Talk:Distributary

Merger proposal
It seems to me that the two pages are talking about the same thing. If there's a technical distinction between a Bifurcation and Distributary, then this should be made clear on both pages. MrTree 10:40, 13 February 2013 (UTC)

Mention of Red River
I removed the text "including capturing the Red River, which was formerly a tributary of the Mississippi" because it was misleading. The Atchafalaya River WAS the Red River. It would be more accurate to say the Red River captured the Mississippi than the other way around. If this is confusing see  Rip-Saw  (talk) 01:51, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

"distributary" as side-channel
I've seen some BC articles where "anabranch" has been used for side channels of the Fraser......we just say "slough". See my comment on Talk:Slough (disambiguation) for comments and a pair of images that illustrate a typical Fraser slough.Skookum1 (talk) 05:55, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I've always through of "anabranch" as a channel that splits off and rejoins, while a "distributary" does not rejoin. "Slough" can go either way, in my understanding (see, for example, Steamboat Slough and others at the mouth of the Snohomish River: ). I suppose you are reacting to the statement "In British Columbia, Canada, the Fraser River has numerous sloughs and side-channels which may be defined as distributaries.."--to which I want to ask, "says who?" Who calls the channels of the Fraser that rejoin "distributaries"? I hadn't heard such a thing before. Pfly (talk) 08:26, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * See Talk:Slough (disambiguation) and also that main page, where I removed a line about the west coast of North America as "without trees", which makes no sense at all re the PacNW Rivers......I've never heard either anabranch nor distributary before, technical terms are not common terms; the North and South and Middle Arms of the Fraser would seem to be distributaries though; but all the little sloughs lining the Fraser from Hope Slough downstream neither of the "foreign" terms (distributary nor anabranch) seems correct; the Fraser Delta technically begins around Seabird Island, btw, even though what we think of as the delta is from New West down.Skookum1 (talk) 08:42, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I'm also weirded by where Slough goes, if it were to a major and well-known city I could see it as a primary usage; not just the UK primary usage.Skookum1 (talk) 08:43, 11 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Distributary is a common, non-foreign, non-technical term. Anabranch isn't a common term, at least in North America. I'm not aware of a general common term other than phrases like "side channel". Pfly (talk) 19:58, 11 July 2013 (UTC)

Needs expert attention
Distributaries, alluvial fans, etc. are getting a substantial amount of research and expert attention due to their engineering and risk-management importance. This article stands to benefit greatly from expert attention. It is also short on examples. For example Asian examples given are confined to India whereas distributaries occur in other countries in the subcontinent (Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh), Southeast Asia (Mekong etc. etc.), China, Russia, and probably others. LADave (talk) 21:39, 10 December 2013 (UTC)

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Minor and major
The lead states "In some cases, a minor distributary can divert so much water from the main channel that it can become the main route." To me that sounds strange. Isn't then the distributary actually the main channel and what is seen as the "main" channel is actually the distributary? Fomalhaut76 (talk) 16:06, 2 July 2019 (UTC)