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Can they really overflow causing massive flooding? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.204.52.6 ( talk) 19:07, 31 January 2005 (UTC) reply

I think that they can. I heard it on the news. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.250.216.247 ( talk) 00:17, 30 August 2005 (UTC) reply

Having a diagram forthis article can make it better. The League of Crazy M en 11:28, 2 May 2006 (UTC) reply

Please don't put here the Dutch wikilinks as there both tributaries and distributaries are treated. Or else there will be a mess in wikilinks. Andres 12:05, 30 October 2006 (UTC) reply

What is and What is not a tributary of a larger river or body of water? If there is no DIRECT connection between the so-called tributary and its parent water, is it a tributary? What I am looking for here is some consistent application of the term to articles on rivers and lakes within Wikipedia.

I personally believe that unless there is a DIRECT connection between the two named waters at a confluence, the lesser water should not be listed as a tributary of the greater water. For example: I would contend that the Firehole River in Wyoming is not a tributary of the Missouri River, but instead a tributary of the Madison River. If this logic is not applied, then articles about very large or significant waters might literally contain 1000's of tributary references. For example, if I were to include Rocky Creek as tributary of the Mississippi River, I would not be totally incorrect as it does flow into the E. Gallatin River, Gallatin River, Missouri River into the Mississippi.

I have posted this on the Confluence talk page as well. If there is a better place to post, let me know? -- Mike Cline 14:36, 4 May 2007 (UTC) reply

A related question: What is the determination of which is a tributary and which is the main river? For example, it appears both the Missouri River and the Ohio Rivers are much longer and drain a much larger areas than the Mississippi north of their confluence(s). Why isn’t the river named Missouri or Ohio down to the Gulf? Rtrsr 2600:1702:2440:6620:AC93:D2AC:CC4B:33AD ( talk) 13:38, 21 May 2023 (UTC) reply

Because the sizes of the respective catchment areas were not known until well after the rivers were made named! Also, the name Mississippi was applied first to the lower part. — Tamfang ( talk) 21:04, 14 July 2023 (UTC) reply

As a Wikipedia reader with no particular agenda other than seeking clarity, I offer that it may be more objective to reword the Article’s heading to read: “This article is about geographic waterways. For other uses, see….”, and revise the first sentence to “A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into another stream or river, or into a lake.”

Other comments:

· A tributary may be shorter or longer (by length), smaller or larger (by water volume or drainage area) than the river into which it flows.

· A river that flows into the sea is termed a main stem or parent river.

Rtrsr 2600:1702:2440:6620:2585:E05D:4638:911E ( talk) 18:41, 26 August 2023 (UTC) reply

If one looked only at the pictures, one might think tributary means 'small river'. Have we no pictures of small rivers contributing to greater ones? — Tamfang ( talk) 16:04, 30 October 2009 (UTC) reply

Done! 😃 Anythingyouwant ( talk) 21:03, 15 January 2018 (UTC) reply