River delta

Nile River delta, as seen from Earth orbit. Photo courtesy of NASA.

A delta is a landform where the mouth of a river flows into an ocean, sea, desert, estuary or lake, building outwards (as a deltaic deposit) from sediment carried by the river and deposited as the water current is dissipated. Deltaic deposits of larger, heavily-laden rivers are characterized by the river channel dividing into multiple streams (distributaries), these divide and come together again to form a maze of active and inactive channels.

Delta formation

This arcuate delta has formed on the south-west coastline of Greenland, near Narsarsuaq.

The deposit at the mouth of a river is usually roughly triangular in shape. The triangular shape and the increased width at the base are due to blocking of the river mouth by fine sediment, with resulting continual formation of distributaries at angles to the original course. Herodotus the great historian used this term for the Nile river delta because the sediment deposit at its mouth had the shape of upper-case Greek letter Delta: Δ.

Where delta formation is river-dominated and less subject to tidal or wave action, a delta may take on a multi-lobed shape which resembles a bird's foot. The Mississippi Delta is an example of this type.

The most famous delta is that of the Nile River, and it is this delta from which the term is derived, because the Nile delta has a very characteristic triangular shape, like the (upper-case) Greek letter delta ($\Delta$). Ganges/Brahmaputra combination (this delta spans most of Bangladesh and West Bengal) is the world's largest delta, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. Other rivers with notable deltas include the Sacramento-San Joaquin, the Rhine, the Rhône, the Danube, the Ebro, the Volga, the Lena, the Tigris-Euphrates, the Indus, the Krishna-Godavari, the Kaveri, the Ayeyarwady, and the Mekong.

Other rivers, in particular at coasts with significant tidal range, do not form a delta but enter into the sea in form of an estuary. Notable examples are the Saint Lawrence River and the Tagus estuary.

In rare cases the river delta is located inside a large valley and is called an inverted river delta. Sometimes a river will divide into multiple branches in an inland area, only to rejoin and continue to the sea; such an area is known as an inland delta, and often occur on former lake beds. The Niger Inland Delta is the most notable example. Amazon has also an inland delta before the island of Marajo.

List of deltas

The Ganges river delta in India and Bangladesh is one of the most fertile regions in the world.

• Camargue (Rhône River Delta)
• Colorado River Delta
• Danube Delta
• Fraser River Delta
• Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta
• Indus River Delta
• Lena Delta
• Mackenzie River Delta
• Mekong Delta
• Mississippi River Delta
• Niger Inland Delta (inland delta)
• Niger River Delta (Oil Rivers)
• Nile Delta
• Okavango Delta (inland delta)
• Orinoco Delta
• Paraná Delta
• Pearl River Delta
• Rio Grande Valley
• Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt Delta
• Sacramento River Delta (inverted delta)
• Volga Delta
• Yangtze River Delta
• Yukon Delta

See also

• Delta switching
• Estuary

External link

• Louisiana State University Geology - World Deltas