The most amazing facts about rivers in the world. Unusual rivers of the world and rivers of Russia - Rivers “Tamara and I walk as a pair.” The longest river is the Nile

Volkhov, Russia - known from history as the beginning of the journey “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” When searching for unusual rivers of the world, it is most often encountered. She attracts with a legend that we will retell. In the Middle Ages, the Novgorodians, outraged by the obscene behavior of their bishop John, decided to expel him from their possessions. They put him on a raft and sent him on his way. But that was not the case. No sooner had the raft floated out into the middle of the stream than... it carried it in the opposite direction! That is, upstream. The Lord has done a MIRACLE! - the Novgorodians exclaimed, and, having taken their spiritual shepherd out of the unusual river, they returned him back with honors.

And the casket opened simply: the slope of the Volkhov River, flowing from Lake Ilmen to Ladoga lake, is very small, and when there is heavy rain at the mouth and drought at the source, the ratio of lake levels changes and the river begins to flow in the opposite direction. This is exactly what happened on the day of the expulsion of the unlucky servant of God. So there was no miracle, but the fact that Bishop John was a very lucky guy is beyond any doubt.

And there are not so few such rivers with reverse flow in Russia and in the world. Let's list some of them. The common point here is the slight slope of the riverbed.

Sukhona, Russia. Just like Volkhov, it has a very slight slope - only a couple of centimeters per kilometer. Flowing from Lake Kubenskoye, the Sukhona calmly makes its way to the mouth. But in the spring, when its tributaries Vologda and Lezha, overflowing with melt water, quickly rush into it, they literally block the flow of the river with their flows. The water level in this place rises and the Sukhona, without thinking twice, turns back and flows again into Lake Kubenskoye. Depending on the year, this lasts from three to nine days.

Ob, Russia. When the mighty, amazing and longest and widest river in Russia floods, its level rises and blocks some tributaries. And for some time they begin to flow in the opposite direction from the Ob.

Penzhina, Kamchatka, Russia . Another unusual river that changes its flow direction. It flows into Penzhinskaya Bay, and with every ebb and flow it flows back and forth.

Shuya, Karelia, Russia . Ushkozero, from which this river flows interesting river, is fed by underground springs and, when the volume of feeding water decreases, the water level in the lake decreases. As a result, the river changes its direction. This happens 15-20 times a year.

Sap, Kingdom of Cambodia. It flows out of Tonle Sap Lake and flows into the Mekong River. When the Mekong floods, its level rises by 7-12 meters, and its waters rush along the bed of the Sap River into Lake Tonle Sap. Local residents celebrate this event, even giving it a name - “Festival of Returned Waters.” There is reason for joy, and a great one: the waters of the Mekong greatly replenish the lake’s fish stocks. Its quantity can be judged by the fact that during the return flow of the Sap River, the water level in the lake increases 3-4 times. When the level of the Mekong falls, the Sap begins to flow again from the lake, and it slowly becomes shallow. In the area freed from water, a lot of fertile silt remains, and enterprising Cambodians are growing record harvests of rice here. This lowland is called the "rice dish of Asia."

Avar, Greece. Similar to the Kamchatka river Penzhina. It flows into the Aegean Sea, and with each ebb and flow it changes the direction of its flow.

2. A unique river in the world - A river that exists only at night.

The unique river Huata Rique. Even the most unique! And its unusualness lies in the fact that it exists only at night, and is not there during the day. But this secret has long been revealed. The fact is that the river is fed by Andean snow that melted during the day, the water of which, flowing from the mountains in streams, reaches the bed of Huata Rique only in the evening. During the night, the water supply is depleted and the river ceases to exist until the next night. Of course, there are no fish here. And yes, the name of this unusual river is translated from the local dialect as “Night Butterfly”. Very aptly noted, don’t you think?

A river can have not one mouth, but two. This happens when a river bifurcates into branches that empty into different bodies of water.

An example would be R. Orinoco in South America . The Orinoco branches in the upper reaches into two branches, one of which continues the path under the same name, and the second, called Casiquiare, flows into a tributary of the Amazon - the Rio Negro.

Another example R. Pizhma Mezenskaya – this is already a Russian river. One of its branches flows into the Mezen, the other into the Pechora.

Kur, Far East, Russia . The mouths of its branches are located at a distance of 200 km from each other: one on the Amur near Khabarovsk, the other on Lake Bolon.

4. Unique rivers of the world and rivers of Russia - Rivers that go underground for a while.

There are water streams in the world that flow not only on the surface of the earth, but also periodically go underground. There are no obstacles in the way of such rivers and mountains. This, for example, is R. Sim on Southern Urals : it goes underground at the foot of the mountain, and comes to the surface on the other side.

A rare sight - a key on the right bank of the same river Sim, one and a half kilometers below the mouth of another river - Berda. It shoots straight out of the cliff, but it’s interesting that the water pours out in spurts: for about three minutes, vigorously, and then calmly for the same amount of time.

In the Perm region, not far from the village of Kyn, the tributaries of the Chusovaya River perform such a trick: they seem to dive underground and then reappear on the surface. The place where they disappear is called dive by local residents, and where they come out into the light again is called dive. Local Kumysh river has cut itself such a channel that for six kilometers it is almost invisible, and only then does it break out from under the rock and again become an ordinary river.

In the Urals, about fifteen rivers, large, small and very small, are distinguished by such inconstancy - sometimes they are visible, sometimes they are not, hidden. Right tributary of the Kosva - Gubeshka - not visible for ten kilometers, the river is hidden for eight Vezhey .

5. Unusual rivers of the world - Rivers flowing higher than the surrounding area.

Yes, this happens too. We are accustomed to the fact that rivers flow in depressions of the relief, but on earth there are natural streams that flow along the hills. This happens with rivers originating in the mountains. Swift streams erode rocks and carry them to the plain. On the plains, the flow becomes slow and the silt, gravel and other material carried by the water are deposited in the riverbeds. Gradually, year after year, the river bed rises and becomes higher than the surrounding landscape. Examples include Rioni in Georgia, Po in Italy, Chinese Yellow River, Red in Vietnam and others.

6. Unusual river of the world - The river with the most violent character.

R. Yellow River, China – fully deserves this title. “The Woe of China”, “The River That Tears the Heart”, “The River That Brings Thousands of Troubles” are just some of the many nicknames given to the Yellow River local residents. And it fully deserved these unpleasant accusations: 26 times in human memory it abruptly changed its course, overflowed its banks 1,500 times, causing catastrophic destruction. During a flood, the river level becomes 10-12 meters higher than the banks, and the water quickly floods the entire surrounding area, sweeping away everything in its path. Over the past 40 years alone, during the construction of dams and coastal fortifications on this river, three times more work was completed than during the construction of the Panama Canal, and twice as much as the Suez Canal.

7. A unique river in the world - A river with very muddy water.

And again R. Yellow River, China breaks records. It is the muddiest large river: one cubic meter of river water contains up to 30-40 kg of solid material. The annual removal of solids is 2 billion tons. How long will it be, well, not in parrots, but, say, in the pyramids of Cheops? And there will be three and a half hundred of these pyramids, consisting of yellow sand. Therefore, it is not surprising that the sea into which the Yellow River flows is called the Yellow Sea. The Chinese say about the Yellow River that “you can’t drink its water, because it’s too thick for that, you can’t plow on it, because it’s very rare.”

8. Unusual rivers of the world - Rivers that do not flow anywhere.

When we studied the structure of a river, we wrote that every river has a source, a channel and an mouth (i.e., the place where the river flows into another body of water). So, this is not true for all rivers: some of them do not have a mouth. Such rivers are typical, first of all, for arid regions of the globe, for example, Kazakhstan and Central Asia: Big and Small Uzen, Chu, Zeravshan, Murgab, Turgai, Sarysu and others. The largest river of this type is Tejen . Its length is 1150 km. It originates in the mountains of Afghanistan and flows through the territory of Iran and Turkmenistan, where it is completely dismantled for irrigation.

R. Okavango in South Africa also has no mouth: its waters are lost in the Kalahari Desert, forming impenetrable swamps.

9. A unique river in the world - A river with a sharp change in water temperature.

R. Puarenga, New Zealand – simply an extraordinary river! The water on its left bank is almost boiling, while on the right it is cold as ice. This is due to the river’s feeding sources, which are hot and cold springs. And the river flow is so fast that the water does not have time to mix.

10. Unusual rivers of Russia - Rivers with an unusual flow pattern.

R. Sviyaga, Russia, tributary of the Volga. It is unique in that for almost 400 km it flows parallel to the Volga, but in the opposite direction. In some places, for example, near Ulyanovsk, Sviyaga comes very close to the Volga, but then moves away again, slowly pouring its waters into it.

R. Piana, Russia, tributary of the Sura. Also a very unusual river. Its length is about 400 km, and the mouth from the source is located only 30 km. The pattern of its flow is very tortuous, reminiscent of the tread of a drunken person, which is why it got its name. Academician Ivan Ivanovich Lepekhin traveled around Russia in 1768 and described Piana as follows: “Its flow is very radiating and crooked, which is why the name Drunken River came about.”

R. Ural and r. Pechora, Russia. These rivers are interesting because of the stepwise direction of the currents: for some time they flow in a meridional direction to the south, then sharply at an angle of 90 degrees. change their direction, then again turn at a right angle to the south. The reason for this strange behavior faults serve earth's crust through which rivers flow.

11. Unusual rivers of the world and rivers of Russia - Rivers whose tributaries are larger than the main one.

As a rule, in a river system, the largest, longest and deepest river is the main river. But, as always, there are exceptions to every rule. Let us list some rivers that confirm the last statement.

By volume of water:

Angara, Russia, right tributary of the Yenisei – the volume of water that the Angara brings to the Yenisei is almost twice as much as it itself brings to the confluence.

Kama, Russia, right tributary of the Volga - the same situation as with the Angara. Only the volume of water is 1.5 times greater.

Yonne, France, tributary of the Seine . To the confluence, the Yonne brings 105 cubic meters of water per second, and the Seine - only 75.

By lenght:

Sukhona, Russia, tributary of the Northern Dvina. 1130 and 750 km respectively.

Brahmaputra, India, tributary of the Ganges. The main river is 200 km shorter than its tributary.

Darling, Australia, tributary of the Murray River. Murray is 170 km shorter than Darling.

Missouri, USA, tributary of the Mississippi. 4740 and 3950 km respectively.

12. Unique river of the world - River under the sand.

Gascoigne, Australia. There is such an amazing river in Western Australia. There is a river, and it is marked on the map, but it is impossible to see it. In place of the channel there is a wide strip of sand, bordered by lush vegetation along the “banks”. And the river flows under the sand and is quite large: it has 36 tributaries. In English, Gascoigne is aptly called “the river up and down”, in Russian “the river in reverse”.

13. Unique rivers of the world - Intersecting rivers.

Welna and Nelba, Poland. They intersect, not merge. Moreover, they intersect at right angles. And even more: when crossing them, the waters do not mix, but each flow their own way. Scientists explained this phenomenon by the difference in temperatures and flow rates of the two rivers. There was even an experiment: paint was poured into two rivers - blue into Nelba, and red into Velna. And at the point of intersection the colors did not mix at all: the red flowed in its own channel, and the blue, on top of the red, in its own way.

14. Unique river of the world - Multi-colored river.

Caño Cristales River, Colombia - an amazingly beautiful “river of five colors”. The variety of colors in the river water is given by the algae living in it, which are red, yellow, green and blue. The water in the river is practically distilled, there are almost no minerals and salts in it, and it is not suitable for drinking. However, small fish live in it, which somehow still find food for themselves.

15. Unusual rivers of the world - Very short rivers.

We are used to measuring the length of rivers in kilometers, but there are many water streams on earth whose length is only a few meters. Let's look at examples.

Rowe, Montana, USA . One of its arms is only 17.7 meters long.

Reprua, Abkhazia. It flows out of underground caves on the shores of the Black Sea and immediately flows into it. It is the coldest river on the Caucasian coast. Its length is 18 meters. According to the ancient Abkhaz legend, Reprua are the tears of the daughters of the underground spirit.

River D, USA. Length – 36 meters. And the name suits the length quite well.

16. Unique river in the world - The highest mountain river.

Rivers flow not only in valleys and lowlands, but also high in the mountains. For example,

Yarlung Tsangpo, Tibet - the most alpine river, flowing through the South Tibetan plains, located at an altitude of almost 3000 meters above sea level.

17. Unique river in the world - The widest river.

When talking about rivers, it is customary to name their length. Well, what is the widest river in the world?

Widest in the world - R. Rio de la Plata . It reaches a width of 225 km and is the result of the confluence of two rivers - the Uruguay and the Paraná. By the way, the widest river in Russia is the Ob. During a spill, its width reaches 60 km.

18. Unusual rivers of the world and rivers of Russia - Rivers with acidic water.

R. El Rio Vinegre – the most acidic, flows in the area active volcano Purase (Colombia). Its length is about 1260 kilometers. River water contains 11 parts of sulfuric acid and 9 parts of hydrochloric acid for every 1000 parts and is so acidic that no fish can live in it. One of the reasons for the high acid content is the proximity of the volcano.

And in our vast country there is a stream called Sour : it flows from the slopes of the active Mendeleev volcano on the island of Kunashir from the Kuril Islands group.

19. A unique river in Russia and the world - The coldest river.

R. Indigirka , flowing into the Arctic Ocean, is considered the coldest river in the world. Near the end of winter downstream Indigirka can freeze through and through - winters in these places (Yakutia) are among the harshest in the world.

20. Unusual rivers of Russia - Rivers with salt water.

Many people believe that river water can only be fresh. But that's not true. If a river flows through salt layers, its water becomes salty. There are many examples of such rivers, here are some of them:

Solyanka, Yakutia, Russia. Salt layers were formed here many millions of years ago, when the sea that once splashed here retreated.

Liquid Solyanka, Saratov region, Russia.

Berdyanka, Orenburg region, Russia. In the upper reaches the river is fresh, but in the lower reaches it erodes the salt layer and becomes noticeably salty.

21. A unique river in the world - A river flowing from the sea.

As a rule, rivers flow into some other body of water: a river, lake, sea, ocean... But there is such an unusual river that flows out of the sea.

Tadjoura, northeast Africa. It flows out of the Gulf of Tadjoura, flows inland and flows into Lake Assal.

22. A unique river in the world - A river sentenced to death.

Examples of tyranny by those in power have always been striking in their unexpectedness. But the Persian king Cyrus surpassed everyone: he sentenced the river to death!

Diala, Iraq. She was sentenced to death for drowning the “sacred” white horse of the Persian king. The sentence was carried out: 360 canals were dug to drain river waters. The river ceased to exist for 1000 years. But nature took its toll. The desert sands covered the canals, and the “sentenced” returned to its previous channel.

23. A unique river in the world - A river that changes its course every year and is the most “load-carrying”.

Kosi, India . The river is known for the fact that every year it creates a new channel for itself, eroding the rocks of the Himalayas on its way. The river carries all the excavated material with it. The annual volume of sediment reaches 120 million cubic meters, which is equivalent to the volume of 8,000,000 freight cars!

The Styx is a mythological river flowing through the kingdom of the dead in the domain of the gloomy Hades. She also has a namesake in the real world.

Styx, Perm region, Russia. And here, however, there were some dead people - the river separates the city of Perm from the cemetery.

25. Unusual rivers of Russia - Namesake rivers, rivers - clones.

Devitsa, Voronezh region, Russia. There are two rivers with this name. And even more than that: they both have tributaries called Rossoshka, and both flow into the Don.

Don. There are six rivers on the globe with this name.

Control guide. Two rivers with one name. One flows into the river. Ussuri, the other in Bikin. For some reason, there is a widespread opinion on the Internet that there is only one river, Kontrovod, and every three months it changes its flow direction and flows into one river, then into another. But, unlike rivers with a reverse flow, described at the beginning of the article, two rivers called Kontrovod are separated by the Strelnikov ridge, through which water flow cannot flow back and forth under any circumstances.

26. Unique rivers of the world - Blue rivers, icy banks.

Ice rivers, Greenland. Another type of unusual rivers that exist on our planet are the rivers of the icy island of Greenland. Greenland is covered by a thick ice sheet, the surface of which begins to thaw with the arrival of summer. Meltwater collects in streams, and streams flow into rivers flowing into Atlantic Ocean. The water of these unique rivers has an amazing aquamarine hue, which, in combination with the dazzling white icy banks, amazes happy observers with its extraordinary beauty.

27. Unique rivers of Russia - The cleanest rivers in the world.

Vonchi, Mari El, Russia - the cleanest river in the world. Vonchi is a shallow river 33 km long and 2-3 meters wide, a tributary of the river. Fly. No contaminants were found in the water of this forest river, which makes it stand out even among other reservoirs in this region known for their purity.

Irtysh, Russia, tributary of the Ob - is also recognized as one of the cleanest rivers on our planet.

28. Unusual rivers of the world and rivers of Russia - Rivers “Tamara and I walk as a pair.”

There are rivers on the globe that have underground counterparts.

Kara-Balta, Kyrgyzstan . The river flows from the Kyrgyz ridge. Kara-Balta, which gives its waters to wheat fields, sugar beet plantations, and orchards. Examining its bed, scientists discovered that even before entering the valley, the river loses about a third of its flow. When they drilled a well, it turned out that this river was two stories high! Seeping through the pebbles and sand, part of its water formed, as it were, a second, underground stream.

Volga, Russia. In 1981, hydrogeologists established that across the territory of the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic a large underground river runs parallel to the Volga, and in some places even adjoins it.

Amazon, South America. At the beginning of the 21st century, the world's longest underground river was discovered under the longest surface river in the world., flowing parallel to the Amazon at a depth of 4000 m. It originates in the Andes and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Its unofficial name is Hamza, in honor of the scientist who discovered it. The flow speed of the Hamza River does not exceed several meters per year, and the width is about 400 meters.

29. Unusual river of the world - A river playing hide and seek.

In Yugoslavia there is a river that first carries its waters in a narrow gorge, and then completely disappears into huge caves. Having walked a long way through the underground galleries, she disappears into a deep crack. Exactly - it disappears, because no one knows where it goes. They tried to find out with the help of dyes, but colored water was found in many springs around Trieste and even in the city water supply...

30. A unique river in the world - Underwater river.

It turns out that there are such unusual rivers on our wonderful planet. In 2010, a unique underwater river was discovered at the bottom of the Black Sea. An amazing river has the same elements as surface rivers: banks, waterfalls, rapids, floodplains and even whirlpools. The latter, by the way, do not twist counterclockwise (like all rivers Northern Hemisphere), and on it. Scientists have not yet figured out what causes this phenomenon.

The waters of the unusual underwater river are several times saltier than the surrounding sea water. The river flows through a trench 35 meters deep and about one kilometer wide. Length unique river is 60 km. The river flow speed is 6.5 km/h. If this unusual river flowed on the surface of the earth, it would be the sixth largest river in the world.

This was the article Unique and unusual rivers of the world and rivers of Russia."See further:

Did you know that March 14th was the International Day of Action for Rivers, formerly known as the International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life? .

At the beginning of the global anti-dam movement, in 1998, more than 50 protests took place on this day in more than 20 countries, including Brazil, India, Thailand, Australia, Russia, Japan, and the USA.

There are many amazing and unusual record-breaking rivers flowing around the world.

I want to tell you about them today.

The most colorful river - Caño Cristales

Caño Cristales is located in Colombia in the Serrania de la Macarena, Meta province. It is usually called the “river of five colors”. Such a variety of shades is created by the red, yellow, green and blue algae living in it.

The dirtiest river - Citarum

The Citarum River is located in Indonesia and is officially recognized as the dirtiest river in the world. The main reason is the five million people who live in its basin in West Java. Several years ago, the Asian Development Bank allocated half a billion dollars to clean up the river, but it did not bring the expected results. The river waters are the most important artery of this region, it is used to support Agriculture, water supply, industry, sewerage and as one large cesspool. It is very difficult to force five million people to change their attitude towards the river, even with such large cash injections.

The deepest river is the Congo

Previously, this river was called Zaire, it flows in the west of Central Africa. In terms of water content, Congo ranks second in the world and first on its continent, and its length is about 4,700 kilometers. This is the deepest river in the world - about 230 meters. In its upper reaches there is the famous Stanley Falls, a cascade of rapids over 100 kilometers long. It is considered among the most dangerous because it suddenly accelerates upon reaching the so-called “Hell's Gate,” a canyon about 130 kilometers long with many treacherous rapids. The total power of 32 high drops exceeds the total power of all rivers and waterfalls in the United States of America.

Kapuas River is the longest river on the island

It flows through the Indonesian territory of the island of Kalimantan and flows into the South China Sea, forming a branched delta. The Kapuas is the longest river in Indonesia, stretching for 1143 km.

The Row River is the shortest river in the world

Flows in Montana, USA. One of its arms is only 17.7 meters long.

Yarlung Tsangpo - the highest mountain river

The river flows through the South Tibetan plains, located at an altitude of almost 3000 meters above sea level.

The widest river in the world - Rio de la Plata

The river reaches a width of 225 km and is the result of the confluence of two rivers - the Uruguay and the Paraná.

Volkhov - a river flowing backwards

Volkhov is a famous river, this is the beginning of the path known from history “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” Overseas merchants traveled along the Volkhov to Novgorod. An interesting fact is recorded in the Novgorod chronicles: one day the Volkhov changed the direction of the flow. Since the river slope is small, due to heavy rains in the lower reaches and drought in the upper reaches, the river water flowed back to Ilmen.

The most muddy river- Yellow River

As for the great Chinese Yellow River, in addition to official name The Yellow River, for its violent nature, received many rather eloquent nicknames, such as, for example, the Woe of China, the River that breaks the heart, or the River that brings thousands of troubles. And this is not surprising: after all, over the course of human memory, the Yellow River changed its course 26 times and caused enormous catastrophic destruction over 1,500 times when it overflowed its banks. Over the past 40 years alone, the volume of work on the construction and strengthening of dams on the banks of the river, the level of which often rises 10 m above the adjacent plains, has exceeded the volume of earthworks, for example, on the construction of the Panama Canal by three times, and the Suez Canal by two times. The Yellow River is the muddiest among the major rivers of the globe. One cubic meter of its turbulent water contains on average 35-40 kg of rocks, mainly forests, which make up the so-called Forest Plateau through which it flows.

The largest river that does not flow anywhere is Tedzhen

The largest of the rivers ending in the desert is the Tejen River, which flows in Central Asia. Its length is 1124 kilometers. Within the boundaries of the former USSR, this river is partly dismantled for irrigation in the Tedzhen oasis, and partly is lost in the sands.

The most amazing rivers- Nelba and Velna

Have you ever seen rivers that intersect at right angles, and each of them after that... flows further along its own channel? Fantasy? No, reality! It turns out that there are such people on Earth. Near the Polish city of Wągraviec in the Poznan Voivodeship, two rivers Welna and Nelba intersect strictly at right angles. And their waters, imagine, without mixing at all, after that they flow on in their own channels. As scientists have found out, the secret of this unique phenomenon lies in the differences in water temperatures in these rivers. The fact is that in one river it is higher, and in another lower. In addition, they have different speeds and levels of currents. Experiments have been carried out here many times. Red paint was poured into Velna, and blue paint into Nelba. And at the intersection of the rivers, the colors did not mix: the red one ran in its own channel, and the blue one ran on top of the red one in its own.

The deepest river is the Amazon

This river, flowing in South America, due to its length, width and water content, is considered the longest (about 7,000 kilometers) and most dangerous river in the world. It accounts for 20 percent of river water entering the World Ocean. It spreads so widely that it is often called the “River Sea”, and its depth reaches 50 meters. During the high season, the Amazon floods the banks and islands, and high tidal waves appear on the river every now and then.

The longest river is the Nile.

The Nile, with a river length of 6,700 kilometers, is the longest river in the world. It is a vital river - people have settled along its banks since the Stone Age. The Nile flows from south to north. This is the only river in Africa that passes through the Sahara and brings its waters to the Mediterranean Sea.

The most acidic river is El Rio Vinegre

The El Rio Vinegre River, which flows in the area of the active Purace volcano (Colombia), has acidic water. Its length is about 1260 kilometers. Its water contains 11 parts of sulfuric acid and 9 parts of hydrochloric acid for every 1000 parts and is so acidic that not a single fish can live in it. One of the reasons for the high acid content in this river is the proximity of the volcano.

Based on materials:

It turns out March 14th was River Day. Holiday after holiday, but rivers are very important in the life of a person and the world around us. Therefore, don’t blame me, it’s late, but I’m issuing this repost.

I don’t know if this is actually one way or another. I vouch for the last two facts - this is an addition from me personally. The rest is taken from Nadezhda Marchenko’s Blog,

A river is a constant flow of water created by nature. It begins its movement at the source, and ends at the mouth, covering a long distance with the flow along its channel. Streams are a major part of the Earth's hydrological cycle. According to recent research, more than a billion large and small rivers flow around the world, and they carry billions of tons of water to the seas.
In this article we will look at the most interesting facts about rivers.

1.We remember from geography lessons that the longest river in the world is the Nile. However, thanks to recent research, it has become known that the Amazon has already surpassed it. The Nile is about 6695 km long and has two tributaries. His most most of Egypt accounts for 22%, the rest belongs to other countries - Burundi, Zaire, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. Interesting fact: The Nile was covered with ice only twice in its entire existence - in the 9th and 11th centuries.

2. The Amazon is the longest river of modern times. Its length is already more than 6800 km. It flows through South America and then flows into the Atlantic Ocean. In 2011, the Amazon was recognized as one of the natural wonders of the world. It contains more water than any other river on the planet. The Amazon is also amazing because along its entire course only one bridge, the Rio Negro, was built. Its length exceeds 3.5 km.

3. The Irtysh is the cleanest river and is the main tributary of the Ob. Its length is 4248 km and flows through the territories of three countries: Russia, Kazakhstan and China. In Russia, the Irtysh is considered the longest river after the Lena River (more than 2 thousand km).

4. The most “load-bearing river” is the Kosi River. It flows through the territory modern India, and every year it lays a new channel, at the same time devastating a large area. The total volume of sediment per year brought by Kosi is up to 120 cubic meters. 8 freight cars can be filled with sand, pebbles and clay, which the river brings annually from the Himalayas

5. One of the most mysterious rivers is Caño Cristales in Colombia. The second name of this river is “five-colored”. It is very small - up to 100 km long, no more than 20 meters wide, and there are almost no fish in it. The mystery of Kanyo is that it comes in 5 colors - green, blue, yellow, red and black. This palette of colors is given to it by the reflection of the sky, algae and river sand. It looks especially colorful between the dry and rainy seasons.

7. The most polluted river is the Royal River, which flows through the territory of the modern state of Australia. It is polluted with chemical waste from the mining industry. Since 1995, more than 1.5 million sulfides have been released into the Royal River each year.

8. On the territory of modern Poland there is interesting place, where the Nelba and Velna rivers intersect at an angle of 90 degrees. And due to the large temperature difference, different levels and water flow velocities do not mix with each other.

9. The most water-rich state is Finland. There are 188,000 lakes and 650 rivers flowing on its territory.
10. There is only one country on the planet in whose territory not a single river constantly flows - this is Saudi Arabia.

11. Piana is the most winding river on the planet. Its length is more than 400 km. However, the distance from the mouth to the source is no more than 30 km. It is located almost entirely in the Nizhny Novgorod region, however, a very small part of it is located in the Mordovian lands.

12. The most popular fictional river is Styx. It flows through the territory of the underground kingdom of the god Hades. However, on Earth there is its “namesake” in the city of Perm. The “second” Styx separated the city from the Yegoshikha cemetery back in the 18th century. However, on this moment its bed is not visible, because the Styx was driven into the pipes.

13. Paradox! IN Voronezh region There are two rivers with the name Devitsa, which have tributaries with the names Rossoshka, and they both flow into the Don.

14. One of the mysteries of nature is also blue rivers. They flow through the territory of Greenland. During periods of comparative warmth and with the arrival of summer, the ice begins to melt, causing small streams that merge into very large streams and eventually become rivers. To your great surprise, the water of these reservoirs is dark aquamarine in color. It is simply a combination of incredible beauty: eye-catching white snow and a sky-blue river.

15. Planet Earth is the owner of six rivers called Don.
16. In contrast to the Amazon, there is the shortest river on the planet. Its name is similar to its length - the D River. It flows through the United States, and its length is only 36 meters.

17. One of the funniest rivers is the Los River, which flows through Moscow. Its largest tributary is also called the Elk.
Planet Earth is fraught with many amazing natural wonders. Today we discovered a few facts about rivers, just a part of what nature has in store for us. We hope it was entertaining.

To this article, which I did not change either in the text or in the pictures, although I was somehow able to link four photographs (the last ones) to the text, I will add two more facts of my own.

1).The Vakh River is a river in the central part of the West Siberian Lowland, the right tributary of the Ob, 964 km, flows into the river. The Ob is 10 km above the city of Nizhnevartovsk, originating in the east-northeast from the swamps of the western edge of the lowland on the watershed of the Ob, Yenisei and Taz rivers.

Geographically located in the Nizhnevartovsk region of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug Tyumen region, where it is the second largest river after the Ob.

The river on the banks of which, in a small village of geologists, I lived for 22 years (photos from the 80s)

The Sym River, a left tributary of the Yenisei, 694 km, originates among the swamps of the eastern edge of the West Siberian Lowland, navigable 265 km from the mouth

So, in “ancient” times, merchants from Surgut “went” to their “colleagues” the Yenisei merchants with goods.

"For ten days big water, they say, “we got there.” First, upstream along the Ob and Vakh, then, a dozen miles away, to Syma and then downstream to Yeniseisk.

This path was kept secret.

2).The confluence of the Biya and Katun (Ikonnikov Island) declared a natural monument by a resolution of the Administration Altai Territory dated December 25, 2000. Located in the Smolensk region, between the villages of Smolenskoye and Tochilnoye. The Biya flows to the confluence from the northeast, the Katun from the southeast. Both rivers go around the vast island of Ikonnikov (area 1400 hectares) and opposite the village. Sorokino merge into a single stream - the Ob. The area occupied by the natural monument is 1240 hectares.

I already wrote in one of the articles about “Legends of Ancient Altai”

The confluence of the Biya and the Katun is very beautiful. Two rivers, simultaneously powerful, carry their waters, converging into an even more powerful stream - the Ob. But these two rivers have different colors. For some time, the rivers carry their waters, almost without mixing.

Unlike Katun, Biya maintains high water transparency all year round.

04.05.2016

The wind subsides, and then the plants become motionless. The seas are not always agitated, calming down, and their surface reflects the blue of the sky. And only the flow of the river is never calm. He always strives forward, usually towards the ocean. A river is like a living organism, it is constantly changing, something is always agitated, moving, overflowing in it. This is an emotional perception river flow. What interesting facts about rivers can be educational?

The Amazon is the queen among the rivers of the Earth. It carries a seventh of all river waters on the planet. Its numerous tributaries, many of which are major rivers themselves, flow into different time. The pulsation of the Amazon depends on this. It can quickly change channels and get in the way of unlucky travelers, flood huge areas of the surrounding territory, and the width of its delta is simply amazing. There is not a single bridge across the Amazon, only the banks of its tributary, the Rio Negro River, were connected by a single bridge in 2010.
The divine river, the creator of human civilization, the omnipotent being - the Nile. He always allowed people to get big harvests and we owe our legacy only to him Ancient Egypt. The Nile and the Amazon compete for the title of the longest river in the world.
The Yellow River is the second longest river in Eurasia. The Yellow River carries yellow waters through yellow land into the Yellow Sea. Not a single river on Earth changes its course as often and with such catastrophic consequences as the Yellow River. Traces of changes in its course remained throughout the Great Chinese Plain. An even more impressive structure than the Great Chinese Wall- These are dams along the banks of the Yellow River, built by the local population throughout the history of China.
The Ganges is the sacred river of the Hindus. They make a pilgrimage to the river to wash their bodies in its waters and cleanse themselves of all sins. The bodies of believers who died at the bosom of the Ganges are burned, and their ashes are scattered over the waters of the river stream.
During its existence, the main artery of North America, the Mississippi River created a huge lowland. Its delta is also continuously increasing in size. It grows about 100 meters per year. Until the 18th century, the Mississippi was the frontier separating America from the Wild West. The cities on its banks represented freedom and gave peace to African Americans fleeing slavery.
The Danube crosses Europe and connects it with Asia. This is the most important transport artery, which has acquired special significance since the heyday of the Byzantine Empire.
The state of Kievan Rus was formed in the basin of one of the greatest rivers in Europe - the Dnieper. The river was part of the legendary route “From the Varangians to the Greeks.”
The Diyala River, formerly called Gind, flows through Iraq. The sacred white horse of King Cyrus II drowned in it during the campaign against Byzantium. For this, the king executed the river, forcing numerous canals to be dug from it.

Almost every corner of the earth has its own river or stream. Every waterway is home to some living organisms. All rivers abound in fish; since ancient times they have served as routes of communication between countries and settlements. And you can tell some incredibly interesting facts and legends about each one.

The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world; in fact, it was once the longest, but according to recent research, it is now surpassed in length by the Amazon River. The length of the Nile River is approximately 6695 km and the river has two tributaries. Only 22% rivers flows through Egypt, the rest falls on other countries - Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.

The Amazon River in South America is the second longest river in the world after the Nile. It is 4,080 miles long and flows from the Andes Mountains in Peru through Brazil into the Atlantic Ocean. Amazon contains more water than any other river in the world.

The number and size of rivers flowing into the Atlantic Ocean are significantly greater than the number and size of rivers flowing into the greatest of all oceans - Pacific Ocean. This is explained by the fact that along the shores of the Pacific Ocean stretch for a long distance. high mountains. As a result, the Pacific Ocean absorbs water from only 20 percent of the world's land area, while the Atlantic and Arctic oceans collect water from 53 percent of the world's land area.

The Nile River was covered with ice twice - in the 9th and 11th centuries.

The Irtysh is one of the cleanest rivers in the world. The Irtysh is a river with a length of 4248 kilometers and is considered the main tributary of the Ob. The Irtysh flows through the territory of several countries: China, Kazakhstan and Russia. In the latter, the Irtysh River is considered the longest (2010 kilometers) along the Lena River. Its speed here does not exceed 0.5-1.5 meters per second.

The Lena River flows through the territory Eastern Siberia, and is one of the largest and most abundant rivers on the planet. This is evidenced by its name Ulakhan-Yuryakh, which translated from Yakut means “ big river" In terms of length, the Lena River ranks third in Russia and tenth in the world.

Sarno is a stream that passes through Pompeii to the south of the city of Naples. The river is considered the most polluted river in Europe. The polluted waters of the basin flowing into the Gulf of Naples increase the pollution of sea water.

The widest river in the world is La Plata (Rio de la Plata), also called the Silver River. Its width (from the confluence of the Uruguay and Parana rivers) ranges from 48 to 220 km! But due to this width, the depth of the river is shallow and navigation along it is difficult.

The Far Eastern River Kontrovod changes its course every three months, flowing either into the Ussuri River (a tributary of the Amur) or into the Bikin River (a tributary of the Ussuri).

Near the mouth of the Yenisei stands the now famous port of Igarka. It arose over the years on the site of a fishing camp in which the hunter-fisherman Egorka lived. The Nenets called him Igorka.

River flows annually carry 16 billion tons of solid materials into the seas and oceans in the form of stones, various debris or dissolved substances. If all this is loaded into freight cars, it will form a train that will circle the earth's equator 30 times.

There is a place in Poland where two rivers intersect at right angles - the Welna and the Nelba. At the same time, due to differences in water temperatures, different speeds and levels of currents, the waters of the rivers do not mix. This was confirmed by experiments: shortly before the crossing point, paints of different colors were poured into the rivers, and no mixing occurred.

On the territory of the Lena River basin, 12 reservoirs were built, the total volume of water in which is 36200.7 million cubic meters.

Not a single river in the world is next to the Amazon. The area of its basin exceeds 7 thousand km². This is twice the area of the Congo River, which is in second place.

The Royal River is the most polluted river in Australia. The river is polluted by chemical waste from the mining industry. About 1.5 million tons of sulfides have entered the river every year since 1995

The deepest river in the world is, of course, the Congo! It is also the second most water-bearing river in the world, after the Amazon. In narrow areas 300 meters wide, the Congo can reach a depth of 230 meters or more. Which certainly makes it the deepest river in the world.

The Gind River, now called Diyala, flowed through the territory of modern Iraq. During one of the campaigns against Babylon, the Persian army led by King Cyrus II drowned a sacred white horse. Cyrus ordered the execution of the river by digging out many canals.

Of the 70 rivers in Europe and Asia more than 1,000 kilometers long, 50 flow through the territory of the former Soviet Union.

Siberian rivers bring as much heat to the Arctic Ocean as would be produced by burning 3 billion tons of fuel. If not for the rivers, the climate of the North would be more severe.

Finland is a unique water region: 188,000 lakes and 650 rivers cover 10% of the country's total area.

The dirtiest river in the world is in Indonesia. Citarum is a river in Indonesia, flows near the capital of the country, Jakarta. And it collects waste from a city of 9 million. Local residents have already forgotten that there was once fish there. Collecting garbage in the river and recycling it is now much more profitable than fishing.

The Reprua River is the most short river peace. According to various sources, from 18 to 40 meters. It flows from underground caves near the Black Sea, into which it immediately flows. Water in caves appears due to the melting of snow and ice in the mountains. This is such a mini river.

In the Voronezh region there are two rivers named Devitsa, both flow into the Don, and both have rivers named Rossoshka as tributaries.

The Kosi River (in India) carves a new channel for itself every year, devastating large areas in its movement. Crops, villages, livestock - she sweeps away everything in her path. The river is also famous for its “carrying capacity”: the total volume of annual sediment is a huge figure - 116 million cubic meters. The pebbles, sand, and clay that the river annually brings to the valley from the Himalayas can fill 8 million freight cars!

The name of the country "India" comes from the name of the Indus River, as the valleys located near it became home to the first settlers.

The most unusual river in the world. And perhaps the most beautiful! Caño Cristales, River of Five Colors, Crystal River. There are practically no fish in this river. It’s all about the algae that grows in the river. They come in green, purple, blue, yellow and black. It depends on the time of year. The water in the river is almost distilled, there are practically no minerals and salts in it, and it is not suitable for drinking. But in the Crystal River there are still small fish that somehow find food for themselves. Caño Cristales is fed by rain and mountain water.

There is not a single bridge across the Amazon, a river almost 7,000 kilometers long. Only in 2010 was a bridge built across one of its tributaries, the Rio Negro. This bridge connects the largest port in the Amazon, Manaus, with the city of Iranduba, and its length is 3,595 meters.

Naryn is almost as good as the Volga in terms of water energy reserves. The power of the Volga (its hydropower resources) is 6.20 million kilowatts, and the power of Naryn is 5.94 million kilowatts.

In Moscow there is a river called Los, and the largest of the streams flowing into it is called Losenok.

The Indigirka River flows into the Arctic Ocean and is considered the coldest river in the world. Towards the end of winter, the lower reaches of the Indigirka can freeze through

IN Saudi Arabia there is not a single constantly flowing river.

One bank of the Ural River is in Europe, the other in Asia.

The length of the Neva River is only 74 km, but despite this, it flows through an area slightly smaller than the territory of Italy. The Neva delta includes lakes Ladoga, Onega, Saimaa, Ilmen, as well as the rivers Svir, Volkhov and Vuoksa. There is only one other similar water system in the world - the Great Lakes in North America. The main river of St. Petersburg, the Neva, carries more water than the Don and Dnieper combined.

The geography textbook (Nature of Russia) says that the Piana is the most winding river in the world. It flows almost entirely through the Nizhny Novgorod region, but it also enters the Mordovian lands, although only slightly. The length of the river is more than 400 km, and the distance from the upper reaches to the lower reaches is only 30 km.