The 40 most important rivers of the world
The table below shows the top 40 rivers on Earth by length. You can also reorder the table by name, multi-year average flow or catchment area by clicking on the appropriate column at the top of the table.
River | Length (km) [1] | Average discharge (m3/s) [3] | Catchment area (km2) [2] | Place of Shedding | States crossed by the main course (listed from upstream to downstream) | Continent | Observations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nile | 6690 | 2633 | 3340877 | Mediteraneean Sea | Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Egypt | Africa | Nile-Kagera length |
Amazon | 6275 | 215000 | 5941000 | Atlantic Ocean | Peru, Colombia, Brazil | South America | The length of Amazon-Uucayali-Apurimac |
Mississippi | 5970 | 16800 | 3244506 | Mexico Gulf | US | North America | The length of Mississippi-Missouri |
Yangtze | 5530 | 30146 | 1746195 | The East China Sea | China | Asia | |
Ob | 5300 | 12889 | 3054985 | The Kara Sea (Obi Gulf) | China, Kazakhstan, Russia | Asia | The length of the ordinary |
Yenisey | 5039 | 19499 | 2518211 | The Kara Sea (Yenisey bay) | Mongolia, Russia | Asia | The length of Enisei-Angara-Selenga |
Huang He (Yellow River) | 4585 | 2571 | 963345 | The Yellow Sea (Bohai Gulf) | China | Asia | |
Mekong | 4500 | 16000 | 781429 | South China Sea | China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam | Asia | |
Congo | 4370 | 41200 | 3689187 | Atlantic Ocean | The Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola | Africa | |
Amur | 4350 | 11330 | 2246081 | Ohotsk Sea | Mongolia, Russia, China | Asia | The length of the Amur-Kherlen |
Lena | 4264 | 18300 | 2467695 | Laptev Sea | Russia | Asia | |
Niger | 4160 | 6925 | 2115246 | Gulf of Guinea | Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria | Africa | |
Mackenzie | 3780 | 10338 | 1805885 | Beaufort Sea | Canada | North America | The length of Mackenzie-athabasca |
Paraná | 3700 | 18290 | 2639954 | Atlantic Ocean | Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina | South America | |
Volga | 3531 | 8060 | 1431107 | Caspic Sea | Russia | Europe | |
Indus | 3180 | 5533 | 864452 | The Sea of Arabia | China, India, Pakistan | Asia | |
St. Lawrence | 3057 | 16800 | 1055756 | Saint Lawrence Gulf | Canada, USA | North America | The lenght of St. Lawrence river with the St. Louis river and the Great Lakes |
Brahmaputra | 2909 | 25000 | 539989 | The Bay of Bengal | China, India, Bangladesh | Asia | |
São Francisco | 2897 | 2943 | 634842 | Atlantic Ocean | Brazil | South America | |
Yukon | 2897 | 6576 | 838177 | The Bering Sea | Canada, USA | North America | |
Danube | 2860 | 6500 | 797335 | Black Sea | Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine | Europe | |
Rio Grande | 2800 | 160 | 673199 | Mexico Gulf | USA, Mexico | North America | |
Euphrates | 2760 | 356 | 637000 | The Persian Gulf | Turkey, Syria, Iraq | Asia | |
Zambezi | 2660 | 3424 | 1373188 | Mozambic Channel | Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique | Africa | |
Tocantins | 2640 | 11796 | 769445 | Atlantic Ocean (Marajó Gulf), Amazon Delta | Brazil | South America | |
Murray | 2600 | 767 | 1054594 | Indian Ocean | Australia | Australia | |
Ganges | 2597 | 38129 | 1004724 | The Bay of Bengal | India, Bangladesh | Asia | |
Salween | 2480 | 6600 | 265761 | Andaman Sea | China, Myanmar, Thailand | Asia | |
Ural | 2428 | 400 | 211789 | Caspic Sea | Russia, Kazakhstan | Europe/Asia | |
Nelson | 2400 | 2370 | 1110603 | Hudson Gulf | Canada | North America | The length of Nelson-Saskatchewan-Winipeg |
Orinoco | 2220 | 37740 | 937352 | Atlantic Ocean | Venezuela, Colombia | South America | |
Dnieper | 2201 | 1670 | 511695 | Black Sea | Russia, Belarus, Ukraine | Europe | |
Colorado | 2190 | 640 | 661274 | California Bay | USA, Mexico | North America | |
Koyma | 2149 | 3800 | 657254 | East Siberian Sea | Russia | Asia | |
Columbia | 1950 | 7500 | 671064 | Pacific Ocean | Canada, USA | North America | |
Orange | 1860 | 365 | 975724 | Atlantic Ocean | Lesotho, Rep. South Africa, Namibia | Africa | |
Tigris | 1855 | 1214 | 375000 | Shatt al-Arab | Turkey, Iraq, Iran | Asia | |
Pechora | 1789 | 4533 | 316307 | The Barents Sea | Russia | Europe | |
Magdalena | 1530 | 7200 | 259619 | The Caribbean Sea | Colombia | South America | |
Rhein | 1326 | 2900 | 163646 | North Sea | Switzerland, Liechtestein, Germany, France, the Netherlands | Europe |
Theoretical concepts
Discharge is the amount of water flowing in a unit of time. In the case of rivers it is expressed in m3/s. The table above shows the multi-annual average flows near the river mouth.
The catchment is the area from which a river collects its waters and includes all tributary streams (whose water flows directly or indirectly into the river). It can be described quantitatively by area size, average slope, shape, average altitude, etc.
The river network is the totality of watercourses in a region (river basin, a country or a continent). It can be characterized by:
- density (km/km2) - the cumulative length of all watercourses per km2; generally higher in mountainous regions, increasing with fragmentation, i.e. the energy of the relief;
- length of streams (long or short streams) - this is partly subjective and involves comparing the length of rivers in two different regions, e.g. rivers in the British Isles with those in the lowlands of Eastern Europe;
- average gradient - higher in mountainous regions and lower in lowland regions;
- hydropower potential - refers to the amount of hydropower that can be produced; depends on flow, slope of rivers and relief configuration. generally higher in mountainous regions.
Bibliography
[1] Atlas Geografic General (1974) Editura Didactică și Pedagogică - Bucharest.
[2] Global Data Runoff Center (GRDC) - https://www.bafg.de/GRDC/
[3] https://www.wikipedia.org/
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