Definition
A delta is formed where the mouth of the river flows into an ocean, sea, desert, or lake, or simply into a swamp. It is characterized by the main channel dividing into multiple streams or “distributaries.” The water balance of deltaic swamps has some special features differing from usual river basins, reservoirs, and lakes. The main differences are the variable area of swamps and the unsteady flow distribution. A river basin is usually well defined, and the area, for practical purposes, is constant. But in a swamp, the area changes continuously in response to inflow, precipitation, and evapotranspiration. These, in turn, themselves, vary during the year and from one year to another.
Deltaic swamps: examples and description
A well-known example of a deltaic swamp is the Okavango Delta in Botswana. A peculiarity of the Okavango Delta is that the outflows are a very minor fraction of the total input (inflow plus precipitation) due to the evapotranspiration losses from the large...
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Herschy, R.W. (2012). Deltaic Swamps. In: Bengtsson, L., Herschy, R.W., Fairbridge, R.W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Lakes and Reservoirs. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4410-6_67
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4410-6_67
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