This article is about river islands as geomorphic formations. For the UK retailer, see
River Island .
Exposed land within a river.
A small, inceptive, river island at Sihoť , Bratislava , Slovakia
Satellite picture of Csepel Island in Hungary which is south of Budapest city centre
A river island is any exposed land surrounded by river water. Properly defined it excludes shoals between seasonally varying flows and may exclude semi-coastal islands such as in deltas .
These islands result from changes in the course of a river such as interactions with a tributary or the opposing fluvial actions of deposition and/or erosion such as forming a natural cut and meander . Nascent vegetation-free shoals and mudflats may dissipate and shift or build up into such islands through deposition and which may be assisted through artificial reinforcement or natural factors such as, reeds , palms , evergreen trees or willows , to large examples covering many square kilometers, examples of which are given below.
Regional nomenclature
Look up
towhead in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
The term "towhead " implies a little islet or shoal within a river (most often the Mississippi River ) having a grouping or thicket of trees, and is often used in the Midwestern United States . Many rivers, if wide enough, can house considerably large islands. The term "towhead" was popularised by Mark Twain 's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
In England, a river island in the Thames is referred to as an "ait " (or "eyot").
Largest and smallest
Friday Island is an example of a very small island with a solid-foundations house
Majuli in India, being non-coastal and being between two channels of one river is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as world's largest example.,[1] but Ilha do Bananal meets the same qualifications and is much larger. Umananda is among contenders as the smallest permanently-inhabited river island with fixed dwellings at 0.02 km². Majuli and Umananda lie in the Brahmaputra River . Many as tiny as Umananda or smaller, inhabited, exist in the Amazon basin and Bangladesh . On canalised rivers such as the Thames and the Seine one-home islands of permanent-materials homes exist such as Monkey , Friday , Holm and D'Oyly Carte islands, as canalisation reduces the erosion of the islands and in particular limits the height of flash flooding by maintaining substantial "heads" of water through barrages .
Lists of river islands
Note: Includes some river islands that also have an ocean coast.
Name
Area (km²)
Country
River
Marajó
40,100
Brazil
Amazon River / Pará River
Ilha do Bananal
19,162
Brazil
Araguaia River
Tupinambarana
11,850
Brazil
Amazon River
Bahr al Jabal Island
7,929
South Sudan
Bahr al Jabal Bahr el Zeraf
Holland /Utrecht
7,361
Netherlands
Rhine River IJssel River
Ilha Grande de Gurupá
4,864
Brazil
Amazon River
Margarita Island (Colombia)
2,832[2]
Colombia
Magdalena River
Uarini Island
2,339
Brazil
Uarini River , Amazon River
Boven Digul
2,171
Indonesia
Digul River , Kawaga River
Richards Island
2,165
Canada
Mackenzie River
Krasnoslobodsk
2,002
Russia
Volga River , Akhtuba River
Veľký Žitný ostrov
1,885.2[3]
Slovakia
Danube
Hatiya Island
1,508.23
Bangladesh
Meghna River
Letea Island
1,480
Romania
Danube River
Camargue
1,453
France
Grand Rhone , Petit Rhone
Bhola Island
1,441
Bangladesh
Meghna River
Chongming Island
1,267[4]
China
Yangtze River
Majuli
1,250
India
Brahmaputra River
Ile à Morfil
1,250
Senegal
Senegal River
Dibru Saikhowa
765
India
Brahmaputra River
Sandwip Island
762.42
Bangladesh
Meghna River
Great Brăila Island
720.2
Romania
Danube
Sumba Island
500[5]
Democratic Republic of Congo
Congo River
Montreal
499
Canada
St. Lawrence River , Ottawa River
Szigetköz
375
Hungary , Slovakia
Danube
Manpura Island
373
Bangladesh
Meghna
Inhacamba
340
Mozambique
Zambezi
Hoeksche Waard
323.74
Netherlands
Oude Maas , Nieuwe Maas
Yangzhong Island
320
China
Yangtze
Csepel Island
257
Hungary
Danube
Île Jésus
242
Canada
Rivière des Mille Îles , Rivière des Prairies
Voorne-Putten
220
Netherlands
Oude Maas , Nieuwe Maas
Hisingen
199
Sweden
Göta älv
Mosqueiro
191
Brazil
Amazon River
Mbamou Island
180[6]
Republic of the Congo
Congo River
Roberts Island
133[7]
United States
San Joaquin River
Union Island
130[7]
United States
San Joaquin River
Davis Island
120
United States
Mississippi River
Taiama Island
115.55
Brazil
Paraguay River
Lulu Island
112.4
Canada
Fraser River
Sarpinskiy Island
110
Russia
Volga River
Sauvie Island
105
United States
Columbia River
Dordrecht Island
79.53
Netherlands
Oude Maas , Hollands Diep
Srirangam
74.4
India
Kaveri [8]
Grand Island
73.8
United States
Niagara River
Rangitata Island
~65
New Zealand
Rangitata River [notes 1]
Ostrvo
60
Serbia
Danube
Manhattan Island
59
United States
Hudson River /East River /Harlem Creek
Hengsha Island
55.74
China
Yangtze River
Woodford Island
37
Australia
Clarence River
Wilhelmsburg
35.3
Germany
Elbe
Isla Teja
15
Chile
Cau-Cau River /Cruces River /Valdivia River
Srirangapatna
13
India
Kaveri
Shivanasamudram
[9] India
Kaveri
Grosse Ile
25
United States
Detroit River
Inch Clutha
~24
New Zealand
Clutha River
Khortytsia
23.59
Ukraine
Dnieper River
Island of Šarengrad
9
Disputed (Serbia/Croatia)
Danube
Yeouido
8.4
South Korea
Han River
Sedudu /Kasikili
5
Botswana
Cuando River
Hayden Island
4.4
United States
Willamette River
Nanjido
2.8
South Korea
a branch of the Han River
Rŭngrado
1.3
North Korea
Taedong River
Yanggakdo
1.2[10]
North Korea
Taedong River
Nakanoshima
0.7
Japan
Kyū-Yodo River
Zhenbao Island
0.7
China
Ussuri River
Bhavani Island
0.53
India
Krishna River
Bamseom
0.24
South Korea
Han River
Île de la Cité
~0.2
France
Seine
Nakasu
~0.2
Japan
Nakagawa River
Island of Vukovar
0.032
Disputed (Serbia/Croatia)
Danube
Umananda Island
0.02
India
Brahmaputra River
Some Sevit (Gavit,Chavit,Solvit,Yevit)
0.0104 (0.0048,0.0034,0.0012,0.0008)
South Korea
Han River
Pheasant Island
0.00682
Condominium between France and Spain
Bidasoa
Most populous river islands
This list ranks river islands with a population of at least 25,000.
Name
Population
Area [km²]
Country
City
River
Salsette Island
15,111,974
619
India
Mumbai and Thane
Ulhas River
Île de Montréal
1,942,044 (2016)[11]
499
Canada
Montreal
St. Lawrence River
Manhattan Island
1,628,701 (2018)[12]
59
United States
New York City
Hudson River /East River
Chongming Island
660,000 (2010)
1,267
China
Shanghai
Yangtze River
Île Jésus
422,993 (2016)[13]
242
Canada
Laval
St. Lawrence River
Veľký Žitný ostrov
226,446 (2001)
1,885
Slovakia
several
Danube
Vasilievsky Island
209,188 (2017)
10.9
Russia
St. Petersburg
Bolshaya Neva /Malaya Neva
Lulu Island
198,309 (2016)[14]
122.4
Canada
Richmond
Fraser
Srirangam
181,556 (2001)
13
India
Srirangam
Kaveri
Majuli
167,304 (2011)
422
India
Vaishnavite Shrines
Brahmaputra River
Csepel Island
166,953 (2012)
257
Hungary
several
Danube
Hisingen
130,000
199
Sweden
Gothenburg
Göta älv
Wilhelmsburg
49,132 (2006)
35.3
Germany
Hamburg
Elbe
Yeouido
30,988 (2006)
8.4
South Korea
Seoul
Han River
Mosqueiro
27,000
191
Brazil
Belém
Amazon River
See also
Ait – Islands found on the River Thames and its tributaries in England
Anabranch – A section of a river or stream that diverts from the main channel and rejoins it downstream.
Archipelago – Collection of islands
Distributary – Stream branching off from main stream channel
Fluvial landforms – Sediment processes associated with rivers and streamsPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
Island – Piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water
Lake island – Island located in a lake
Point bar – Landform related to streams and rivers
River bifurcation – The forking of a river into its distributaries
River delta – Silt deposition landform at the mouth of a river
Notes
^ Due to redirecting of water from the Rangitata River, the river's southern distributary channel is now dry except after heavy rain or snow melt. As such, Rangitata Island is usually connected to the South Island mainland.
References
^ Majuli, River Island. "Largest river island" . Guinness World Records . Retrieved 6 September 2016 .
^ "Río Grande de la Magdalena - Colección Ecológica del Banco" . Retrieved 3 January 2015 .
^ "Žitný ostrov" . Retrieved 3 January 2015 .
^ address, author,email. "崇明县" . www.shanghai.gov.cn . CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link )
^ "Largest Islands of Countries" . Retrieved 3 January 2015 .
^ "Malebo Pool" . Encyclopædia Britannica . Accessed June 2017.
^ a b "SUMMARY REPORT ROBERTS ISLAND AND UNION ISLAND RIPARIAN WATER RIGHTS INVESTIGATION, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, CA, JUNE 2008" (PDF) .
^ W. Francis (1906). Gazetteer of South India. p. 199.
^ Shivanasamudra
^ Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang, by Justin Corfield, p.227
^ "2016 Census Profile - Montréal, Territoire équivalent (Census division)" . Statistics Canada . Retrieved 2017-03-23 .
^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: New York County (Manhattan Borough), New York; United States" . www.census.gov . Retrieved 2019-09-12 .
^ "2016 Census Profile - Laval, Territoire équivalent (Census division)" . Statistics Canada . Retrieved 2019-09-11 .
^ "2016 Census Profile - Richmond (Census division)" . Statistics Canada . Retrieved 2019-09-11 .