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Anabranch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An anabranch is a section of a river or stream that diverts from the main course and rejoins later.
In the simplest case, an island or rock in the river creates a main course and an anabranch course, however this is perhaps too trivial. A serious anabranch would diverge for several kilometres before rejoining.
River deltas branch into large numbers of courses, though these are not normally regarded as anabranches, as the net result is usually multiple outlets rather than a rejoined single flow.
The term anabranch, in its hydrological meaning, is rarely used outside of Australia.
Elsewhere, terms distributary, or more colloquially arm or channel may be used for subsidiary streams that branch from the main stream; however, unlike the more specific anabranch, these terms (especially distributary and arm) do not necessarily imply that the branch will rejoin the main course later downstream. For example, in the Fraser River delta, North Arm Fraser River, Middle Arm Fraser River, and South Arm Fraser River each fall into Georgia Strait separately. On the other hand, Annacis Island splits (South Arm) Fraser River into the (main) Annievile Channel and the (smaller) Annacis Channel, which rejoin below the island.
- On the Darling River in New South Wales, the river divides south of Menindee for a hundred kilometres before rejoining. The anabranch contains flowing water only in wetter years.
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