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Location Information:
The
Mississippi River is the largest
river system in North America. About
2,320 miles (3,730 km) long, the
river originates at Lake Itasca,
Minnesota and flows slowly
southwards in sweeping meanders,
terminating 95 river miles below New
Orleans, Louisiana where it begins
to flow to the Gulf of Mexico. Along
with its major tributary, the
Missouri River, the river drains all
or parts of 31 U.S. states
stretching from the Rocky Mountains
in the west to the Appalachian
Mountains in the east to the Canada-U.S.
border on the north, including most
of the Great Plains, and is the
fourth longest river in the world
and the tenth most powerful river in
the world.
The
Mississippi River drains the
majority of the area between the
Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian
Mountains, except for the areas
drained to the Hudson Bay via the
Red River of the North, by the Saint
Lawrence River and the Great Lakes,
the Rio Grande (and numerous other
rivers in Texas), the Alabama River-Tombigbee
River, and the Chattahoochee
River-Apalachicola River.
The Mississippi River empties into
the Gulf of Mexico about 100 miles
(160 km) downstream from New
Orleans. Measurements of the length
of the Mississippi from Lake Itasca
to the Gulf of Mexico vary somewhat,
but the United States Geological
Survey's number is 2,340 miles
(3,770 km). The retention time from
Lake Itasca to the Gulf is about 90
days.
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