The Ural River is one of the two major rivers (the other is the Volga) that empty into the northern coast of the Caspian Sea, creating extensive wetlands. This image shows details of the Ural’s tree-like (or “digitate”) delta. This type of delta forms naturally when wave action is low, and sediment content in the river is high. New distributary channels form in the delta when the river breaches natural levees created by sediment deposition. The long main channel of the river in this image and several of the distibutary channels are too regular to be entirely natural, however. Like the famous Mississippi River delta in the United States, the Ural River delta has been significantly modified to reduce flooding and divert water.
Published Jun 6, 2005
In the past few centuries, a river in northwestern Canada stopped wandering and assumed a more direct route to the sea.
Published Sep 4, 2012
The Volga River drains much of western Russia’s industrial region as it travels southward to empty into the Caspian Sea. Over thousands of years, the river has built a tremendous delta that forms the northwestern shoreline of the Caspian Sea. The delta channels provide transportation between the heartland of Russia and the oil-rich Caspian Sea. The Volga’s extensive distributaries (branches to the sea) harbor habitat and rich fishing grounds for Russia’s famous beluga sturgeon, the source of beluga caviar. The delta’s wetlands, parts of which are designated as the Astrakhanskiy Biosphere Reserve, are important stopping points and breeding grounds for migrating water birds. This detailed astronaut photograph zooms in on a shipping channel in the western part of the delta.
Published Oct 23, 2006
The Volga Delta has grown significantly over the past 130 years.
Published Nov 12, 2018
In September 2010, water again flowed through this riverbed after several dry years.
Published Oct 8, 2010
A satellite image offers inky evidence of the organic-rich freshwater that the Suwannee River delivers to the Gulf of Mexico.
Published Oct 27, 2018
The Selenga River Delta, which stretches out into Russia’s Lake Baikal, is carved by an intricate network of channels and levees and surrounded by marshlands.
Published Nov 28, 2011
Spain's Ebro Delta has recently experienced tremendous shape-shifting.
Published Mar 13, 2018
An astronaut photograph shot with a short focal length lens shows a wide swath of central Asia and the Earth’s limb in the distance.
Published Jan 5, 2009
Chinese engineers changed the main channel through the delta, changing the shape of the land at the river’s mouth.
Published Jan 27, 2010
The Ebro River Delta, located along the eastern coast of Spain, is one of the largest wetland areas in the western Mediterranean region.
Published Jul 26, 2004
Flowing past the city of Vancouver, the Fraser River delivers a thick plume of sediment to the Strait of Georgia.
Published Mar 14, 2012
