A subterranean river is a river that runs wholly or partly beneath the ground surface – one where the riverbed does not represent the surface of the Earth (rivers flowing in gorges are not classed as subterranean).
Subterranean rivers may be entirely natural, flowing through cave systems. In karst topography, rivers may disappear through sinkholes, continuing underground. In some cases, they may emerge into daylight further downstream. Some fish (such as the Amblyopsidae) and other troglobite organisms are adapted to life in subterranean rivers and lakes.
Subterranean rivers can also be the result of covering over a river and/or diverting its flow into culverts, usually as part of urban development. Reversing this process is known as daylighting a stream and is a visible form of river restoration. One successful example is the Cheonggye Stream in the centre of Seoul.
Examples of subterranean rivers also occur in mythology and literature.
Read more about Subterranean River: Natural Examples, Artificial Examples, Ecology, Mythology and Literature
Famous quotes containing the words subterranean and/or river:
“So this is the subterranean life.
If it can’t be conjugated onto us, what good is it?
What need for purists when the demotic is built to last,
To outlast us, and no dialect hears us?”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“We are bare. We are stripped to the bone
and we swim in tandem and go up and up
the river, the identical river called Mine
and we enter together. No one’s alone.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)