironmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Zhang XB, Huang S, Hu YP et al.DOI: 10.1007/s10661-025-14957-9

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Image: White Nile Fishermen (18156464842).jpg

Show 7 more facts

OpenStreetMap tag: waterway=river
Commons category: Rivers
equivalent class: id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/Q374
Commons gallery: River
P8168: flag of the Republic of the Congo
exact match: purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_00000022
Digital Atlas of Idaho URL: digitalatlas.cose.isu.edu/hydr/main/images/river.jpg

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~37 min read

Article

29 sections

Contents

Topography
Definition
Source and drainage basin
Flow
Non-perennial rivers
Subterranean rivers
Terminus
Classification
Ecology
Models
River Continuum Concept
Flood pulse concept
Fish zonation concept
Movement of organisms
Human uses
Infrastructure
History
Pre-industrial era
Industrial era
Politics
Religion and mythology
Threats
Extraterrestrial rivers
See also
General
Crossings
Transport
References
External links

A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it runs out of water, or only flow during certain seasons. Rivers are regulated by the water cycle, the processes by which water moves around the Earth. Water first enters rivers through precipitation, whether from rainfall, the runoff of water down a slope, the melting of glaciers or snow, or seepage from aquifers beneath the surface of the Earth.