braided rivers
Weaving water paths
Braided rivers are shallow waterways that split into multiple interwoven channels separated by small, often temporary islands of sediment.
The channels repeatedly divide and rejoin, creating a pattern that resembles braided hair when viewed from above.
They typically form where rivers carry heavy sediment loads across broad, flat valleys: The glacial meltwater spread across the plain in braided rivers.
- channel migrationRiver relocating its course
- floodplainsLow areas rivers inundate
- sandbarUnderwater ridge of sediment
- meanderTo travel without direction
- watershedDrainage area boundary
wild rivers · gravel · erosion · seasonal flooding · avulsion · shoal · riffle · flow · channel · gravel bars · pebbles · oxbow lakes · tributaries · riverbed · sedimentation · confluence · intertwined · delta
- Arctic rivers
- landformsmountain, cliff, valley, volcano, mountain ridge
- riversMississippi, Amazon, rivers, Nile, streams
- Alaska WildernessDenali, Alaska Range, caribou, brown bears, grizzly bear
- New Zealand Alps
- Nordic Terrainfjords, glacial valleys, glacial lakes, mountains, peaks