3 Answers

A river is a natural channel down which water flows to the sea or a LAKE. Throughout history, rivers have provided water for drinking, farming, and industry, and offered food, transportation, and recreation. Some of the world’s largest cities have grown up on river banks.

Rivers usually begin as a trickle of water high in hills or mountains. Some come from rainwater or melting snow. Most emerge from underground streams, formed after rain or snow seeps into the ground then bubbles back to the surface. As the water flows downhill, the trickle swells into a stream and then, as side streams called tributaries join it, into a wider river.

As a river flows, it carries along material, or debris, called its load. A river’s load includes rocks, stones, and other large particles, which are washed along the riverbed. Finer particles float in the water.

A river’s load scours the riverbed, deepening its channel. The speed of the flowing water erodes the river’s banks, making it wider. As the river winds through the landscape, it gradually carves out deep valleys in solid rock and deposits huge amounts of debris to form a fertile plain. In places where the river flows over soft limestone, water seeps into the rock, slowly dissolving it and forming tunnels and caves.

Read more here>>http://www.factmonster.com/dk/encyclopedia/rivers.html

From here......

To here....

Ducky

And even more since this picture.... :(

This River is deteriorating thanks to surgeon's knives!