River delta

A
delta is the mouth of a
river where it flows into an
ocean,
sea, or
lake, building outwards (as a
deltaic deposit) from
sediment carried by the river and deposited as the water current is dissipated. Deltaic deposits of larger, heavily-ladden rivers are characterised by the river channel dividing into multiple streams (distributaries), these anastomizing (dividing and coming together again) to form a maze of active and inactive channels.
The most famous delta is that of the
Nile River, and it is this delta from which the term is derived, because the Nile delta has a very characteristic
triangular shape, like the (upper-case)
letter delta (Δ). Other rivers with notable deltas include the
Ganges/
Brahmaputra combination (this delta spans most of
Bangladesh), the
Niger, the
Amazon, the
Mississippi, the
Rhine, the
Rhône, the
Danube, the
Mekong, and the
Ebre.
List of deltas:
\n*Nile Delta\n*
Oil Rivers (Niger)\n*
Mekong Delta\n*
Mississippi Delta
In rare cases the river delta is located inside of a large valley and is called an
inverted river delta.
Category:Landforms\n