Where is the Mississippi River on the world map. Mississippi (river): description, characteristics and tributaries of one of the greatest rivers in the world. Who Discovered the Mississippi
Mississippi (Mississippi) - in the language of local Indians - big river, a river in the USA, one of the greatest rivers peace. It is believed to have been discovered by Hernando de Soto in 1541 and rediscovered by Jacques Marquette and Louis Jollier in 1673 as they traveled down the Wisconsin River to its mouth. The legend claims that the local Indians urged the explorers not to move on, because there they would face imminent death from river demons and giant fish. Mark Twain suggested that the Indians were referring specifically to the paddlefish ( big fish more than two meters long and weighing more than fifty kilograms).
The length of the river is 3950 km (from the source of the Missouri - 6420 km), the basin area extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians and from the Great Lakes region to the Gulf of Mexico, 3268 thousand square kilometers. This is forty percent of the US area, not including Alaska.
The largest right tributaries are Minnesota, Des Moines, Missouri, Arkansas, Red River; left - Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio. The Mississippi originates in the north of the country, at the source of Nicolette Creek, crosses the territory of the United States from north to south and flows into Gulf of Mexico, forming a vast delta. The Mississippi valley was worked out in the direction of the main flow of waters of the Quaternary glaciation of North America.
The Mississippi carries into the sea an average of about 360 million tons of sediment per year. At the end of the delta, the river branches into six main relatively short branches, 20-40 km long, flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Chief among them is the South West Pass (southwest arm).
The river is fed by mixed snow and rain. The Mississippi regime is characterized by spring and summer floods. Flash floods are formed when the periods of snowmelt in the upper Mississippi basin and in the Missouri basin coincide with large torrential rains. Especially catastrophic floods in the Mississippi basin were observed in 1844, 1903, 1913, 1927, 1937, 1947, 1951, 1952, 1965.
Mississippi - a convenient waterway from the Gulf of Mexico to central parts mainland. The most important transport artery of the United States, connecting the developed industrial regions with the agricultural regions of the country.
River navigation takes place up to the city of St. Paul (over more than three thousand kilometers), ocean-going vessels rise to the city of Baton Rouge. The length of navigable routes in the entire Mississippi-Missouri system is more than 25 thousand km.
The Mississippi is the greatest river not only in America but in the whole world. Only in length from the source to the delta is it inferior to the Nile. Its length, together with the main tributary, the Missouri, is 6215 kilometers. In its basin, it surpasses even the Nile. The Mississippi Basin is 3,248,000 square kilometers! Although in this it is surpassed by another of the greatest rivers in America, however, the South - the Amazon. Rivers large and small flow into the Mississippi from the ancient wooded Appalachian mountains and from the highest rocky ridges of the Cordilleras; from the Great Lakes in the north to the blue expanses of the Gulf of Mexico in the south, it's all the Mississippi Basin.
If you look at a map, you will see that the Mississippi, with all its tributaries, looks like giant tree with a wide spread and branched crown. About half of the total population of the country lives on the banks of the river and its tributaries.
The river is fed mainly due to the favorable snow and rain regime. In general, due to different climatic conditions the eastern and western parts of the river basin differ in water features. Right hand tributaries descend and flow-- from the Rocky Mountains through the drylands. That is why even after the confluence with the Missouri, the Mississippi remains relatively shallow. big river it becomes only after the confluence with the Ohio River. Below the confluence of the Ohio, the Mississippi increases the flow of water by 1.5 times. That is why the regime of the river in the lower reaches is largely determined by the regime of the Ohio River. If the period of snowmelt in the Appalachians coincides with the maximum precipitation, then the level of the river in Ohio rises by 15 - 20 meters, in the lower reaches of the Mississippi - by 5 - 6 meters. And this leads to flooding of a significant part of the floodplain.
In the language of the Indians, "Mississippi" means "big river", "father of the waters." The Mississippi is the largest river in North America. It carries 2.5 times more water into the Gulf of Mexico than our Volga into the Caspian Sea.
In terms of its role in the life of the American people, the Mississippi has the same significance as the Volga for the Russian people. No wonder the Indians who once lived on its banks called the Mississippi the father of the waters. In the upper section, the river first flows through small lakes; there are rapids and rocky rifts, the most significant of them are located near the cities. Minneapolis (St. Anthony Falls), Davenport and Keokak. From the city of Minneapolis, the riverbed is sluiced, to the mouth of the Missouri there are more than 20 dams. In the middle section, the river flows mainly in one channel; the valley, 10-15 km wide, is bounded by steep slopes. Below the confluence of the Missouri, the muddy, dirty-brown water of this river flows for 150-180 km next to the relatively transparent Mississippi stream. In the lower section, the river flows through a vast plain composed of alluvial deposits, the width of the valley gradually increases downstream from 25 to 70-100 km; the river bed is winding, with numerous branches and oxbow lakes, forming in the lower reaches a labyrinth of channels, oxbow lakes, vast floodplain swamps flooded during floods. In almost the entire section, the channel is bordered by natural coastal ramparts, reinforced for flood protection by a system of artificial dams (with a total length of over 4 thousand km); the river flows between the ramparts in places above the surface of the floodplain. Below the city of Baton Rouge, a lobed river delta begins, covering an area of about 32 thousand km2, advancing into the sea in places by 85-100 m per year.
The Mississippi wanders for a long time among forests, lakes and swamps, then crosses a high plateau, enters a spacious fertile lowland created by its own sediments, and rolls its mighty waters along it to the Gulf of Mexico.
Previously, the Mississippi spilled widely over the lowlands, flooding the surrounding area for tens of kilometers. Then people built high earthen dams and narrowed the width of the stream to 1-3 km. Dams now accompany the river and the channels of some of its tributaries for many thousands of kilometers. When it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi forms one of the largest the globe an extensive fast-growing delta and the deposition of clastic material - pebbles, gravel, sand and others.
Yet the Mississippi and its tributaries the Missouri and Ohio experience floods so severe that they turn into truly national disasters.
Now the prairies are plowed up and the forests cut down. But the larger areas were freed from the forest, the less water became in the rivers, and its rises during floods became sharper, with frequently repeated floods.
In addition, the lower Mississippi is in the path of "great storms" -- warm, moist winds blowing in from the Gulf of Mexico. When warm air from the south it meets with cold air masses that have come here from the polar countries, there are showers and floods on the rivers.
In a ten-year period from 1940 to 1950, for example, about 100 floods occurred in the Mississippi basin, five of them were particularly severe.
Powerful modern technology, a whole army of engineers and many years of experience in flood control calmed the rebellious rivers. In the upper reaches of the Mississippi, before the Missouri flows into it, locks were built, creating, as it were, a staircase of 26 steps. There are now large ships sailing here. From the Mississippi, they can pass into the Great Lakes system, and along the Hudson River to get to New York.
The Mississippi became a busy thoroughfare, a great waterway connecting the northern states of the country with their vast fields and industrial areas and southern states- a huge area of cotton growing. Day and night, steamers go up and down, huge caravans of barges sail, loaded with coal, iron, timber, grain, many industrial products and various products. Agriculture. 3 thousand km - the length of the navigable part of the Mississippi, and if you take into account the tributaries, this figure will increase to 25 thousand km.
The life of individual segments of the population living on the banks of the great American river develops differently. Workers work in factories, plants, mines, fields, build roads, houses, dams. Agricultural workers provide the population with food, and industrial enterprises with the necessary raw materials. However, the position of the worker and farmer is very precarious: the former may be fired by the capitalist, the latter may go bankrupt. Such a fate befell many. They make up a huge army of the unemployed, whose lot is poverty and hunger.
Blacks live much worse. These people are subjected to humiliating racial discrimination. On the banks of the Mississippi Negroes are laboring in the sweat of their faces, porters, cotton pickers, masons, and laborers. Turning to the great river, they pour out their grief in sad songs: “O Mississippi, father of the waters! Why don't you see our suffering, don't you hear the groans of our wives and the cries of our children? Why don't you know how hard it is for a black person to live on your shores?
The best black singers sing for the whole world folk song"Mississippi", in which endless sorrow and indignation are heard. The songs of the working people sound more and more inviting on the banks of the Mississippi. They call to fight for a brighter future, freedom and happiness for all ordinary people world - white, black, colored.
The Mississippi is one of the greatest rivers on our planet. The famous writer Mark Twain compared her to the first liar in the world. The Mississippi got its name because of the capricious nature of the current.
Near the mouth itself, on the territory of the lower reaches, the river meanders as it pleases, along the plain. AT spring period it can adjust its length either up or down by changing its course. At the same time, it is difficult for those people who dared to settle on its changeable shores. The very name Mississippi in translation from the Indian means "great river".
Where does it flow
The Mississippi is a river that is the main communication water artery of North America. It originates in the Source of the Mississippi is Lake Itasca, located at an altitude of 1575 m above sea level. The river is divided into two sections. From its source to its confluence lies the Upper Mississippi. Further - the territory of the Lower Mississippi.
After the beautiful waterfall of St. Antonio, the river becomes navigable. In this zone, the relief of the channel changes to flat. The Mississippi is a river that carries its waters slowly in its lower reaches. It literally spills over a wide plain. The direction of the Mississippi River is from north to south. It is clearly visible in political map flows through ten states and serves as a natural border for many of them. If we take into account main tributary Mississippi - Missouri, then the basin of the great river covers thirty-one states of America. On the map, the blue thread is bounded by the Rocky Mountains to the west, the Appalachians to the east, and the Canadian border to the north. In its length, this river system ranks fourth on our planet.
Mouth of the great water artery
Where does the Mississippi River flow into? To the Gulf of Mexico. The mouth of the Mississippi River is located a little south (one hundred and sixty kilometers) of New Orleans.
At the confluence of the Mississippi with the Gulf of Mexico, the river forms a fairly large delta, the territory of which is located on an area of 31,860 square kilometers. The width of this zone is 300 km. Most of the delta is an area occupied by lakes and swamps. Navigation at the confluence of the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico is extremely complicated.
Movement is hampered by numerous sandbanks and frequent destructive floods. Partially solve this problem allowed the construction of dams. However, this led to the fact that the river ceased to supply the adjacent territories with silt, which is important for fertility, and reduced the rate of growth of the delta, which persisted throughout the history of its existence.
tributaries
The largest river that flows into the Mississippi is the Missouri. Its source is located at the confluence of three rivers. One of them is Jefferson.
North America is the owner of the longest water system in its territory. It is formed by the Mississippi, the Missouri River, and the Jefferson. The channels of these water arteries are quite long. Distance from the headwaters of the Jefferson River to the mouth great Mississippi is six thousand three hundred kilometers. The Missouri is the right tributary of the longest waterway in North America.
The second largest river flowing into the Mississippi is the Arkansas. It is its right tributary. The most full-flowing river that flows into the Mississippi is the Ohio (it is its left tributary).
On the map of America, you can find other major rivers that flow into the Mississippi. So, its right tributaries are the Red River and Minnesota, and the left ones are Illinois, Des Moines and Wisconsin.
Water regime and characteristics of the basin
The Mississippi is a river whose length is three thousand nine hundred and fifty kilometers. If this value is calculated from the sources of the Missouri, then the value will be increased to 6420 km. The area of the Mississippi basin is three thousand two hundred and sixty-eight square kilometers. This value is equal to forty percent of the entire US area (excluding Alaska). The average in Mississippi is twelve thousand seven hundred and forty-three cubic meters per second. In its lower reaches, the great river never freezes. In the upper one, freeze-up lasts for three to four months during the year.
Channel characteristics
On the site of his upstream America's great river flows through small lakes. The description of the Mississippi River indicates the presence of rapids, as well as rocky rifts. The most significant of them are located at the St. Anthony Falls, near the city of Minneapolis. They are also located near the settlements of Kiokak and Davenport.
The riverbed in the section from Minneapolis to the very mouth of the Missouri is locked. More than twenty dams have been built on it.
The Mississippi in its middle section is somewhat different. Here, the waters pass mainly along one channel, the width of which is ten to fifteen meters. In the middle section, steep slopes approach the river waters.
After the confluence of the Missouri, it flows into the channel cloudy water dirty brown. For one hundred and fifty to one hundred and eighty kilometers, this stream is adjacent to a relatively clear waters Mississippi.
The lower section of the river majestically carries its waters over a wide plain, the soils of which are composed of alluvial deposits. The riverbed in these places is winding. It has large quantity sleeves and old women. Where the Mississippi River calmly carries its waters across a vast plain, a whole labyrinth of channels is formed. There are many floodplain swamps and oxbow lakes, which during the flood period flood the adjacent territory.
Almost the entire section of the channel has a natural border with coastal ridges. To protect against floods, they are reinforced by a system consisting of artificial dams with a total length of over four thousand kilometers. The river flows between the ramparts. In places, the upper surface of the water is higher than the level of the floodplain surface.
A little below the city of Baton Rouge, a lobed river delta originates. It occupies a fairly large area (almost 32 thousand square kilometers).
The channel of the Mississippi at the end of the delta is branched into six short branches thirty to forty kilometers long. They flow into the Gulf of Mexico. The main of these arms is called the South West Pass. This is the southwestern branch of the Mississippi, which allows more than thirty percent of the total flow into the bay.
During floods, the water level rises sharply. Partially, they are dumped into Lake Pontchartrain, which is located near New Orleans. The rest ends up in the Alchafalaya River, which runs parallel to the Mississippi and also empties into the Gulf of Mexico.
Nutrition
The river receives most of its water from precipitation and snowmelt. It is noteworthy that at the same time, right tributaries make a great contribution to the supply of the Mississippi. These rivers are formed as a result of the melting of snows located on the Rocky Mountains. The right tributaries feed the Mississippi, as a rule, with storm and rain water.
Floods
Character water regime The river is associated with spring and summer floods. Heavy rainfall also contributes. Floods sometimes acquire simply catastrophic proportions. This happens when snowmelt in the Missouri and Mississippi basins coincides with the rainfall that occurs in the Ohio basin.
In such cases, severe floods are observed in the lower and middle reaches of the great river. During such floods, the flow of water in the channel increases to fifty to eighty thousand cubic meters per second. built downstream hydraulic structures unable to fully protect the fields and settlements from the flood.
water artery
The Mississippi is a convenient route to central regions North America from the Gulf of Mexico. The Great River is the most important transport artery of the United States and connects the developed agricultural and industrial regions of the country.
As a waterway, the Mississippi became less important during a period of intense competition from railways late nineteenth - early twentieth century. However, with the development of the region, the importance of the Mississippi has increased again.
At present, the total length of navigable routes is twenty-five thousand kilometers. In the lower part of the Mississippi, the turnover during the year reaches seven million tons. The main cargoes are chemicals and Construction Materials, oil products and coal.
In fiction, Mississippi is associated with the name of Mark Twain. He described the journey along the river in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Mississippi is considered the cradle of jazz. It was in New Orleans, located on its banks, that the famous jazzman was born, whose name is Louis Armstrong.
The golden age for the river was the nineteenth. Numerous river steamers sailed the Mississippi during this period. An old tradition is now being revived. However, steamboats today are traveled, as a rule, for tourist purposes.
Mississippi RiverThe pride of the United States is the Mississippi River. This is one of the longest and deep rivers peace. It flows from north to south and divides the country into two unequal parts. The trap is much larger than the east. A mighty stream of water crosses 10 states.
The boundaries of these administrative entities run along the middle of the river. For example, the lands of the state of Iowa stretch along the right bank, and the state of Illinois stretches along the left bank. So, having crossed the river, you can find yourself on land where completely different laws apply.
famous river The Mississippi is a winding "snake" across the entire continent of North America. The symbol of the old American South, the cradle of jazz, the mighty river of the United States has firmly entered the fiction and folk music, broke all records in terms of floods and the number of dams. She is - national pride and a national disaster at the same time.
Misi-ziibi means "great river" in the Ojibwe language.
The length of the Mississippi River is 2320 miles, which corresponds to 3734 km. This is the 10th place in the world among all the great rivers. But the river system of the Mississippi River (the river itself, plus its tributaries) is 6275 km, which corresponds to the 4th place in the world after the Amazon, the Nile and the Yangtze.
The Mississippi River begins its journey across the North American continent from Lake Itasca. It is characterized by very clean and clear water.
The mighty river ends its journey in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. This is the western part of the Atlantic. The Mississippi crosses the states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana. The Mississippi river system, that is, the river itself and all its tributaries, covers 31 states.
In the upper reaches of the river (Minnesota) there are rapids, rifts and waterfalls. The largest waterfall is located near the city of Saint Paul. It bears the name Saint Anthony, and the height of the water fall reaches 15 meters.
Further, the path of the river is more gentle. The shores are high cliffs hanging over water surface. The farther south, the height of the cliffs becomes smaller. In Illinois, they no longer make the right impression. This relief contrasts with the Lower Mississippi, where the banks are mostly gentle.
The width of the water stream gradually increases. In some places, the distance from coast to coast is 2-2.2 km. Near New Orleans, the width of the river reaches 2.5 km. At its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico, the great river forms a delta. It is 300 km wide and 320 km long.
The Mississippi River basin occupies a huge area and covers 40% of the United States. There are large river boats on the river all the way to St. Louis. The Americans themselves are very proud of the mighty stream, majestically carrying its waters to the Atlantic.
In the works of famous American writers many storylines develop on this river. More than any other famous name associated with the Mississippi is the name of Mark Twain. The indefatigable Samuel Clemens became a pilot on the river, and the river became one of the main characters of Mark Twain.
He also called the river "the world's first liar". This name was given to the river due to its wayward nature of the flow. In the lower reaches, closer to the mouth, the river winds its way across the plain as it pleases. In just one spring, it can become either shorter or longer, changing its course, and with it the fate of people who dared to settle on its troubled shores.
In the Mississippi River Valley you can meet unique alligators and no less unique turtles. Huge flocks flamingos, ibis and pelicans live near the water. Millions of miniature hummingbirds have found shelter and food in the green splendor of the Great River basin.
Text by Stanislav Lopatin
The Mississippi is no less important to an American than the Volga is to a Russian. It's not just the most big country, it is inscribed in history, in the very spirit of the United States, being part of the common American culture. And the Russian-speaking person is familiar with this name, if only because Mark Twain sang the river more than once in his adventure works. We will now learn some interesting data about the great North American waterway, in particular, where the Mississippi River begins and where it ends.
A little description
To imagine the scale of the Mississippi, let's give a couple of examples. Is it worth saying that in North America this is the most major river: both in length and in basin area and runoff. True, the figures given usually refer to a system consisting of two rivers: the Mississippi and its largest tributary, the Missouri. However, in hydrology - the science of water bodies, this method is used regularly. In particular, there is a similar “couple” in Russia: the Ob and the Irtysh.
- The length of the Mississippi, together with the Missouri, is 6,420 km, making this the third river system on the planet. But if you take only the Mississippi, the result will be much more modest: only 3,770 km, and the thirteenth place in the world.
- The basin area from which the Mississippi-Missouri system collects water is 2,980,000 km². This, by the way, is smaller than the Ob basin with the Irtysh. The Mississippi basin is located on the territory of 32 states of America!
- In terms of water content (water consumption), the Mississippi is inferior to two Russian rivers- Yenisei and Lena, yet included in the top ten most full-flowing rivers in the world (9th place).
- Previously, it was believed that the Mississippi basin with the Missouri fits entirely in the United States. According to the latest data, about 1.5% belong to Canada.
As is often the case with mighty rivers, it is not easy to determine their starting point, the place where they "start" from. After all, each gigantic river at the very beginning looks like an inconspicuous stream, and there may be several such streams. Try to find out which one is more important?
In the case of the Mississippi (by the way, it was named so by the Ojibwe Indians who once lived in this part of America, and this word means “big river”), it is considered to be the beginning of the small glacial lake Itasca. It is located in northwestern Minnesota. Interestingly, the name of the lake was given by the European William Morrison, and it consists of parts of two Latin words. The resulting word, consonant with the vocabulary of the Indians, can be understood as "true head." With this name, Morrison implicitly hinted that it was Lake Idasca that gave birth to the Mississippi. Although some scientists still point out that the interpretation of the source is incorrect, and the small Nicolette Creek, which flows into Idaska, should be considered as such.
Be that as it may, but a drop of water from Idasca, falling into the bed of the Mississippi, makes a journey of three months before it ends up at the mouth of a great river. And where is it, this mouth?
We learned where the main begins water artery America, but where does the Mississippi River flow into? But here everything is unambiguous and clear: the channel of this river ends in the Gulf of Mexico, between the USA, Cuba and Mexico.
This huge bay is so tightly separated from Atlantic Ocean that it is often referred to as the American mediterranean sea. An interesting fact is that huge masses of fresh water from the Mississippi, falling into the warm waters of the bay, do not mix with salt for a long time. ocean water, forming a kind of current. They are clearly visible in satellite images when shooting with special filters. The plumes of fresh water in these images are sometimes visible for several hundred kilometers!
It has been established that the waters of the Mississippi are able to go around the Florida peninsula. And already in open ocean mixed with the Gulf Stream, turning with it to the north. The waters of the river seem to be striving to return back to where they came from.
We have already mentioned the Missouri - the largest tributary of the Mississippi. And here again it is useful to recall Russia. The Missouri, together with our Irtysh, are the two largest tributaries on the planet! In addition to the Missouri, the most powerful tributaries of the Mississippi are the Arkansas and Ohio rivers.
Mark Twain wrote famous work- Life on the Mississippi. It can be concluded from it that in the century before last this river was the main transport artery of the young country, along which river steamers constantly scurried.
Now a huge amount of cargo is still transported along the river, but its origins, the most top part, protected by law, a nature reserve is organized there. Nature lovers come here, just curious, to see the small Lake Itasca with beautiful, forested shores. This is a special place for every American - the place where the Mississippi River, the American nation, originates.
Mississippi River- the world's first liar, that's what he called the river famous writer Mark Twain. This name was given to the river due to its wayward nature of the flow. In the lower reaches, closer to the mouth, the river winds its way across the plain as it pleases. In just one spring, it can become either shorter or longer, changing its course, and with it the fate of people who dared to settle on its troubled shores. The word Mississippi, translated from the Ojivbe Indian language, means "great river". The Indians here clearly did not show originality.
The Great Flood of 1927 is reflected in a Led Zeppelin song called "When the Levee Breaks". By the way, I propose to listen to it, so to speak, for the mood. I think this will help to better understand the upcoming story.
River length: 5,985 km.
Watershed area: 3,220,000 sq. km.
Flow direction: predominantly from north to south.
Where does it run: The Mississippi is the main river and communication artery in North America. The river originates from Lake Itasca in Minnesota. The height of the source above sea level is 1575 meters. The section from the source to the confluence of the Ohio River is called the Upper Mississippi. Further downstream, respectively, the Lower Mississippi begins.
On the way to Minneapolis is the beautiful St. Anthony Falls. Behind it begins the navigable part of the river. Here the relief changes to flat. The Mississippi flows slowly from north to south, spilling over a wide valley until it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, 100 miles south of New Orleans.
The path of the river is clearly visible on the US political map. Flowing through 10 states, it is simultaneously natural border for most of them. If we take into account the main tributary - the Missouri, then the river basin already covers 31 states. It cuts from the Appalachians in the east, to the Rocky Mountains in the west, and to the Canadian border in the north. It is the fourth longest river system in the world.
At its mouth, the Mississippi forms a large delta 300 km wide and 31,860 sq. km. Most of it is occupied by swamps and lakes. A large number of sandy shallows was a strong barrier to the development of navigation. Plus, the river often experiences devastating floods. The construction of dams and the deepening of the channel partially solved the problem. But, as always happens, they caused other problems. The deepening of the channel led to the fact that the river lost part of its natural meanders and shallows. And the construction of dams does not allow the river to supply the surrounding areas with fertile silt. It also led to a decrease in the rate of growth of the delta, which has constantly increased throughout history, cutting deep into the Gulf of Mexico.
Main tributaries: on the right - Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, Red River; left - Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio.
Characteristic, regime of the Mississippi River
Average water consumption in the river is 12,743 m3/s.
Freezing: does not freeze in the lower reaches. In the upper part, freezing lasts 3-4 months.
Nutrition: the river gets most water from snowmelt and precipitation. It is noteworthy that the right tributaries bring mainly water formed by snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains, while the left, on the contrary, mainly feed the river with rain and storm water. The Mississippi regime is characterized by spring and summer floods, as well as rain floods. Floods can reach just the same catastrophic proportions, which happened more than once when snow melting in the Mississippi and Missouri river basins coincided with heavy rains in the Ohio river basin. In this scenario, severe floods occur in the middle and lower reaches. During such catastrophic floods, water flow can increase up to 50-80 thousand m3/sec.
Interesting Facts:
1) After the clay-yellow waters of the Missouri flow into the bluish Mississippi River, their waters flow separately for another 40 km. In the Cairo area, history repeats itself again when, in the already cloudy waters of the Mississippi, the bright Ohio River flows. And, which is already quite unbelievable, but it happens again, but already in the ocean. As satellite imagery shows, the Mississippi does not end when it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Her fresh water without mixing with the sea, they go around the Florida peninsula and, getting into the Gulf Stream, turn to the north. Only at the latitude of Georgia river water finally dissolves into the salty ocean.
2) In literature, the name of the writer Mark Twain is most closely associated with the river, who described travels and adventures on it in his famous work “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
3) The Mississippi River is the cradle of jazz. It was on its banks in New Orleans that the great jazzman Louis Armstrong was born.
4) The 19th century is considered the golden age of the river. It was then that river steamers cruised along it in full. Now this tradition is being revived, but steamboats are now ridden mainly for tourist purposes.
Video film 1985: "Mississippi - Ally and Foe":
Also: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area
And to finish off, one more song: "The Road to the Mississippi."