Figure 16.33

Delta shapes. (A) The Yukon River originates in British Columbia, Canada, and empties into the Bering Sea in Alaska. Its delta has the classic arcuate shape with branching networks of distributaries. Notice the brown color of the sea where the river deposits its suspended load. (B) The Mississippi River forms a bird’s foot delta (a portion of which is shown here).

(A. NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon,using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey; B. NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team)