A number of rivers are known to have reversed the direction of their flow, either permanently or temporarily, in response to geological activity, weather events, climate change, or direct human intervention.
People Also Ask
Why the Tonle Sap River Is Unlike Any Other River in the World. In this week's Maphead column, Ken Jennings explains how one river in Cambodia ends up changing direction a few times every year.
Key Points: Most rivers in the world flow downhill, often South, due to gravity. The Nile River is an exception to this rule, flowing from South to North. Other rivers have the ability to flow different directions due to where sloping occurs away from their headwaters.
The New River is unique among North Carolina rivers for several reasons. It is one of the few major rivers in the continental United States to flow north. Other major rivers that flow northward include the Bighorn River in Montana or the Red River of the North in Minnesota.
Florida is the only state that has two rivers that have the same name. There is a Withlacoochee River in Madison County and a Withlacoochee River located in central Florida.
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, four of the world's 10 longest rivers flow generally northward: the Nile, the Mackenzie-Peace (in Canada) the Ob and the Lena (in Siberia). In fact, NASA says that there are rivers flowing north on every continent.
Do rivers flow upstream or downstream? Usually, rivers flow downstream, but there are some that don't. This can happen when rivers flow south to north due to the source of the river being higher up in the South. One famous river that has this type of flow is the Nile River in Africa.
Northern AmericaThe Missouri River is the longest river in North America and the United States (2,341 mi (3,767 km)). The second longest river in North America and the United States is the Mississippi River (2,320 mi (3,730 km)).
The most famous river that flows north is also the longest river in the world: the Nile, which passes through 11 different countries in northeastern Africa. The river's principal tributaries are the White Nile and the Blue Nile.
The Yellowstone River flows northward through Yellowstone National Park, feeding and draining Yellowstone Lake, then dropping over the Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls at the head of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone within the confines of the park.