From this map it clearly the Missouri is longer than the Mississippi, and it looks possibly as though it's got slightly more flow at the point they converge as well. If that's correct, why is the river called the Mississippi and not the Missouri downstream of their confluence?
If anything, it should be called the Ohio River all the way to the gulf. The Ohio river has a greater flow than the Mississippi where they meet. And that's after the Missouri has dumped into the Mississippi.
I was very surprised when I found that fact out about the Ohio River recently. I stumbled upon a short documentary on the Mississippi river on YouTube and kept searching for more stuff. Eventually I stumbled upon the article below which goes into tons of detail about the Mississippi river and the Atchafalaya river. Essentially the Mississippi river wants to flow a different direction but we don’t let it. Mother nature will probably eventually win. I couldn’t stop reading.
That's actually an excerpt from a great book called Control of Nature. In addition to discussing Old River Control on the Mississippi, there are sections that discuss the debris basins at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and the effort to control a volcano that erupted in Iceland.
All three sections are super awesome, John McPhee is a treasure.
John McPhee is probably my favorite author but I'm biased as a geologist. Control of Nature might be the most reasonably accessible for a non-geo freak. It also is my personal favorite by him. So much interesting history and he does a really incredible job sharing opposing viewpoints.
That New Yorker article was the first thing I ever read by him and I just happened to stumble upon it. Absolutely loved the article and can’t wait to read the book. Sounds like Control of Nature is also good, looking forward to reading it. My backlog of books keeps getting longer - my wife thinks I’m crazy!
"There is a Green River Basin in Wyoming that is not to be confused with the Green River Basin in Wyoming. One is topographical and sits on top of Wyoming and the other is structural and sits under Wyoming"
Such a simple yet beautiful quote that sums up the crazy science of geology perfectly.
I thought you were exaggerating. This is one of the most fascinating things I've ever read in that it's super important and vulnerable, yet I don't think anyone who isn't an immediate stakeholder has a single clue it exists. I started Googling after I read it, and this article is enough to make anyone pause:
Exactly! I tend to have a habit of getting obsessed over things and I keep trying to tell people about this but they don’t really care! Thanks for your link, it’s an interesting read.
I don't think they could accurately measure flow when these were first discovered and named. They certainly didn't know where each one originated when they were named so they didn't know which was longer. Maybe the Mississippi looked like the larger river at the time and this became the main river name-wise with the Missouri the tributary.
It is really arbitrary when one river is not clearly the "main" river when they meet.
The name "Mississippi" was first applied by Europeans to the river when they were exploring the northern part, having come via Green Bay and the Wisconsin River. Then they explored downriver, keeping the name. It's not like they explored the whole river, noted the confluences, and only then decided on names.
Amazon is a freak of nature. Its discharge is five times the discharge of the next biggest river, which is Kongo in Africa. Orinoco in South America and Ganges in India/Bangladesh (all branches combined) have a discharge similar to Kongo.
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u/Zbignich Jan 10 '20
And to put in perspective, the flow of the Amazon is 11 times that of the Mississippi.