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18-612: The Escalante River is a tributary of the Colorado River . It is formed by the confluence of Upper Valley and Birch Creeks near the town of Escalante in south-central Utah , and from there flows southeast for approximately 90 mi (140 km) before joining Lake Powell . Its watershed includes the high forested slopes of the Aquarius Plateau , the east slope of the Kaiparowits Plateau , and

36-400: A new river, to be given its own name, perhaps one already known to the people who live upon its banks. Conversely, explorers approaching a new land from the sea encounter its rivers at their mouths, where they name them on their charts, then, following a river upstream, encounter each tributary as a forking of the stream to the right and to the left, which then appear on their charts as such; or

54-400: A river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas . Right tributary , or right-bank tributary , and left tributary , or left-bank tributary , describe the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, that is, facing

72-449: Is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ( main stem or "parent" ), river, or a lake . A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean . Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they flow, drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater , leading the water out into an ocean. The Irtysh is a chief tributary of the Ob river and

90-509: Is a transport system allowing ships and barges to use inland waterways (such as canals , rivers and lakes ). These waterways have inland ports , marinas , quays, and wharfs. Modern researchers have long recognised that inland navigation is a relatively environmentally friendly option for freight transport compared to other modes of transportation such as air carriage and road transport , and similar to rail freight transport . Therefore, policy makers have been aiming to shift

108-411: Is also the longest tributary river in the world with a length of 4,248 km (2,640 mi). The Madeira River is the largest tributary river by volume in the world with an average discharge of 31,200 m /s (1.1 million cu ft/s). A confluence , where two or more bodies of water meet, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary ,

126-482: The Escalante River's course is through sinuous sandstone gorges. The river and the rugged canyons which drain into it form a key section of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument . This spectacular region is a popular destination for hiking and backpacking . For most of the year, the Escalante River is a small stream, easily stepped across or waded. During spring runoff and the summer monsoon, however,

144-421: The direction the water current of the main stem is going. In a navigational context, if one were floating on a raft or other vessel in the main stream, this would be the side the tributary enters from as one floats past; alternately, if one were floating down the tributary, the main stream meets it on the opposite bank of the tributary. This information may be used to avoid turbulent water by moving towards

162-521: The first known European explorer of the region. In 1776, Escalante and his Spanish superior Francisco Atanasio Domínguez left from Santa Fe, New Mexico in an attempt to reach Monterey, California . During this journey, usually referred to as the Domínguez–Escalante expedition , Escalante and his companions passed by the Grand Canyon and were the first white men to enter Utah . Much of

180-454: The first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary. Another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure , stored as a tree data structure . Inland navigation Inland navigation , inland barge transport or inland waterway transport ( IWT )

198-451: The handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream. For instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. These naming conventions are reflective of the circumstances of a particular river's identification and charting: people living along the banks of a river, with a name known to them, may then float down the river in exploration, and each tributary joining it as they pass by appears as

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216-400: The high desert north of Lake Powell. It was the last river of its size to be discovered in the 48 contiguous U.S. states . The average discharge is approximately 146 cfs (4.1 m³/s). The river was first mapped and named by Almon Thompson, a member of the 1872 Colorado River expedition led by John Wesley Powell . It was named after Silvestre Vélez de Escalante , a Franciscan missionary and

234-469: The opposite bank before approaching the confluence. An early tributary is a tributary that joins the main stem river closer to its source than its mouth, that is, before the river's midpoint ; a late tributary joins the main stem further downstream, closer to its mouth than to its source, that is, after the midpoint. In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as

252-438: The river can become a raging, muddy torrent ten to one hundred times bigger. In some years, the river can be run using kayaks or canoes ( rafts are too large), but this requires both good timings — water which is too high or too low can make travel impossible, stranding boaters — and the willingness to portage boats several hundred vertical feet at the end of the trip. Tributary A tributary , or an affluent ,

270-666: The river into which they feed, they are called forks . These are typically designated by compass direction. For example, the American River in California receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago River 's North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork; the South Branch has its South Fork, and used to have a West Fork as well (now filled in). Forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here,

288-418: The smaller stream designated the little fork, the larger either retaining its name unmodified, or receives the designation big . Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river and ending with those nearest to the mouth of the river . The Strahler stream order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third and higher orders, with

306-432: The streams are seen to diverge by the cardinal direction (north, south, east, or west) in which they proceed upstream, sometimes a third stream entering between two others is designated the middle fork; or the streams are distinguished by the relative height of one to the other, as one stream descending over a cataract into another becomes the upper fork, and the one it descends into, the lower ; or by relative volume:

324-553: The volume of cargo transported by more pollutive means towards inland navigation in order to reduce the overall environmental impact of transport , for example, as part of the European Green Deal (2019). To accomplish this, however, various challenges need to be tackled, including making inland navigation itself less pollutive than it has been, building larger barges and tows to increase their efficiency, and constructing or improving inland waterways navigable enough for

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