Wikipedia:WikiProject Rivers

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Shortcut: WP:RIVERS

First, an important note for everyone to remember:

A few Wikipedians have gotten together to make some suggestions about how we might organize data in articles about rivers. These are only suggestions, things to give you focus and to get you going, and you shouldn't feel obligated in the least to follow them. But if you don't know what to write or where to begin, following the below guidelines may be helpful. Mainly, we just want you to write articles!

[edit] Title

WikiProject Rivers

[edit] Scope

This WikiProject aims primarily to describe the Earth's rivers in a consistent and complete fashion.

[edit] Parentage

The parent of this WikiProject is the WikiProject Geography.

[edit] Descendant Wikiprojects

No descendant WikiProjects have been defined.

[edit] Similar Wikiprojects

for naming in geography: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Subnational_entities#Naming
WikiProject Lakes

[edit] Participants

[edit] Naming

River articles may be named "X", "X River", or "River X", depending on location and most common usage. "X river" and "X (river)" are not recommended.

This does not say what has to be used in general, whether plain "X" or "X River" (e.g. rivers of Germany are currently mostly "River"-less). "River X" is used for rivers in the UK and Ireland.

If different rivers with the same name exist, use bracket-disambiguation (e.g. Vils (Danube), Turiec River (Váh), Bistriţa River (Moldavia), Colorado River (Texas)).

[edit] Multiple rivers with the same name

Due to the fact that there are countless rivers in the world with the same name (e.g. the Columbia River has two tributaries named the Salmon River, another flows into the lower Fraser River and one more has been identified in Nova Scotia), not all of which are recent namings in the Americas (e.g. there are four rivers in England called River Avon), the following method of disambiguation is proposed:

The most important river can stay at the undisambiguated title, lesser known ones add a qualifier. So. Jordan River, Jordan River (disambiguation), Jordan River (Utah)
In practice, most rivers needing disambiguation have been identified by the smallest appropriate political entity. So Colorado River and Colorado River (Texas).
- Always use parentheses for the disambiguator for U.S. and Australian rivers, not a comma. For example Indian River (Michigan) not Indian River, Michigan which is actually a town. (New Zealand and British rivers have used the River, place format)
A river can be identified uniquely as a tributary of another river. It should be named with the name of the principal river following in parentheses. So St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan) and St. Joseph River (Maumee River)
If a river with a shared name empties directly into a lake or definable sea, then the name of that body of water could follow in parentheses, as in Jordan River (Dead Sea). (any current example?)
Failing that, the name of the continent could follow in parantheses, as in Rio Grande (North America). (any current examples?)

[edit] Rivers with multiple names

Some rivers have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the rivers pass through. (An example would be the Cunene River in Angola, which is known as the Kunene River in Namibia. Occasionally, a river can have several genuinely distinct names. For example, the Cuando River not only has the variant spelling Kwando, it's also called the Linyanti and the Chobe. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a river:

If the river is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.
If the section of the river that uses a particular name is much longer than other sections, then use that as the name.
If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the section of the river closest to the river's mouth, since generally that is where the river is widest.

[edit] Article Structure

[edit] Lead Paragraph

The first paragraph should be a self-contained description including the most important things to know; name(s) - both historic and current - in bold, location (continent/countries/seaboards), and notable facts about the river, such as longest, second longest, main waterway of a country, etc.

[edit] Course

The narrative description of the course should proceed from the main headwater of the river downstream to its mouth, noting direction, size, major tributaries, human settlements, waterfalls, dams, and so forth. This should be at least a paragraph, may be several paragraphs for long rivers.

This section can include numerical data on length, volume, drainage basin, etc.

Info on water basins can be found at World resources Institute (site is down; archive)

[edit] Natural History

Mention distinctive plants and animals associated with any part of the river.

[edit] Geology

The evolution of some rivers has been well explored (e.g., the Missoula Floods and their effect on the Columbia River). Such information should be placed here, with a suitable discussion of all POVs when possible. See also Glacial geology of the Genesee River.

[edit] History

Describe what is known about the different inhabitants along the river, along with a description of the scientific exploration expeditions/efforts.

[edit] Economy

A countless number of rivers have been used as means to transport people, goods, etc., and are still used so today. All such information should be described here. Stylistically, this can be a good segue from history, connecting past uses of the river to present-day uses.

[edit] Lists

List the tributaries, starting from the mouth and going upstream. Add important subtributaries in sublists. Major tributaries should be links if there is a reasonable chance of article content, minor tributaries should be just names.

List the cities and towns along with the river, also in upstream order.

List dams, locks, waterfalls, rapids, if there are more than a couple and/or they're not mentioned in the lead or course narrative.

[edit] References and External links

Preferably refer to history, ecology, public policy, books, websites, etc.

[edit] Images

There should be at least one picture, preferably a typical view. Important rivers should have additional pictures illustrating their notable features. Maps of the river's course and of its watershed are highly desirable.

[edit] Indexing

Every river article should be indexed in list of rivers by name, and indexed in list of rivers by continent, along with its major tributaries.

[edit] Categories

Every article should have a category. If a river is restricted to one country, list in Category:rivers of country. If it runs through several, list in each country category.

[edit] Other river-related articles

[edit] List articles

List of rivers by name
List of rivers by continent
- Lists of rivers by country
- Lists of rivers by state or province, etc.
List of tributaries of Hudson Bay
List of rivers by length
List of rivers by average discharge
List of largest drainage basins
List of European rivers with alternative names
List of river name etymologies

[edit] Related categories

Category:Rivers
Category:Lists of rivers
Continent rivers categories (Category:Rivers of Asia)
Country rivers categories (some in the form Category: Rivers of Belarus; some as British rivers) -this probably should be standardized on one form

[edit] Hierarchy Definition

No classification of Rivers has been defined.

See this example on dividing a topic into a hierarchy.

[edit] Project message box

The message box {{river}} is available to add to talk pages of river articles and gives:

This article is part of WikiProject Rivers, a WikiProject to systematically present information on rivers. If you would like to participate, you can choose to edit the article attached to this page (see Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ for more information)

{{River|Mapneeded=yes}} can be used to add the article to Category:River_articles_needing_maps as well.

[edit] Template

Scheldt (Example)
The Scheldt in Antwerp
Origin	France
Mouth	Westerschelde
Basin countries	France, Belgium, Netherlands
Length	350 km (217 mi)
Source elevation	95 m (312 ft)
Avg. discharge	120 m³/s (4,238 ft³/s)
Basin area	21,860 km² (8,440 mi²)

[edit] Current template

Use the template {{Infobox_river}} for representative images and basic information about a river. The example at right shows how it looks. See the template's discussion page for instructions, examples, and blank versions of the template to start with.

[edit] Suggested new template

There exist a new template, currently placed at Template:Infobox River Geography. It is based on the same internal logic and css as Template: Infobox City and Template: Infobox Country, thus aiming at having all geography infoboxes in the same style. It can accomodate a wide range of data, the imput values can be both metric or imperial (and the other figure is calculated automatically), multiple values for river names, basin countries, discharge at various locations etc, coordinates of both source and mouth (which are linked to wiki maps)... The field names are not fully compatible with the current tamplate (e.g. while there's just elevation field in the old template, the new one has source_elevation and mouth_elevation). It should be able to accomodate all data I saw in the current infoboxes and much more. If it is found useful, it might supersede this template. You can see it in action at, e.g.:

[edit] Sources

transboundarywaters
Rivers.html
earthtrends maps (free registration required)
U.S. Geological Survey Geological Name Information Server, lists all U.S. rivers with topo maps and many aerial photos

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Categories: WikiProject Rivers | Geographical WikiProjects