Geography

Shenandoah River is located in the United States and passes through the states of West Virginia and Virginia. The river is 89.5km long and its main stream has an average width of 45m. The river has two tributaries, namely the North Fork Shenandoah and the South Fork Shenandoah. Both these forks are about 160km long and merge to form the Shenandoah River which itself is a major tributary of the Potomac River. The river drains an area of about 7610 km² .

The river starts it course in Front Royal, Virginia where it’s formed by the joining of the North and South Forks. The South Fork of Shenandoah is 158.5km long and the North Fork is 169km long.

Shenandoah flows in a north-eastern direction through the Shenandoah Valley alongside the Blue Ridge Mountains located to its east. It flows through the borders of Virginia into West Virginia. The river drains into the Potomac river at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia ending its approximately 90km course.

The river has a total of 21 tributaries, 12 in Virginia and 9 in West Virginia.

The word “Shenandoah” has Native American origins and it means “Daughter of the Stars.”

Structural remains found near the river suggest that humans have lived in the area since as early as 9300BC. Archaeologists believe these remains to be the oldest buildings in North America.

Because of the fertile soil in the river basin, the Shenandoah Valley is major agricultural area in Virginia and West Virginia. The practice of farming along the river was started by Native Americans somewhere around the year 900 AD.

Europeans first arrived in the Shenandoah Valley in 1669 exploring the beautiful terrain, coming across abundant wildlife and Indian tribes.

By the end of the 18^th century the river had become a major trading route in the Shenandoah valley. Goods were transported along the river using special wooden boats called gundalows.

Shenandoah River and its tributaries are a popular destination for water sports. Visitors and enthusiasts take part in activities such as white-water rafting, kayaking, canoeing and river tubing.

Fishing is also very common in the river and is carried out as a recreational activity and for commercial purposes as well. Several species of fish live in the river such as the Largemouth Bass fish, Muskellunge, Sunfish, Crappie, Common Carp, Channel Catfish, American eel, Northern Hogsucker, White Sucker, Redhorse and Yellow Bullhead Fish.

The river is mentioned in John Denver’s famous song, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” which is also the state song of West Virginia.

The Arafura Sea is in a continental shelf area located between western New Guinea and the northern part of Australia. Arafura Shelf appears to have been a low-relief land surface that had an used to have a desert like climate.To the north, it is bordered by the Tertiary collision zone between the Australian craton and the northern island arc. To the south the sea adjoins the stable Australian craton. The sea is also a host for numerous Indonesian islands in the region. Towards the east of the Arafura Sea forms a stable continental shelf which has suffered a little from some intense compressional events. Episodes of rifting and basin formation for the Arafura sea are recorded to be in Paleozoic and Mesozoic sequences.

The following are a few facts about the Arafura sea:

• Sea levels were so low during the last glacial maximum that the Arafura Shelf, the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the Torres Strait formed a large land bridge that connected Australia and New Guinea.
• During the time of that land bridge themigration of humans from Asia into Australia had a noticeable increase.
• The Arafura Sea is a generally shallow sea in the western Pacific Ocean that occupies about 250,000 square miles between the north coast of Australia, also known as the Gulf of Carpentaria, and the south coast of New Guinea.
• According to the IHO, or theInternational Hydrographic Organization, the Arafura Sea is defined as being one of the waters of the East Indian Archipelago.
• The Arafura sea has various depths with the more shallow of those depths being between 165 to 260 feet, deepening as is goes towards the western edge, this is the point where coral reefs have grown at depths close to 2,000 feet.
• The oceans depth of the Arafura Shelf exhibits depths of between 160 and 260 ft, but the deeper parts which can go down as far as 1,970 ft can occur at the edges.
• The saltiness of the Arafura Sea annually ranges from 34.2-34.8 in the deeper parts to the north to 34.2 to 35.0 on the Arafura Shelf.
• The Arafura Sea yields a little under 4 million metric tons of seafood annually.
• With marine ecosystems and fish stocks in a steady decline, the Arafura Sea stands out as one of the most abundant places to fish in the world.

The Arafura Sea holds many mysteries and there are still issues with illegal fishing going on. If this illegal trend continues, the numerous local communities who surround and depend on the Arafura Sea will face a number of obstacles in order to sustain their livelihoods and quality of life. Increasing their economic growth while maintaining an optimum environment quality are the primary challenges that need to be overcome for this region to grow economically. Along with the illegal fishing in the area there are threats of pollution being dumped into the sea from nearby areas. Luckily there is already a controversy from the local people trying to save their economy and to prevent the pollution of the Arafura sea.

With an approximate length of 6400km, the Amazon River is considered the second largest river in the world after the Nile. The river’s main source is believed to be the Apurimac River, in Peru. It runs through Brazil. Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana. The river forms the largest drainage basin on earth and also contains the largest tropical rainforest in the world. The river is also the largest in South America. After flowing eastwards, the river eventually empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Given below are some cool and interesting facts about the Amazon river and its drainage basin:

Even though it’s shorter than the Nile, the Amazon River contains more water than the Nile, Mississippi and Yangtze River combined. The river is also sometimes called the River Sea.

It has the largest drainage basin on earth with an approximate area of about 7,050,000 km².

Amazon River has an average water flow rate of 209000m³/s. This is the greater than the flow rates of the Congo, Orinoco, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Meghna, Madeira, Yangtze and the  Negro rivers combined.

The river has more than 1100 tributaries.

It contains more than 5000 different kind of fish species. Some of them are very deadly can kill humans. These include the Piranha, Candiru Fish, Pacu, Electric Eel, Arapaima and Payara fish.

The Amazon is also a home to a lot of deadliest species of animals, insects and reptiles.

The Amazon Rainforest in the Amazon drainage basin is the largest tropical rainforest on earth and occupies an area of about 5,500,000 km². The forest is often called as the “Lungs of our planet” because it absorbs about 25% of total Carbon Dioxide emissions produced.

More than one third of all living species reside in the Amazon forest.

The Amazon River and its rainforests are home to not only some incredible species of animals and birds but thousands of fruits and anti-cancer plants are also found in it.

The Amazon River contains about one fifth of all the freshwater on earth. It is also responsible for pouring 25% of the world’s fresh water into oceans.

The river has a width of 5 miles in several places. During the wet season, when the river volume is at its peak the width can increase up to 15 miles.

About 90% of the Amazon rainforest plants are yet to be studied and researched by scientists.

It is said that about 50 or more tribes living in different inner parts of the Amazon rainforest have never had any contact with the modern world.

The Amazon rainforest is being deforested very brutally. It is estimated that if the current rate of deforestation in the forest continues, by the year 2030, 27% of the rainforest will be without trees.

Monthly, over hundreds of the different species of plants, animals and birds living in the forest come under the threat of extinction. Many species have already gone extinct.

It is also believed, that many undiscovered species of the Amazon may already have gone extinct.

Tirich Mir is a mountain located in Chitral Valley, Pakistan. The mountain itself is a part of the Hindu-Kush Range. Tirich Mir is just near the northern border of Pakistan with Afghanistan. The mountain’s name is derived from Wakhi, a language spoken in the remote regions of Northern Pakistan. In Wakhi, Tirich means shadow and Mir means Darkness, hence Tirich Mir translates to King of Darkness. The most probable reason for this name is due to the fact that Tirich Mir casts long shadows over the Wakhan Corridor, which is inside Afghanistan and forms the Northern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Tirich Mir is the 33rd tallest mountain in the world and the 16th tallest in Pakistan. It’s also the tallest, in the Hindu-Kush mountain range.

Outside the Himalayas and Karokaram ranges, it’s the tallest mountain in the world.

The mountain is known to have a lot of dangerous and deep crevasses. It is believed that many trekkers and climbers have lost their lives by falling into these cracks. The difficult to climb glacier, and bad weather on the mountain is also another threat to climbers. So, the peak should only be scaled by professional climbers.

Tirich Mir can be reached after crossing the small village of Tirich in Chitral, which is also the last village before reaching the mountain.

The valley surrounding the mountain is very fertile and has a lot of fruit plants like apricots, apples, pears, pomegranate, mulberry, persimmon and walnuts.

Tirich Mir has a maximum height of 7708m. The mountain has seven smaller peaks too, all of which are above 7000m.

These summits are Tirich Mir North, Tirich Mir South, Tirich Mir East, Tirich Mir West I , Tirich Mir West II , Tirich Mir West III and Tirich Mir West IV.

The main peak of Tirich Mir(7708m) was first climbed successfully in 1950, by a group of climbers from Norway led by philosopher and writer Arne Naess. The peak was last climbed in 2016 by two French engineers.

Tirich Mir North, at 7056m, was climbed by a team of German and Austrian climbers in 1965.

Tirich Mir South, at 7100m, is yet to be climbed successfully. No one has reached the top of this summit.

Tirich Mir East is 7692m tall and was first scaled in 1964 by climbers from Norway.

Tirich Mir West I, at 7487m, was first climbed by a team if Czech climbers in 1967.

Tirich Mir West II, at 7500m, was first scaled successfully in 1974 by climbers from Italy.

Tirich Mir West III, at 7400m, was climbed in 1974 by French mountaineers.

Tirich Mir West IV, at 7338m, was climbed for the first time in 1967 by Austrian climbers.

The mountain’s higher elevations are covered in snow throughout the year and temperatures are quite low. Temperatures recorded on the mountain at a height of 4245m show an annual average temperature ranging from -23°C to 0°C. At even greater heights the temperatures drop to -35°C or even lower than that.