White River (Missouri River)
White River | |
Near Crawford, Nebraska
|
|
Country | United States |
---|---|
States | Nebraska, South Dakota |
County | Dawes, Oglala Lakota, Pennington, Jackson, Jones, Mellette, Tripp, Lyman |
Source | Pine Ridge |
- location | near Harrison, Dawes County, Nebraska |
- elevation | 4,861 ft (1,482 m) [1] |
- coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [2] |
Mouth | Missouri River |
- location | near Chamberlain, Lyman County, South Dakota |
- elevation | 1,601 ft (488 m) [2] |
- coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. [2] |
Length | 580 mi (933 km) [3] |
Basin | 10,200 sq mi (26,000 km2) [4] |
Discharge | |
- average | 570 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) [4] |
- max | 51,900 cu ft/s (1,500 m3/s) |
- min | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
The White River is a Missouri River tributary that flows 580 miles (930 km)[3] through the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota. The name stems from the water's white-gray color, a function of eroded sand, clay, and volcanic ash carried by the river.[5] Draining a basin of about 10,200 square miles (26,000 km2),[4] about 8,500 square miles (22,000 km2) of which is in South Dakota,[6] the stream flows through a region of sparsely populated hills, plateaus, and badlands.[7]
The White River rises in northwestern Nebraska, in the Pine Ridge escarpment north of Harrison, at an elevation of 4,861 feet (1,482 m) above sea level.[1] It flows southeast then northeast past Fort Robinson and north of Crawford. It crosses into southwestern South Dakota and flows north across the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, then northeast, receiving Wounded Knee Creek and flowing between units of Badlands National Park. At the northern edge of the reservation, it flows east-northeast and southeast, forming the northern boundary of the reservation and the southern boundary of Buffalo Gap National Grassland. It receives the Little White River about 15 miles (24 km) south of Murdo, and flows east to join the Missouri in Lake Francis Case about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Chamberlain.[8]
The river sometimes has no flow, due to the dry climate surrounding its badlands and prairie basin, though thunderstorms can cause brief intense flow. The river near Chamberlain flows year-round. The White River has generally good-quality water.[6]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Benke and Cushing, p. 471
- ↑ Benke and Cushing, p. 445
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Benke and Cushing, p. 449
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Works cited
- Benke, Arthur C., ed., and Cushing, Colbert E., ed.; Galat, David L.; Berry, Charles R., Jr.; Peters, Edward J., and White, Robert G. (2005). "Chapter 10: Missouri River Basin" in Rivers of North America. Burlington, Massachusetts: Elsevier Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-088253-1.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to White River (Nebraska-South Dakota). |
- Geobox usage tracking for river type
- Commons category link is locally defined
- Rivers of Nebraska
- Rivers of South Dakota
- Tributaries of the Missouri River
- Landforms of Dawes County, Nebraska
- Landforms of Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota
- Landforms of Pennington County, South Dakota
- Landforms of Jackson County, South Dakota
- Landforms of Jones County, South Dakota
- Landforms of Mellette County, South Dakota
- Landforms of Tripp County, South Dakota
- Landforms of Lyman County, South Dakota
- White River Fauna