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19-589: The Mackinaw River is a 130-mile-long (210 km) tributary of the Illinois River in the U.S. state of Illinois . Its watershed covers approximately 1,136 square miles (3,000 km), and contains some of the most productive agricultural land in the United States. The river itself maintains some of the highest quality streams in the state and provides habitat for 60-70 native fish species and 25-30 species of mussels . Its name, also spelled Mackinac ,
38-443: 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
57-400: 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
76-400: 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
95-411: 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 ,
114-1037: Is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans , seas , and lakes , but it includes smaller pools of water such as ponds , wetlands , or more rarely, puddles . A body of water does not have to be still or contained; rivers , streams , canals , and other geographical features where water moves from one place to another are also considered bodies of water. Most are naturally occurring geographical features , but some are artificial. There are types that can be either. For example, most reservoirs are created by engineering dams , but some natural lakes are used as reservoirs . Similarly, most harbors are naturally occurring bays , but some harbors have been created through construction. Bodies of water that are navigable are known as waterways . Some bodies of water collect and move water, such as rivers and streams, and others primarily hold water, such as lakes and oceans. Bodies of water are affected by gravity, which
133-712: Is derived from the Ojibwe word mikinaak meaning "turtle". The Mackinaw River begins near Sibley, Illinois , in Ford County . From its headwaters the river flows west through McLean County , where it provides drainage to part of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area, and Woodford County . It continues west and then southwestward through Tazewell County before flowing into the Illinois River just south of Pekin . The river flows through three natural divisions, including
152-419: Is what creates the tidal effects. Moreso, the impact of climate change on water is likely to intensify as observed through the rising sea levels , water acidification and flooding . This means that climate change has pressure on water bodies. Climate change significantly affects bodies of water through rising temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and sea-level rise. Warmer temperatures lead to
171-511: The 1830s . In 1853 a group of 200 Kickapoo still lived along the river but they were expected to move to a reservation in Missouri the next year. There are only a few villages along or near the Mackinaw River. These include (beginning up stream): Sibley, Colfax , Lexington , and Mackinaw . Each was laid out prior to the arrival of the railroad in the region during the 1850s, which diminished
190-516: The Grand Prairie, Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Bottomlands, and Illinois and Mississippi Sand Areas. Early in its life, several thousand years ago following the Wisconsin glaciation , it cut through several moraines , which influenced the structure of the riverbed. The upper section of the watershed is marked by a series of pools and fast-flowing riffles. The character of the river downstream of
209-421: 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
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#1732845111084228-398: 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 . Bodies of water A body of water or waterbody
247-451: 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
266-518: The importance of river transport. The Mackinaw River State Fish and Wildlife Area is a 1,448-acre (586 ha) state park along the river in Tazewell County. Operated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources , the area provides opportunities for fishing, canoeing, hiking, hunting and general interaction with nature. Tributary A tributary , or an affluent , is
285-546: The moraines is markedly different, with a relatively wide floodplain, large meanders and erosion-prone sandy banks. Its principal tributaries are Panther, Walnut and Money creeks, and the Little Mackinaw River . People of the Hopewell culture lived in the area 1,700 to 2,100 years ago. The Kickapoo , Potawatomi , Chippewa , and Ottawa peoples also fished, hunted and lived along the river for several centuries, through
304-406: 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
323-643: 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,
342-418: 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
361-432: 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:
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