River Valleys
- For a comprehensive list of world wide river valleys see: River valleys (category)
A valley formed by flowing water, or river valley, is usually V-shaped. The exact shape will depend on the characteristics of the stream flowing through it. Rivers with steep gradients, as in mountain ranges, produce steep walls and a bottom. Shallower slopes may produce broader and gentler valleys, but in the lowest stretch of a river, where it approaches its base level, it begins to deposit sediment and the valley bottom becomes a floodplain.
Some broad V examples are:
- North America: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, and others in Grand Canyon NP
- Europe:
- Austria: narrow passages of upper Inn valley (Inntal), affluents of Enns a.s.o
- Switzerland: Napf region, Zurich Oberland, Engadin
- Germany: affluents to the middle reaches of Rhine and Mosel
Some of the first human complex societies originated in river valleys, such as that of the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates, Indus, Ganges, Yangtze, Huang He, Mississippi, and arguably Amazon. In prehistory, the rivers were used as a source of freshwater and food (fish and game), as well as a place to wash and a sewer. The proximity of water moderated temperature extremes and provided a source for irrigation, stimulating the development of agriculture. Most of the first civilizations developed from these river valley communities.
Read more about this topic: Valley
Famous quotes containing the words river and/or valleys:
““I’ll love you dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)
“It was a comfort in those succeeding days to sit up and contemplate the majestic panorama of mountains and valleys spread out below us and eat ham and hard boiled eggs while our spiritual natures reveled alternately in rainbows, thunderstorms, and peerless sunsets. Nothing helps scenery like ham and eggs.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)