In most landscapes the land is not perfectly flat-it slopes downhill in some direction. When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes runoff, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas.
Most, but not all, precipitation that falls in a watershed runs off directly into rivers - part of it soaks into the ground to recharge groundwater aquifers, some of which can then seep back into riverbeds.Ī river forms from water moving from a higher elevation to a lower elevation, all due to gravity. The area of land between ridges that collects precipitation is a watershed or drainage basin. Rivers flow through valleys in the landscape with ridges of higher land separating the valleys. Some of it evaporates on the journey downslope, can be diverted and used by people for their uses, and can even be lapped up by thirsty animals. Of course, not all runoff ends up in rivers. Most of the water you see flowing in rivers comes from precipitation runoff from the land surface alongside the river. I tend to think of creeks as the smallest of the three, with streams being in the middle, and rivers being the largest. As far as our Water Science site is concerned, they are pretty much interchangeable. Rivers? Streams? Creeks? They are all names for water flowing on the Earth's surface. Bow River Falls, downstream from the Bow Glacier in Banff, Canada. Glacier melting in springtime causes high streamflows. Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions.
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