710 articles
Irrawaddy River (ဧရာဝတီမြစ်)
Irrawaddy River (Ayeyarwady, ဧရာဝတီမြစ်), Myanmar's principal river, about 1,300 miles long from the Mali–N'mai confluence to nine delta mouths; monsoon-fed, lightly dammed, vital for rice irrigation, navigation, and critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins.
Irtysh (river, Russia)
Irtysh (Иртыш, Kazakh Ertis): major Siberian river, largest Ob tributary, 4,248 km from the Altai through Kazakhstan to the Ob at Khanty-Mansiysk; basin 1,643,000 km², discharge 99.8 km³/yr.
Ishim
The Ishim, also called Esil (Есіл), is a river about 2,450 km long in Kazakhstan and Russia, and a left tributary of the Irtysh that flows through Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.
James River
James River: Virginia's largest watershed and longest river, renamed from the Powhatan Flu for King James I; site of Jamestown (1607), Richmond at the fall line, and the state's largest drinking water source serving 2.7 million people.
Japurá (river, Brazil)
Japurá, the Brazilian name of the Caquetá River, an Andean-origin Amazon tributary rising at Páramo de las Papas, Colombia; about 2,800 km long, discharging 18,620 m3/s into the Solimões near Tefé.
Jari
Jari (Rio Jari), Amazon left-bank tributary in Amapá and Pará, Brazil, about 800–950 km long, 57,000 km² basin; site of Daniel Ludwig's Jari Project cellulose enterprise and Santo Antônio dam.
Javary
Javary (Rio Javari, Río Yavarí), Amazon right tributary rising in Peruvian Andean foothills; forms the Brazil–Peru border for nearly its whole length, about 1,056 km, basin 91,000 km², home to the Vale do Javari Indigenous Territory with the largest confirmed concentration of uncontacted peoples.
Jequitinhonha
Jequitinhonha, Rio Jequitinhonha: Brazilian river rising in Minas Gerais' Espinhaço range, flowing 1,086 km to the Atlantic; 70,315 km² basin, historic diamond mining, Irapé dam, lithium boom.
Jhelum River
Jhelum River (Hydaspes; Sanskrit Vitasta), an Indus tributary flowing through the Kashmir valley into Pakistan, joining the Chenab at Trimmu; site of Alexander's 326 BCE battle, Mangla Dam, and a western river under the Indus Waters Treaty.
Jialing
Jialing (嘉陵江), major left-bank tributary of the upper Yangtze, ~1,120 km through Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Chongqing; largest Yangtze tributary by area (~160,000 km²), joins Yangtze at Chaotianmen, Chongqing; heavily dammed, moderate hydrologic alteration since 1985.
Jinsha
Jinsha (金沙江, Golden Sand River), upper Yangtze section, 2,308 km from Batang River estuary to Yibin; world's largest hydropower base with Baihetan Dam and major flow, sediment, and fish habitat changes.
Jiparaná
Jiparaná (Ji-Paraná, also rio Machado) is a 972-km river in Rondônia, Brazil, a tributary of the Madeira in the Amazon basin. Its 75,400 km² basin is heavily deforested in the south, with pasture area strongly predicting river chemistry.
Jordan River
Jordan River (نهر الأردن): Middle East river flowing from Mount Hermon headwaters through the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea; over 90 percent of flow diverted; governed by the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty; distinct from Utah's Jordan River.
Jurua
Jurua (Rio Juruá), major whitewater Amazon tributary rising in Peru, about 3,280 km long, one of the Amazon Basin's most sinuous rivers; basin 224,000 km2, discharge about 9,000 m3/s, navigable from Cruzeiro do Sul.
Kadeï
Kadeï (Kadéï, Kadey): river of southeastern Cameroon and the Central African Republic, about 550 km long, joining the Mambéré at Nola to form the Sangha River of the Congo basin; drains the Kadey department around Batouri and suffers gold-mining pollution.
Kagera
The Kagera, also called the Akagera, is an East African river and the most remote headstream of the Nile, and the largest inflow to Lake Victoria.
Kamchatka & Northern Kurils
Kamchatka & Northern Kurils, FEOW freshwater ecoregion 613, covers southern Kamchatka, the Commander Islands, and Kurils north of Bussol Strait; volcanic rivers, salmon runs, lake-endemic Salvelinus chars, no native cypriniforms.
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a 130-mile river rising near South Bend, Indiana, and flowing northwest in Illinois to join the Des Plaines River, forming the Illinois River.
Kapuas (landform)
Kapuas (Sungai Kapuas), Indonesia's longest river at 1,143 km, flows west across West Kalimantan, Borneo, to the South China Sea; monsoon-driven, undammed, with Kapuas Kecil and Kapuas Besar distributaries and Pontianak at its mouth.
Karkheh
Karkheh (رود کرخه), third longest river of Iran, ~755 km, rises in the Zagros and ends in the Hur-al-Azim wetland on the Iraq border; basin of ~50,764 km², Karkheh Dam, declining flows.
Karmanasa River
Karmanasa River (कर्मनाशा नदी, Karamnasa), a 192-km Ganga tributary rising in Bihar's Kaimur hills at 350 m, forming the Bihar–Uttar Pradesh boundary and joining the Ganga near Chausa; name means 'destroyer of religious merit.'
Kasai (landform)
Kasai (Cassai), a 2,153 km river of Angola and DR Congo, the chief southern tributary of the Congo River; basin 897,500 km², discharge about 8,246 m³/s, floods January to May, navigable over 1,500 miles.
Kasai (protected area)
Kasai (FEOW ecoregion 546) is a 900,000 km2 freshwater ecoregion following the Kasai River catchment in southwestern DRC and northeast Angola, marked by rapids-driven fish endemism, the Fwa cichlid flock, and high floodplain swamp-forest habitat.
Kaveri (காவேரி)
Kaveri (காவேரி, Cauvery) is a major South Indian river rising at Talakaveri, Karnataka, flowing to the Bay of Bengal; home of the 2nd-century Kallanai, KRS and Mettur dams, and the Karnataka–Tamil Nadu water-sharing dispute.
Kentucky Bend
Kentucky Bend, also called Madrid Bend or New Madrid Bend, is a nine-person exclave of Fulton County, Kentucky, cut off by a Mississippi River oxbow after the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquakes, reachable only through Tennessee.
Kern River
Kern River: about 165-mile southern Sierra Nevada river flowing from near Mount Whitney to Bakersfield; only major Sierra river draining south; subject of Lux v. Haggin and Isabella Dam.
Kherlen
Kherlen (Хэрлэн гол), transboundary river of eastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China; rises in the Khentii Mountains, runs 1,264 km east into Hulun (Dalai) Lake, its main water source; undammed, grassland steppe basin.
Kheta
Kheta (Хета) is chiefly a 785 km river in Krasnoyarsk Kray, Russia, the left headstream of the Khatanga; the name also denotes a Magadan Oblast stream, a village, the Egyptian name of the Hittites, and Sanskrit Khetak of Kheda.
Khopyor
Khopyor (Хопёр) is a 979 km Russian river, the Don's largest left tributary, flowing through Penza, Saratov, Voronezh, and Volgograd oblasts; snow-fed, unregulated, with the Khopyorsky Nature Reserve on its floodplain.
Khorat Plateau (Mekong)
Khorat Plateau (Mekong), FEOW freshwater ecoregion 727 in Thailand and Laos: the 155,000 km2 Khorat Plateau drained by the Mun River into the Mekong, with nearly 50 endemic fish species and critically endangered Mekong giant catfish.