Rivers in Spain

What are the main elements of a river?

Usually, rivers carry water downhill, from high places to low places. The water is carried in channels through which the water flows. The start of a river is the source and the end is the mouth. Often, smaller rivers called tributaries join larger rivers before they reach the mouth of the river.

River

Mouth

Tributary

When rivers reach the sea, they often spread out over a wide area, called an estuary. Water flows very slowly here, and the river cannot carry the silt. It drops the silt, forming a new area of land called a delta.

Delta

Delta and silt

STAGES OF A RIVER

What are the characteristics of a river?

Rivers have three main characteristics that we can analyse.

• A river’s length is the distance from its source to its mouth.

Amazon river

Nile river

• The discharge is the amount of water that passes through a particular place at a particular time.

Ebro river

• Depending on the amount of discharge, the regime of a river can be stable if the amount is constant all year or variable if it changes. A river’s characteristics depend on relief and climate.

RIVERS OF SPAIN

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