Tributary facts for kids
A tributary of a river is another river that flows into it. If one river flows into a second river, then the first river is a tributary of the second river. A tributary is a body of water that flows into another body of water.
The opposite of a tributary is a distributary. A distributary is a river that branches off from the main flow of water, for example in a river delta.
Images for kids
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Looking downstream, the Shenandoah River (bottom right) meets the Potomac River which flows from bottom left to top right, so the Shenandoah is a right tributary of the Potomac, not a left tributary
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The basin of the Amazon River is a system made up of many tributary streams. The streams shown on the map besides the Amazon are tributaries of the Amazon. The Amazon is not a tributary of any other rivers because it ends in the Atlantic Ocean.
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The Benue River is fed by multiple tributaries originating in the Adamawa Plateau; many of the highest tributaries are seasonal streams. The Benue is itself a major tributary of the Niger.
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Huai River (which itself is a tributary of the Yangtze River) and tributaries .
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Jialing River (which itself is a tributary of the Yangtze River) and tributaries.
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The Mekong is a trans-boundary river, originating in the Tibetan Plateau. Its upper tributary river systems (e.g. the Salween River) are restricted to narrow gorges, but the tributaries that feed its lower reaches (e.g. the Mun River) cover larger areas.
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The water basin of the Wabash River; the other rivers (not including the Ohio River) are tributaries of the Wabash River. The Vermillion River (and its forks) is a highlighted example of a tributary of the Wabash River. The Wabash River is also a tributary of the Ohio River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi river.
See also
In Spanish: Afluente para niños
