The Mississippi
River
River
Hundreds of years ago, Native Americans
used the enchanting river road for trade
and travel, along with the help of the
Hopewell Indian Culture turning into the most advanced society near the beginning of North America.
The Mississippi River's depth go down less 3 feet at the headwaters in Minnesota, to the deepest section between governor Nicholls Wharf and Algiers Point in New Orleans where it is 200 feet deep!
60% of all North American birds (326 species) uses the Mississippi River Basin as their migratory flyway!
The name "Mississippi" comes from the Anishinabe people (Ojibwe Indians). They called the river "Messipi" or "Mee-zee-see-bee," which means "Big River" or "Father of Waters."
The Mississippi River is a fishing hot spot! 241 fish species inhabit the Mississippi River and its tributaries!
A raindrop falling into lake Itasca would arrive near the Gulf of Mexico in about 90 days.
Water skiing was invented in 1922 on the Mississippi River, in a wide part of the river known as Lake Pepin, between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
At 24 miles long, the Lake Pontchartrain Cause way in New Orleans, Louisiana is the world longest over-water highway bridge.
This is the Mississippi River from a birds eye view.
The Mississippi river is the largest system in the United States and the North America . About 2,320 miles (3,730 km) long,[5] the river originates at Lake Itasca, Minnesota and flows slowly southwards in sweeping meander, terminating 95 river miles below New Orleans, Louisiana where it begins to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its major tributary, the Missouri River, the river drains all or parts of 31 U.S. states stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Canada-U.S. border on the north, including most of the Great Plains, and is the fourth longest river in the world and the tenth most powerful river in the world.
The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age. The southernmost extent of this enormous glaciation extended well into the present-day United States and Mississippi basin. When the ice sheet began to recede, hundreds of feet of rich sediment were deposited, creating the flat and fertile landscape of the Mississippi Valley. During the melt, giant glacial rivers found drainage paths into the Mississippi watershed, creating such features as the Minnesota River, James River, and Milk River valleys. When the ice sheet completely retreated, many of these "temporary" rivers found paths to Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean, leaving the Mississippi Basin with many features "oversized" for the existing rivers to have carved in the same time period. The Mississippi River Delta has shifted and changed constantly since the formation of the river, but the construction of dams on the river has greatly reduced the flow of sediment to the delta. In recent years, the Mississippi's mouth has shown a steady shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel, but because of flood works at the river's mouth, this change of course—which would be catastrophic for seaports at the river mouth—has been held at bay.
Hundreds of Native American tribes have depended on the Mississippi River and its tributes for thousands of years. Although they knew the river by many different names, it was the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi, meaning Great River, or gichi-ziibi, meaning big river, that ultimately gave the river its present-day name. European explorers reached the mouth of the river as early as the 1500s and 1600s. The river throughout history has served as the border for New France, New Spain, and the early United States—its size and importance made it a formidable boundary as well as a strategic military location, and later, an important artery for steamboats to travel on. Writer Mark Twain was one of the most well-known figures on the river in this period. Even today, the river serves as partial boundaries for ten states, and most of its course can easily be seen on a political map. The Mississippi has also been known for great flooding events, especially in the twentieth century which experienced up to four 100-year floods. This has led to the construction of hundreds of miles of levees along nearly the entire course of the river, although they have not always succeeded to prevent the greatest floods.
Throughout its history, whether for native Americans, explorers, or modern commerce, the Mississippi has always been a major navigation route through the center of North America. In the 19th and 20th centuries, despite its slow current and relative depth, a series of dams were constructed on the river, one of the most notable of which is at St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. These dams facilitate navigation for a steady stream of barge traffic carrying agricultural products from the fertile Mississippi Basin to the Gulf Coast, and like the Columbia River, most of the Mississippi also is a cascade of reservoirs. Most of its big tributaries—the Missouri and Ohio Rivers—have also been developed for navigation. However, the development of the 20th and 21st centuries has also come with environmental problems, the most infamous of which is the enormous Gulf of Mexico dead zone that extends hundreds of miles out to sea from the river's mouth. Because of dredging activity to deepen the Mississippi River channel, many natural features such as sandbars and meanders no longer exist. Efforts are being made to clean up the river and its tributaries, including the establishment of National Park Service sites on the river and the prevention of agricultural waste from flowing into the river.
Mississippi River Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels, and is separated from adjacent basins by a drainage divide.
The drainage basin acts like a funnel, collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channelling it into a waterway. Each drainage basin is separated from adjacent basins by a geographical barrier such as a ridge, hill or mountain, which is known as a water divide.
Outflow
Fresh river water flowing from the Mississippi
into the Gulf of Mexico does not mix into
the salt water immediately. The images from
NASA's MODIS to the right show a large plume
of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon
against the lighter-blue surrounding waters.
The images demonstrate that the plume did not mix
with the surrounding sea water immediately. Instead, it stayed intact as it flowed through the Gulf of Mexico, into the Straits of Florida, and entered the Gulf Stream. The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to the latitude of Georgia before finally mixing in so thoroughly with the ocean that it could no longer be detected by MODIS.
The basics
Easier - The Mississippi River is the second longest river system in the United States. Only the Missouri River is longer. The Mississippi flows 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers) from its source in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.
Harder - The word, Mississippi probably comes from a combination of Chippewa words (mici and zibi) meaning "great river" or "great water." It was first written as "Michi Sepe" by Lieutenant Henri de Tonti traveling with the explorer La Salle.
The Mississippi and its tributaries drain almost all the plains between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Its drainage basin is the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the Amazon and Congo Rivers. The drainage basin covers 1,247,300 square miles (3,230,490 square kilometers) in 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. This area encompasses the nation's most productive agricultural and industrial regions. The Mississippi is the nation's chief navigable water route. Barges and towboats on the Mississippi River System carry sixty percent of the agricultural goods, industrial products, and raw materials transported on inland waterways.
The Mississippi River and its valley also support many kinds of animals and plants including freshwater fishes, birds, deer, raccoons, otters, mink, and a variety of forest trees. But pollution from agriculture and industry seriously threaten the life of the Mississippi.
The Source of the river
Lake Itasca is a small lake, approximately 1.8 square miles (4.7km squared) in area,it is the source of the Mississippi. However, the exact point cannot be located, because there are so many small tributaries and marshy areas that drain into the Mississippi watershed. Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the river's source in 1832. He had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake (which is downstream from Itasca) as the source of the river.
The river ends its 3,770 km walk in the gulf of Mexico where it meets the sea.
By Lucy Klemperer
used the enchanting river road for trade
and travel, along with the help of the
Hopewell Indian Culture turning into the most advanced society near the beginning of North America.
The Mississippi River's depth go down less 3 feet at the headwaters in Minnesota, to the deepest section between governor Nicholls Wharf and Algiers Point in New Orleans where it is 200 feet deep!
60% of all North American birds (326 species) uses the Mississippi River Basin as their migratory flyway!
The name "Mississippi" comes from the Anishinabe people (Ojibwe Indians). They called the river "Messipi" or "Mee-zee-see-bee," which means "Big River" or "Father of Waters."
The Mississippi River is a fishing hot spot! 241 fish species inhabit the Mississippi River and its tributaries!
A raindrop falling into lake Itasca would arrive near the Gulf of Mexico in about 90 days.
Water skiing was invented in 1922 on the Mississippi River, in a wide part of the river known as Lake Pepin, between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
At 24 miles long, the Lake Pontchartrain Cause way in New Orleans, Louisiana is the world longest over-water highway bridge.
This is the Mississippi River from a birds eye view.
The Mississippi river is the largest system in the United States and the North America . About 2,320 miles (3,730 km) long,[5] the river originates at Lake Itasca, Minnesota and flows slowly southwards in sweeping meander, terminating 95 river miles below New Orleans, Louisiana where it begins to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along with its major tributary, the Missouri River, the river drains all or parts of 31 U.S. states stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the Canada-U.S. border on the north, including most of the Great Plains, and is the fourth longest river in the world and the tenth most powerful river in the world.
The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age. The southernmost extent of this enormous glaciation extended well into the present-day United States and Mississippi basin. When the ice sheet began to recede, hundreds of feet of rich sediment were deposited, creating the flat and fertile landscape of the Mississippi Valley. During the melt, giant glacial rivers found drainage paths into the Mississippi watershed, creating such features as the Minnesota River, James River, and Milk River valleys. When the ice sheet completely retreated, many of these "temporary" rivers found paths to Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean, leaving the Mississippi Basin with many features "oversized" for the existing rivers to have carved in the same time period. The Mississippi River Delta has shifted and changed constantly since the formation of the river, but the construction of dams on the river has greatly reduced the flow of sediment to the delta. In recent years, the Mississippi's mouth has shown a steady shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel, but because of flood works at the river's mouth, this change of course—which would be catastrophic for seaports at the river mouth—has been held at bay.
Hundreds of Native American tribes have depended on the Mississippi River and its tributes for thousands of years. Although they knew the river by many different names, it was the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi, meaning Great River, or gichi-ziibi, meaning big river, that ultimately gave the river its present-day name. European explorers reached the mouth of the river as early as the 1500s and 1600s. The river throughout history has served as the border for New France, New Spain, and the early United States—its size and importance made it a formidable boundary as well as a strategic military location, and later, an important artery for steamboats to travel on. Writer Mark Twain was one of the most well-known figures on the river in this period. Even today, the river serves as partial boundaries for ten states, and most of its course can easily be seen on a political map. The Mississippi has also been known for great flooding events, especially in the twentieth century which experienced up to four 100-year floods. This has led to the construction of hundreds of miles of levees along nearly the entire course of the river, although they have not always succeeded to prevent the greatest floods.
Throughout its history, whether for native Americans, explorers, or modern commerce, the Mississippi has always been a major navigation route through the center of North America. In the 19th and 20th centuries, despite its slow current and relative depth, a series of dams were constructed on the river, one of the most notable of which is at St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis. These dams facilitate navigation for a steady stream of barge traffic carrying agricultural products from the fertile Mississippi Basin to the Gulf Coast, and like the Columbia River, most of the Mississippi also is a cascade of reservoirs. Most of its big tributaries—the Missouri and Ohio Rivers—have also been developed for navigation. However, the development of the 20th and 21st centuries has also come with environmental problems, the most infamous of which is the enormous Gulf of Mexico dead zone that extends hundreds of miles out to sea from the river's mouth. Because of dredging activity to deepen the Mississippi River channel, many natural features such as sandbars and meanders no longer exist. Efforts are being made to clean up the river and its tributaries, including the establishment of National Park Service sites on the river and the prevention of agricultural waste from flowing into the river.
Mississippi River Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain and melting snow or ice drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean. The drainage basin includes both the streams and rivers that convey the water as well as the land surfaces from which water drains into those channels, and is separated from adjacent basins by a drainage divide.
The drainage basin acts like a funnel, collecting all the water within the area covered by the basin and channelling it into a waterway. Each drainage basin is separated from adjacent basins by a geographical barrier such as a ridge, hill or mountain, which is known as a water divide.
Outflow
Fresh river water flowing from the Mississippi
into the Gulf of Mexico does not mix into
the salt water immediately. The images from
NASA's MODIS to the right show a large plume
of fresh water, which appears as a dark ribbon
against the lighter-blue surrounding waters.
The images demonstrate that the plume did not mix
with the surrounding sea water immediately. Instead, it stayed intact as it flowed through the Gulf of Mexico, into the Straits of Florida, and entered the Gulf Stream. The Mississippi River water rounded the tip of Florida and traveled up the southeast coast to the latitude of Georgia before finally mixing in so thoroughly with the ocean that it could no longer be detected by MODIS.
The basics
Easier - The Mississippi River is the second longest river system in the United States. Only the Missouri River is longer. The Mississippi flows 2,340 miles (3,766 kilometers) from its source in northwestern Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.
Harder - The word, Mississippi probably comes from a combination of Chippewa words (mici and zibi) meaning "great river" or "great water." It was first written as "Michi Sepe" by Lieutenant Henri de Tonti traveling with the explorer La Salle.
The Mississippi and its tributaries drain almost all the plains between the Appalachian Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. Its drainage basin is the third largest in the world, exceeded in size only by the watersheds of the Amazon and Congo Rivers. The drainage basin covers 1,247,300 square miles (3,230,490 square kilometers) in 31 states and 2 Canadian provinces. This area encompasses the nation's most productive agricultural and industrial regions. The Mississippi is the nation's chief navigable water route. Barges and towboats on the Mississippi River System carry sixty percent of the agricultural goods, industrial products, and raw materials transported on inland waterways.
The Mississippi River and its valley also support many kinds of animals and plants including freshwater fishes, birds, deer, raccoons, otters, mink, and a variety of forest trees. But pollution from agriculture and industry seriously threaten the life of the Mississippi.
The Source of the river
Lake Itasca is a small lake, approximately 1.8 square miles (4.7km squared) in area,it is the source of the Mississippi. However, the exact point cannot be located, because there are so many small tributaries and marshy areas that drain into the Mississippi watershed. Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the river's source in 1832. He had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake (which is downstream from Itasca) as the source of the river.
The river ends its 3,770 km walk in the gulf of Mexico where it meets the sea.
By Lucy Klemperer
