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A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/ reservoir, a
At the butt of a river, the change in flow condition can cause the river to drop any sediment it is carrying. This sediment deposition can generate a variety of
A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/ reservoir, a bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
/ gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying capacity of the water.
The water from a river can enter the receiving body in a variety of different ways. The motion of a river is influenced by the relative density of the river compared to the receiving water, the rotation of the earth, and any ambient motion in the receiving water, such as tides
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another.
Tide tables can ...
or seiches
A seiche ( ) is a standing wave in an enclosed or partially enclosed body of water. Seiches and seiche-related phenomena have been observed on lakes, reservoirs, swimming pools, bays, harbors, caves and seas. The key requirement for formation ...
.
If the river water has a higher density than the surface of the receiving water, the river water will plunge below the surface. The river water will then either form an underflow or an interflow within the lake. However, if the river water is lighter than the receiving water, as is typically the case when fresh river water flows into the sea, the river water will float along the surface of the receiving water as an overflow.
Alongside these advective transports, inflowing water will also diffuse.
Landforms
At the butt of a river, the change in flow condition can cause the river to drop any sediment it is carrying. This sediment deposition can generate a variety of landform
A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography. Landforms include hills, ...
s, such as deltas, sand bar
In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...
s, spits
''Spits'' (; en, Peak/Rush Hour; stylized as ''Sp!ts'') was a tabloid format newspaper freely distributed in trains, trams and buses in the Netherlands from 1999 to 2014. Its competitor was ''Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: ...
, and tie channels. Landforms at the river mouth drastically alter the geomorphology and ecosystem. Along coasts, sand bars and similar landforms act as barriers sheltering sensitive ecosystems that are enriched by nutrients deposited from the river. However, damming of rivers can starve the river of sand and nutrients creating a deficit at the river mouth.
Cultural influence
As river mouths are the site of large scale sediment deposition and allowed for easy travel and ports, many towns and cities are founded there. Many places in the United Kingdom take their names from their positions at the mouths of rivers, such as Plymouth (i.e. mouth of the Plym River), Sidmouth (i.e. mouth of the Sid River), and Great Yarmouth (i.e. mouth of the Yare River); in Celtic, the term is Aber or Inver. Due to rising sea levels as a result of climate change, the coastal cities are at heightened risk of flooding. Sediment starvation in the river compounds this concern.See also
*Confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
* River delta
* Estuary
* Liman
References
Fluid dynamics Fluvial landformsMouth
In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...
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