Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Is a confluence of more than two rivers plausible?

+0
−0

Two rivers converging into one is obviously extremely common, most often when one is clearly dominant over the other (whereby the lesser one is the 'tributary' of the greater) but also sometimes where the two rivers are roughly equally-sized. I know it is also possible for rivers to divide, although this is less common.

Is it hydrologically/geologically plausible to have a single point that is the confluence of more than two rivers? Would such a configuration be stable?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/150644. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

Very plausible.

One example is the Feather River of California. The West Branch and Middle Fork combine at the top of Lake Oroville, which is a long skinny lake running north/south. At the bottom of the lake, the Middle Fork and South Fork also converge.

enter image description here

The American River, just south of Feather in California, has multiple branches that converge in various places. Depending on how you count it, I think several spots qualify. In particular though, look at the North Fork.

enter image description here

Look for mountainous areas because this restricts how and where the rivers can flow and makes it more likely for branches to come together.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »