the.com/river mouth
Where a river gives up and negotiates a merger with the sea.
means The point where a river's fresh water flows into the sea, ocean, or a lake, often spreading into a delta or estuary as it loses momentum.
from Straightforward English compounding — 'mouth' has been used for an opening or outlet since Old English 'mūþ,' the same word used for the mouth of a creature. The metaphor likely took hold because a river mouth is the 'opening' through which the river's contents empty out, feeding the sea much as a mouth feeds a body. The same logic gives us mouths of caves, volcanoes, and bottles — any place where something emerges from within.
- technical term
- called an estuary when tides mix with freshwater
- sediment drop
- slowing water dumps silt, building deltas over centuries
- salinity gradient
- fresh and salt water layer instead of blending instantly
- nile exception
- some rivers vanish into desert before ever reaching one