18-571: Cañada Gobernadora is a tributary to San Juan Creek , about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) long, in southern Orange County in the U.S. state of California . The creek begins in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains ( 33°38′25″N 117°34′46″W / 33.6402995°N 117.5794921°W / 33.6402995; -117.5794921 ), at an elevation of 1,040 feet (320 m), and flows south through residential, agricultural and finally undeveloped land, to its confluence with San Juan Creek
36-408: A few miles upstream of the city of San Juan Capistrano ( 33°31′24″N 117°35′53″W / 33.5233587°N 117.5981038°W / 33.5233587; -117.5981038 ). The upper half of the stream is largely channelized and flows through golf courses, while the lower half is a wash -like channel that can be up to 700 feet (200 m) wide. The stream receives some urban runoff from
54-399: A new river, to be given its own name, perhaps one already known to the people who live upon its banks. Conversely, explorers approaching a new land from the sea encounter its rivers at their mouths, where they name them on their charts, then, following a river upstream, encounter each tributary as a forking of the stream to the right and to the left, which then appear on their charts as such; or
72-400: A river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas . Right tributary , or right-bank tributary , and left tributary , or left-bank tributary , describe the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, that is, facing
90-425: A stream or river there the current is influenced by gravity, the term upstream (or upriver ) refers to the direction towards the source of the stream (or river ), i.e. against the direction of flow. Likewise, the term downstream or downriver describes the direction towards the mouth of the stream or river, in which the current flows. The term " left bank " and " right bank " refers to banks as seen from
108-446: Is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ( main stem or "parent" ), river, or a lake . A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean . Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they flow, drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater , leading the water out into an ocean. The Irtysh is a chief tributary of the Ob river and
126-411: Is also the longest tributary river in the world with a length of 4,248 km (2,640 mi). The Madeira River is the largest tributary river by volume in the world with an average discharge of 31,200 m /s (1.1 million cu ft/s). A confluence , where two or more bodies of water meet, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary ,
144-412: Is the flow of water in any one particular direction. The current varies spatially as well as temporally , dependent upon the flow volume of water, stream gradient , and channel geometry. In tidal zones , the current and streams may reverse on the flood tide before resuming on the ebb tide . On a global scale, wind and the rotation of the earth greatly influence the flow of ocean currents . In
162-545: The creek's valley, while agricultural and undeveloped lands lie to the east of the creek. Historically, the Cañada Gobernadora valley was inhabited by the Acjachemen Native Americans who had two villages on the creek, Huumai , in the upper areas of the creek, and Piwiva , which was at the confluence with San Juan Creek. This latter village became a proposed site for Mission San Juan Capistrano before it
180-421: The direction the water current of the main stem is going. In a navigational context, if one were floating on a raft or other vessel in the main stream, this would be the side the tributary enters from as one floats past; alternately, if one were floating down the tributary, the main stream meets it on the opposite bank of the tributary. This information may be used to avoid turbulent water by moving towards
198-412: The first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary. Another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure , stored as a tree data structure . Current (stream) In hydrology , a current in a water body
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#1733086323901216-449: The handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream. For instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. These naming conventions are reflective of the circumstances of a particular river's identification and charting: people living along the banks of a river, with a name known to them, may then float down the river in exploration, and each tributary joining it as they pass by appears as
234-461: The opposite bank before approaching the confluence. An early tributary is a tributary that joins the main stem river closer to its source than its mouth, that is, before the river's midpoint ; a late tributary joins the main stem further downstream, closer to its mouth than to its source, that is, after the midpoint. In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as
252-524: The residential communities higher in its watershed. The watershed includes several geologic formations, including the Tertiary Sespe Formation and Santiago Formation, and Holocene sedimentary and alluvial deposits embedded in its narrow floodplain . Cañada Gobernadora forms an unofficial dividing line for the lower portion of the San Juan watershed; most urban development is confined to west of
270-643: The river into which they feed, they are called forks . These are typically designated by compass direction. For example, the American River in California receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago River 's North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork; the South Branch has its South Fork, and used to have a West Fork as well (now filled in). Forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here,
288-417: The smaller stream designated the little fork, the larger either retaining its name unmodified, or receives the designation big . Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river and ending with those nearest to the mouth of the river . The Strahler stream order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third and higher orders, with
306-432: The streams are seen to diverge by the cardinal direction (north, south, east, or west) in which they proceed upstream, sometimes a third stream entering between two others is designated the middle fork; or the streams are distinguished by the relative height of one to the other, as one stream descending over a cataract into another becomes the upper fork, and the one it descends into, the lower ; or by relative volume:
324-571: Was built in the city of the same name. The name of the creek means "Canyon of the Governor's Wife" in Spanish. A less commonly used name refers to greasewood, which was once abundant in the Cañada Gobernadora watershed. The upper watershed of the creek is now mostly occupied by suburban residential communities, and the middle and lower portions are given primarily to agriculture. Download coordinates as: Tributary A tributary , or an affluent ,
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