More than 70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water. The largest water bodies of course are oceans which house many marine lives. From invisible algae to large sharks and whales, all are swimming in the depths of the oceans on earth. Let’s take a look at the differences between the three smaller water bodies – River, stream, and creeks. The names are often used interchangeably. However, people tend to think that rivers are large water bodies, and creeks are the smallest among all three of them. Streams are something in between.
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Difference between a river, a stream, and a creek
The source of water for rivers is mostly melting ice glaciers of the mountains and they flow downwards from mountains and travel a long distance to go and meet the ocean. We have discussed how rivers form here. The place where a river meets the ocean is known as confluence, convergence, or conflux. In many religions like Hinduism, the place is considered holy and people go to take a dip in such places where rivers meet oceans.
In rivers, the water flows from higher elevated planes to lower ones due to gravity. A river may have a single stream of water or several streams of water when it flows from the mountains. Since the surface is not plain, it often divides into smaller streams and then again unites when it flows through the plain land.
According to National Geographic, streams and rivers are often used as interchangeable terms to refer to flowing water bodies. Most of the world’s widest and most popular rivers are more than 1 mile wide. At its widest point, the Amazon river in South America is more than six miles (Eleven kilometers) wide during the summers. During the monsoons, it becomes twenty-four miles (Forty kilometers) wide when the rainfall is moderate. In the years when there is heavier rainfall, it goes up to thirty miles wide.
Creeks- Meaning in different regions and cultures
Flowing water when it flows down a mountaintop, it flows as small creeks. These small creeks merge together and form larger water bodies like streams and then eventually rivers. A creek is referred to as a small stream of flowing water, however, in various geographical locations, the words mean differently. In British English, a creek denotes a narrow, sometimes muddy sheltered waterline, which might be an inlet in a shoreline. It might also be a channel to a marshland.
People in the U.S, India, Indonesia, Burma, Australia, New Zealand, and many other parts of the world, understand a creek as a small river. This creek later merges into a bigger stream or river. Creeks are mostly very shallow and one can cross them on foot. If you are walking in a forest which is close to a mountain range, you will find such creeks flowing through the forest. They become the main source of water for the wild animals there.
Difference between streams and creeks
The term stream is referred to flowing water in any form. Since streams differ in size from small streamlets to brooks, to bigger creeks, and the biggest rivers, they are often used interchangeably to express these terms. Geologists across the globe did not emphasize any hard and fast rule of demarcating all three of them.
However, most geologists consider a stream to be smaller than a river. All the geologists agree that a creek is a small body of flowing water. Since a stream is referred to as a body of flowing water, a creek can be referred to as a stream. Therefore, all the creeks can be referred to as streams, but the vice-versa is not true. Possibly this is the most important difference which most geologists agree to, between a creek and a stream.
The importance of rivers, streams and creeks to humankind
We all have heard phrases like, ”water is life” or ”the river of life.” They are not just random coinage of words. Rivers truly are the lifeblood for any civilization and if we look into our history books, we will realize that all the big civilizations were settled in the banks of rivers. Just look at big cities such as New York. Having access to water is great as you can use it in your plumbing system. From supplying water for your toilets to being able to flush the water away.
The longest river in the U.S.A is the Missouri River, which covers 2,540 miles before it falls into the Pacific Ocean. A lot of people are working to keep these waterways clean and flowing. Rivers, creeks, and streams transport water that we need to run our day-to-day lives. At the same time, they can be dangerous. Floods can cause a lot of damage. this is why water management has become more important in recent decades. Dames and dikes are being used to control where water flows. This is essential as rivers can change a lot in width when it rains. They shouldn’t have too little water but too much is also not good. Finding the right balance is quite challenging and advanced systems are being used to do this. Water can flow really fast and even today it can be difficult to get it right every time.
Conclusion
We celebrated World Water Day on March 22, and we all should pledge to keep our rivers, streams, and creeks clean. Water is essential to run our lives. From flushing the toilet to taking a shower. This would be impossible without these waterways as they transport our water over vast distances. We should not make them the dumping ground of our industrial waste. Pollution in the oceans has affected marine life very badly over the last few decades. That is why we try to filter our wastewater before it is dumped in rivers and oceans.
Waterways come in different sizes. Creeks are the smallest ones, then we have streams that are bigger. Rivers are the biggest of the three. These flows to seas and oceans. Waterways come together to get bigger and flow together.
Source
Difference Between Creek and Stream
https://www.reconnectwithnature.org/News-Events/The-Buzz/What-s-The-Difference-River-Vs-Stream
https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/rivers-streams-and-creeks
http://www.differencebetween.net/science/nature/difference-between-river-and-creek/
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/stream/
