Talk:Mississippi River

Semi-protected edit request on 11 September 2022

 * What I think should be changed:

The head of navigation on the Mississippi is no longer in Coon Rapids, MN, due to the closing of the Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam further south, in Minneapolis. This means the Upper St. Anthony lock is the current head of navigation.


 * Why it should be changed:

It's an important detail about an important river.


 * References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

198.36.214.194 (talk) 01:02, 11 September 2022 (UTC)


 * ✅ Aaron Liu (talk) 11:43, 21 September 2022 (UTC)

Where is it located
English 2603:6010:C906:EF2C:B807:633D:20D8:E0C1 (talk) 00:32, 29 September 2022 (UTC)


 * It is located in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Lake Itasca is its source while its delta in in Louisiana. ✶Mitch199811✶  (talk) 19:08, 10 December 2022 (UTC)

Image
I just noticed that the image for the river has changed a lot recently. I do not like the current one as it is quite blurry and would rather the night time one. While I may be a bit biased, many images of the Dubuque section of the river looks better than the current one and is in the daytime. ✶Mitch199811✶ (talk) 20:08, 9 December 2022 (UTC)

Average Depth?
The section titled “Depth” includes the following passage:

“...the deepest part being Lake Pepin, which averages 20–32 feet (6–10 m) deep and has a maximum depth of 60 feet (18 m)”

It's meaningless to quote an average which spans an interval of varied depths. An average is a single number which is a function of a dataset of several numbers. For example, take the dataset {20, 24, 28, 30, 32}. The avereage of these data is (20 + 24 + 28 + 30 + 32)/5 = 26.8

The average is a single number, not a spectrum of many numbers. The real average depth of Lake Pepin is not truly given here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.102.143.101 (talk) 18:08, 3 January 2023 (UTC)

Length and 2340 mi function
Convert function {convert|2340|mi|km} doesn't work precisely enough. It shows 3770 km.

With such converted length in km, Missouri river would be just a bit shorter as its convert function {convert|2341|mi|km} shows correct length 3767 km.

Better convert {convert|2340|mi|km} result would be 3766 km (3 767 464.94 metres). Mav1971 (talk) 12:06, 25 January 2023 (UTC)

Editing needed
The "Outflow" section, specifically the "Mixing with salt water" subsection, needs some editing for flow and cohesion. -- Otr500 (talk) 16:28, 9 February 2023 (UTC)

Course of river
User:Scooteristi added the following edit today: "As Pangaea began to break up about 95 million years ago, North America passed over a volcanic "hotspot" in the Earth's mantle (specifically, the Bermuda hotspot) that was undergoing a period of intense activity. The upwelling of magma from the hotspot forced the further uplift to a height of perhaps 2–3 km of part of the Appalachian-Ouachita range, forming an arch that blocked southbound water flows. The uplifted land quickly eroded and, as North America moved away from the hot spot and as the hotspot's activity declined, the crust beneath the embayment region cooled, contracted and subsided to a depth of 2.6 km, and around 80 million years ago the Reelfoot Rift formed a trough that was flooded by the Gulf of Mexico. As sea levels dropped, the Mississippi and other rivers extended their courses into the embayment, which gradually became filled with sediment with the Mississippi River at its center."

This doesn't make much sense to me, and I'm wondering if it's too technical or out-of-scope for the article. Thanks. Magnolia677 (talk) 18:49, 18 April 2023 (UTC)

Divides west from east, south and Midwest?
This is incorrect. It divides east and west but both the south and Midwest are on both sides. Arkansas is on the west, and Iowa is on the west. Mississippi is in the east, and Illinois is on the east. Alexander R. Burton (talk) 17:54, 16 August 2023 (UTC)


 * It looks like that was added with this edit back in 2011 without a source. I'll rework the paragraph. —Carter (Tcr25) (talk) 20:10, 16 August 2023 (UTC)

Nature reserves
I miss the nature reserves like Wilderness Area, State parks und other Protected areas. Only the areas from the National Park Service are listed. Falkmart (talk) 09:07, 15 October 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 15 January 2024
Change were to are in paragraph after basin features box. Applebana (talk) 09:56, 15 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Red question icon with gradient background.svg Not done: it's not clear what changes you want to be made. Please mention the specific changes in a "change X to Y" format and provide a reliable source if appropriate. Sincerely, Guessitsavis (she/they) (Talk) 21:18, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

Old River Control Structure; Atchafalaya wording
The Old River Control Structure does not "allow" the Atchafalaya to be a major distributary, it prevents it from becoming the main distributary. Thermah (talk) 02:03, 14 March 2024 (UTC)