Confluence (geography)
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The Mosel flows into the Rhein at Koblenz.
This simplified diagram shows how a section of the Industrial Canal in New Orleans also serves as the channel for the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal. At the bottom, a portion of the Intracoastal is also shown to be confluent with the Mississippi River.
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where a tributary joins a more major river. The German city name Koblenz indicates, in Germanicized form, its site at the confluence of the Rhine and the Mosel.[1]
The term is also used to describe the meeting of tidal or other non-riverine bodies of water, such as two canals[2] or a canal and a lake.[3] A one-mile (1.6 km) portion of the Industrial Canal in New Orleans accommodates the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal; ergo those three waterways are confluent there.
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[edit] Notable confluences
- Allahabad in India, where the sacred rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Saraswati meet to form the Ganges river. It is one of the holiest places in Hinduism. The confluence itself is called Triveni Sangam.
- The merging of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. This merging point is the beginning of the Ohio River, thus forming a confluence in Pittsburgh.
[edit] Integer latitudes and longitudes
Confluence also describes a location where integer latitude and integer longitude lines cross. The point in extreme northeastern New Jersey at is such a confluence point. The Degree Confluence Project endeavors to catalog and photograph all such points on the globe.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Touristik & Kultur. Stadt Koblenz. Retrieved on 2006-03-11.
- ^ The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers refers to the confluence of the Assawoman Canal with the Bethany Loop Canal in Delaware. See: CENAP-OP-R-Quarterly Report, 2004-05-12. Philadelphia Engineer District. Retrieved on 2006-03-11.
- ^ Engineers in New Orleans refer to the confluence of the 17th Street Canal and Lake Pontchartrain. See: Interim Closure Structure at 17th St. Canal. Task Force Guardian. Retrieved on 2006-03-11.
- ^ DCP: Information. Degree Confluence Project. Retrieved on 2006-03-11.
