CK12 Earth Science

Figure 13.9: The divides of North America. ( 23 )

Rivers generally move a lot of water. The Amazon River, the world’s river with the greatest
flow, has a flow rate of nearly 220,000 cubic meters per second! By comparison, at Niagara
Falls, nearly 1,800 cubic meters of water fall per second (Figure13.10).

Sinceriverscontainsomuchwater, humanshaveusedthemsincethebeginningofcivilization
as a source of water, food, transportation, defense, power, recreation, and waste disposal.
The water you drink probably comes from a reservoir fed by rivers. The electricity in your
house may also come from power plants that use rivers to generate power. Obviously, the
natural areas along by rivers are affected by humans use or misuse of the rivers. Sometimes
entirepopulationsoforganismscanbedestroyedbypollutionofarivermanymilesupstream.
Table13.1shows the 10 longest rivers in the world.

Table 13.1:

# Name Continent Rate of Flow

m^3 /s

Approximate

Length (km)

1 The Nile Africa 2,900 6695

2 The Amazon South America 225,000 6683

3 Yangtze Asia 33,000 6380

4 Mississippi

River

North America 13,000 5970

5 Ob River Asia 13,000 5410