Anabranch

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Anabranch

An anabranch is a section of a river

River

A river is a natural stream of water, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, or another stream. In some cases a river flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water....
or stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water less than 60 feet wide with a current , confined within a stream bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as brook, beck, Burn , creek, crick, kill, lick , rill, river syke, bayou, rivu...
that diverts from the main watercourse

Watercourse

A watercourse is any flowing body of water. These include rivers, streams, brooks, anabranches et cetera....
channel (or mainstem

Mainstem (hydrology)

A mainstem is defined as the principal river within a given drainage basin, in the case where a number of tributaries discharge into a larger watercourse....
) and rejoins the mainstem downstream.

In the simplest case, an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
or rock in the river creates a main course and an anabranch course; a more significant anabranch would diverge for a distance of several kilometres before rejoining.

River delta

River delta

A delta is a landform that is created at the mouth of a river where that river flows into an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, flat arid area, or another river....
s branch into large numbers of courses, though these are not normally regarded as anabranches, as the net result is usually multiple discharge points rather than a rejoined unified flow.

term anabranch, in its hydrological meaning, is rarely used outside of Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
.

Elsewhere, terms distributary
Distributary

A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas....
, or more colloquially arm or channel may be used for subsidiary streams that branch from the main stream; however, unlike the more specific anabranch, these terms (especially distributary
Distributary

A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas....
and arm) do not necessarily imply that the branch will rejoin the main course later downstream.

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Encyclopedia

An anabranch is a section of a river

River

Stream

Watercourse

A watercourse is any flowing body of water. These include rivers, streams, brooks, anabranches et cetera....
channel (or mainstem

Mainstem (hydrology)

Island

River delta

Word usage and related terms

The term anabranch, in its hydrological meaning, is rarely used outside of Australia

Australia

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, the term braided river

Braided river

Not to be confused with the River Braid, Ballymena, Northern Ireland. For other uses see Braid .A braided river is one of a number of channel types and has a channel that consists of a network of small channel s separated by small and often temporary islands called braid bars or, in British usage, aits or eyots....
describes watercourses which are divided by small islands, but the term does not cover extended separation.

A bayou

Bayou

A bayou is a small, slow-moving stream or creek, or a lake or pool that lies in an abandoned channel of a stream. Bayous are usually located in relatively flat, low-lying areas, for example, in the Mississippi River River delta region of the southern United States....
is often an anabranch.

Examples

In the Fraser River
Fraser River

The Fraser River is the longest river in British Columbia, Canada, rising near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for 1,375 km , into the Pacific Ocean at the city of Vancouver, British Columbia....
delta of British Columbia
British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
, Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, North Arm Fraser River, Middle Arm Fraser River, and South Arm Fraser River each fall into Georgia Strait separately. On the other hand, Annacis Island
Annacis Island

Annacis Island is an island located in Delta, British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada. The island is now mostly industrial, and it contains one of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, British Columbia's waste water treatment plants....
splits (South Arm) Fraser River into the (main) Annievile Channel and the (smaller) Annacis Channel, which rejoin below the island.

On the Darling River
Darling River

The Darling River is the third longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its confluence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales, New South Wales....
in New South Wales
New South Wales

New South Wales is Australia's oldest and most populous States and territories of Australia, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria and south of Queensland....
, the river divides south of Menindee
Menindee, New South Wales

Menindee is a small town in the far west of New South Wales, Australia, in Central Darling Shire, on the banks of the Darling River, with a sign-posted population of 980....
for a hundred kilometres before rejoining. The anabranch contains flowing water only in wetter years.
The Bahr el Zeraf
Bahr el Zeraf

The Bahr el Zeraf is Anabranch of the White Nile in the Sudd region of Sudan, Africa. It is completely contained within the States of Sudan of Jonglei....
in southern Sudan
Sudan

Sudan is a country in northeastern Africa. It is the largest in the African continent and the Arab World, and List of countries and outlying territories by total area by area....
splits from the Bahr al Jabal section of the White Nile
White Nile

The White Nile is a river of Africa, one of the two main tributary of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. In the strict meaning, "White Nile" refers to the river formed at Lake No at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal rivers....
and flows for 240 km (150 mi), before rejoining the White Nile proper upriver from Malakal
Malakal

Malakal is the capital of the Wilayah of Upper Nile, Sudan, Sudan. It is located on the banks of the White Nile, just north of its confluence with the Sobat River....
.
Approximately twenty-five minutes out of Charters Towers is a section of the Burdekin River
Burdekin River

The Burdekin River in Queensland, Australia rises on the western slope of the Seaview Range and flows into the Pacific Ocean at Upstart Bay over 200 km to the southeast of the source....
known as 'the anabranch'. This strip of water is separate from the main flood way, and is typically dry during the sunnier months. Once there is consistent rain, it will meet up with the river again and flood with fresh water. It is well known for barramundi fishing.