# River fork

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_fork
> Source revision: 1318381298
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Place where a river visually "splits"}}
[[Image:River Forks at Creek Fen - geograph.org.uk - 1151461.jpg|thumb|River Fork at [Creek Fen](/source/Fens_Creek), UK]]
A '''river fork''' is where a [river](/source/river) is connected to two or more clearly and equally distinct branches.<ref>{{cite web|title=Definition of fork|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fork|website=www.merriam-webster.com|date=12 August 2023 |language=en}}</ref> It describes both [tributaries](/source/tributaries) and [distributaries](/source/distributaries).

A typical river fork is usually two tributaries merging (a [confluence](/source/confluence)), such as the [Nile](/source/Nile_River) proper created at that of the [Blue Nile](/source/Blue_Nile) and [White Nile](/source/White_Nile), though the term can be used when a single or main channel of a river [bifurcates](/source/river_bifurcation) into distributaries, a large instance being the [Mississippi](/source/Mississippi) at the upper end of the [Atchafalaya River](/source/Atchafalaya_River).

Most [river deltas](/source/river_deltas) fork several times,<ref>{{cite web|title=River and Drainage System|url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=River_and_Drainage_System|website=[Banglapedia](/source/Banglapedia)|language=en|date=5 May 2014}}</ref> occasionally forming multiple clustered, elongated [island](/source/island)s.

== See also ==
* [River morphology](/source/River_morphology)
** [Tributary](/source/Tributary)
** [River delta](/source/River_delta)
** [Braided river](/source/Braided_river) - a braiding describes its multiple forks

== References ==
{{reflist}}

Category:River morphology

{{topography-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [River fork](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_fork) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_fork?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.