Mississippi River

Key Facts
 In America.
 3,779 km long.
 Flows through 31 states.
 The rivers’ name means "father of waters" in the Algonquian
language.
 Lower section the Mississippi is subject to disastrous flooding.
 At the headwaters of the Mississippi, the average surface speed
of the water is near 1.2 miles per hour

Main Features

Upper course
 Rising at an elevation of 446 m in Lake
Itasca, the Mississippi flows through
several glacial lakes to Minneapolis-Saint
Paul, where it passes over a series of
 rapids and is joined by the Minnesota

River.
 The river is controlled by numerous dams
and falls.
 Upper Mississippi is divided into three
sections: the headwaters, from the source
to Saint Anthony Falls, a series of man-
made lakes between Minneapolis and St.
Louis, Missouri, and the middle
Mississippi, a relatively free-flowing
river downstream of the confluence with
the Missouri River at St. Louis.

Middle Course
 Much of the area is a fertile and gently rolling ground that
features low hills and broad, shallow valleys.
 The most important tributaries are the Illinois, Chippewa,
Black, Wisconsin, Saint Croix, Iowa, Des Moines, and Rock
Rivers, some of which drain the nation's most fertile
agricultural land.
 The end of the middle course is where the river begins to
meander.

Lower Course
  South of Cairo the Mississippi enters a wide ,low valley that
was once an embayment of the Gulf of Mexico. Sediment
has filled this area, and through the centuries the river has
extended its mouth to the present location 966 km
downstream.
 Beyond this lies more low floodplains, often at a lower
elevation than the river itself. More commonly known as the
Mississippi delta where there is an alluvial plain. Another
feature of the lower course is its meandering.
 In its lower section the Mississippi is subject to disastrous
flooding.

The upper course has many waterfalls and dams, which suggests a steep course
like the model. The middle course is gently sloping, has broad shallow valleys
and many tributaries, just like the middle course model. The lower course is
very flat and meanders just like a typical lower course of a river. Yes, the
Mississippi River fits the model very well.

Heather Currie 3B