Back Sytak Afrikaans Nebenfluss ALS Afluent AN رافد (نهر) Arabic Ҡушылдыҡ Bashkir Ėntaks BAT-SMG Прыток Byelorussian Прыток BE-X-OLD Приток Bulgarian Guntung BJN
A tributary,[1] or an affluent,[2] is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (main stem or "parent"), river, or a lake.[3] A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean.[4] Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they flow, drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean, another river, or into an endorheic basin.
The Irtysh is a chief tributary of the Ob river and is also the longest tributary river in the world with a length of 4,248 km (2,640 mi). The Madeira River is the largest tributary river by volume in the world with an average discharge of 31,200 m3/s (1.1 million cu ft/s).
A confluence, where two or more bodies of water meet, usually refers to the joining of tributaries.
The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream.[5] Distributaries are most often found in river deltas.
- ^ "tributary". PhysicalGeography.net, Michael Pidwirny & Scott Jones, 2009. Viewed 17 September 2012.
- ^ "affluent". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Viewed 30 September 2008.
- ^ "Definition of TRIBUTARY". Merriam-Webster.
- ^ Krebs, Robert E. (2003). The Basics of Earth Science. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-31930-3.
- ^ "opposite to a tributary". PhysicalGeography.net, Michael Pidwirny & Scott Jones, 2009. Viewed 17 September 2012.