List of longest undammed rivers
Encyclopedia
This is a list of the longest undammed
rivers of the world, ordered by length.
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
rivers of the world, ordered by length.
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| River | Length | Drainage area | Average discharge Discharge (hydrology) In hydrology, discharge is the volume rate of water flow, including any suspended solids , dissolved chemical species and/or biologic material , which is transported through a given cross-sectional area... (m³/s) |
Mouth | Notes | Reference | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon River Amazon River The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined... |
6937 kilometres (4,310.5 mi) | 7050000 square kilometre | 219000 m3/s | Atlantic Ocean | Second-longest and largest river in the world, undammed as well as unbridged | 1 | ||
| Lena River Lena River The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed... |
4472 kilometres (2,778.8 mi) | 2500000 square kilometre | 17000 m3/s | Arctic Ocean Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions... |
Longest undammed river in Asia. | |||
| Amur–Shilka Shilka River Shilka is a river in Zabaykalsky Krai, south-eastern Russia. It has a length . It originates as a confluence of the Onon and Ingoda rivers. Its confluence with the Ergune on the Russia-China border gives rise to the Amur River. The river is navigable for its entire length.... –Onon Onon River The Onon is a river in Mongolia and Russia of length 818 km and watershed 94,010 km². It originates at the eastern slope of the Khentii Mountains. For 298 km it flows within Mongolia... |
4197 kilometres (2,607.9 mi) | 1855000 square kilometre | 11700 m3/s | Strait of Tartary Strait of Tartary Strait of Tartary is a strait in the Pacific Ocean dividing the Russian island of Sakhalin from mainland Asia , connecting the Sea of Okhotsk on the north with... |
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| Amu Darya Amu Darya The Amu Darya , also called Oxus and Amu River, is a major river in Central Asia. It is formed by the junction of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers... –Panj Panj River The Panj River , also known as Pyandzh River or Piandj River , is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river is 1,125 km long and forms a considerable part of the Afghanistan - Tajikistan border.... |
3525 miles (5,672.9 km) | 534700 square kilometre | 2530 m3/s | Aral Sea Aral Sea The Aral Sea was a lake that lay between Kazakhstan in the north and Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region of Uzbekistan, in the south... (former) |
Tajikistan is planning to build a hydroelectric dam on the Panj River. | |||
| Mackenzie Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories... –Slave Slave River The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from Lake Athabasca in northeastern Alberta and empties into Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories.... –Athabasca Athabasca River The Athabasca River originates from the Columbia Glacier of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada... |
3403 kilometres (2,114.5 mi) | 1805200 square kilometre | 10700 m3/s | Arctic Ocean Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions... |
The Peace Peace River (Canada) The Peace River is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River flows into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is the 12th longest river in the world,... –Finlay Finlay River The Finlay River is a 402 km long river in north-central British Columbia flowing north and thence south from Thutade Lake in the Omineca Mountains to Williston Lake, the impounded waters of the Peace River formed by the completion of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam in 1968. Prior to this, the Finlay... system would extend even longer from the head of the Slave but there are dams on the Peace. |
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| Madeira River Madeira River The Madeira River is a major waterway in South America, approximately 3,250 km miles long The Madeira is the biggest tributary of the Amazon... |
3380 kilometres (2,100.2 mi) | 17000 m3/s | Amazon River Amazon River The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined... |
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| Yukon River Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into... |
3187 kilometres (1,980.3 mi) | 854700 square kilometre | 6428 m3/s | Bering Sea Bering Sea The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves.... |
Longest completely undammed river in North America. | |||
| Nizhnyaya Tunguska River | 2989 kilometres (1,857.3 mi) | 473000 square kilometre | 3680 m3/s | Yenisei River Yenisei River Yenisei , also written as Yenisey, is the largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. It is the central of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean... |
The Russian government is planning to build hydro dams on the river within the next few years. | |||
| Brahmaputra Brahmaputra River The Brahmaputra , also called Tsangpo-Brahmaputra, is a trans-boundary river and one of the major rivers of Asia. It is the only Indian river that is attributed the masculine gender and thus referred to as a in Indo-Aryan languages and languages with Indo-Aryan influence... –Yarlung Zangbo |
2900 kilometres (1,802 mi) | Bay of Bengal Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal , the largest bay in the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to the... |
China is building Zangmu Dam Zangmu Dam The Zangmu Dam is a gravity dam currently under construction on the Brahmaputra River northwest of Gyaca in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The purpose of the dam is hydroelectric power production using run-of-the-river technology. The dam is part of the Zangmu Hydropower Project and will... , set for completion in 2015, on its portion of the Brahmaputra. |
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| Salween River Salween River The Salween is a river, about long, that flows from the Tibetan Plateau into the Andaman Sea in Southeast Asia. It drains a narrow and mountainous watershed of that extends into the countries China, Burma and Thailand. Steep canyon walls line the swift, powerful and undammed Salween, one of the... |
2815 kilometres (1,749.2 mi) | 324000 square kilometre | 4876 m3/s | Andaman Sea Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea or Burma Sea is a body of water to the southeast of the Bay of Bengal, south of Burma, west of Thailand and east of the Andaman Islands, India; it is part of the Indian Ocean.... |
Longest undammed Southeast Asia Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic... n river. Burma is planning to build the TaSang Dam TaSang Dam The TaSang Dam is a planned multi-purpose dam on the Salween River in the Shan State, Burma. The TaSang dam’s location will be northeast of Rangoon and west of Mongtong. The TaSang Dam will be the first dam on the Salween River and will be the largest hydroelectric dam in Burma and the... and several others. |
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| Paraguay River Paraguay River The Paraguay River is a major river in south central South America, running through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina... |
2549 kilometres (1,583.9 mi) | Paraná River Paraná River The Paraná River is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina for some . It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language... |
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| Aldan River Aldan River The Aldan River is the second-longest tributary of the Lena River in the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia. The river is 2,273 km long, of which around 1,600 km is navigable. It was part of the River Route to Okhotsk... |
2273 kilometres (1,412.4 mi) | 729000 square kilometre | 5060 m3/s | Lena River Lena River The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed... |
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| Rio Negro | 2230 kilometres (1,385.7 mi) | 691000 square kilometre | 29300 m3/s | Amazon River Amazon River The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined... |
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| Vitim River Vitim River Vitim River is a major tributary of the Lena River. With its source east of Lake Baikal, the Vitim flows 1,978 km north through the Transbaykalian Mountains and the town of Bodaybo. The river peaks in June and freezes from November to May. It is navigable from the Lena to Bodaybo. Upstream,... |
1978 kilometres (1,229.1 mi) | Lena River Lena River The Lena is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean . It is the 11th longest river in the world and has the 9th largest watershed... |
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| Indigirka River Indigirka River The Indigirka River is a river in the Sakha Republic in Russia between the Yana River and the Kolyma River. It is in length. The area of its basin is 360,000 km²... |
1726 kilometres (1,072.5 mi) | 360400 square kilometre | 1810 m3/s | Arctic Ocean Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions... |
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| Fraser River Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia at the city of Vancouver. It is the tenth longest river in Canada... |
1375 kilometres (854.4 mi) | 220000 square kilometre | 3475 m3/s | Pacific Ocean | ||||
| Kuskokwim River Kuskokwim River The Kuskokwim River or Kusko River is a river, long, in Southwest Alaska in the United States. It is the ninth largest river in the United States by average discharge volume at its mouth and seventeenth largest by basin drainage area.The river provides the principal drainage for an area of the... |
1165 kilometres (723.9 mi) | 120000 square kilometre | 1900 m3/s | Bering Sea Bering Sea The Bering Sea is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It comprises a deep water basin, which then rises through a narrow slope into the shallower water above the continental shelves.... |
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| Back River Back River The Back River , is a river in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada... |
1150 kilometres (714.6 mi) | Arctic Ocean Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions... |
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| Anadyr River Anadyr River Anadyr is a river in the far northeast Siberia which flows into Anadyr Bay of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Its basin corresponds to the Anadyrsky District of Chukotka.... |
1150 kilometres (714.6 mi) | 191000 square kilometre | 1000 m3/s | Gulf of Anadyr Gulf of Anadyr The Gulf of Anadyr, or Anadyr Bay , is a large bay on the Bering Sea in far northeast Siberia.-Location:The bay is roughly rectangular and opens to the southeast. The corners are Cape Navarin , Anadyr Estuary, Kresta Bay and Cape Chukotsky on the Chukchi Peninsula... |
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| Liard River Liard River The Liard River flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Columbia, marking the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and then curving northeast back... |
1115 kilometres (692.8 mi) | 277100 square kilometre | Mackenzie River Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories... |
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| Yellowstone River Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National... |
1114 kilometres (692.2 mi) | 181300 square kilometre | Missouri River Missouri River The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great... |
Longest undammed river in the contiguous United States Contiguous United States The contiguous United States are the 48 U.S. states on the continent of North America that are south of Canada and north of Mexico, plus the District of Columbia.... . |
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| Tanana River Tanana River The Tanana River is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright, the name is from the Koyukon tene no, tenene, literally "trail river".... |
916 kilometres (569.2 mi) | 113960 square kilometre | 1172 m3/s | Yukon River Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into... |
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