tributary


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Related to tributary: Tributary system

tributary

1. a stream, river, or glacier that feeds another larger one
2. a person, nation, or people that pays tribute
3. (of a stream, etc.) feeding a larger stream
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Tributary

 

a river that flows into another river and usually has a shorter length, less water, and a different valley direction. Tributaries are differentiated according to whether they flow directly into the main river or into its tributaries. Rivers that flow into lakes or other inland waters are sometimes called tributaries.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

tributary

[′trib·yə‚ter·ē]
(hydrology)
A stream that feeds or flows into or joins a larger stream or a lake. Also known as contributory; feeder; side stream; tributary stream.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
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Sampling of the 10 paired tributary and river sites confirmed a pattern that we had previously reported (Gilliam et al.
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``With additional funding, active support and guidance from Environment Agency Wales, the whole of this valuable tributary has been made accessible to migrating fish, which shows clearly how much more can be achieved by working in partnership,'' said Mr O'Reilly.
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The most likely explanation for the abrupt appearance of these fossils, Young says, is that a west-flowing tributary of the ancestral lower Colorado River began to carve a small valley eastward into the edge of the Colorado Plateau.
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Following each tributary and subtributary of a stream upstream to its divide yields a series of terminal points corresponding in pattern to the twig tips of a tree (this watershed form is termed dendritic" due to its treelike form).
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"Oysters used to be present almost completely from one end of the bay to the other, in every tributary." Over the last 30 years, however, the oyster population has declined precipitously.
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