How did the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers form?
Near Fort Snelling, the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers join, and consequently the Mississippi valley becomes much wider. Glacial River Warren, predecessor to the Minnesota River, carved out the river’s wide valley, as it carried the meltwater pouring from glacial Lake Agassiz, between 11,800 and 9,200 years before the present (B.P.).
How long does it take the Mississippi River to reach the Gulf of Mexico?
At New Orleans the river flows at about three miles per hour. But the speed changes as water levels rise or fall and where the river widens, narrows, becomes more shallow or some combination of these factors. It takes about three months for water that leaves Lake Itasca, the river’s source, to reach the Gulf of Mexico.
Where was the head of navigation on the Mississippi River?
The head of navigation on the Mississippi is the Coon Rapids Dam in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. Before it was built in 1913, steamboats could occasionally go upstream as far as Saint Cloud, Minnesota, depending on river conditions.
Who was the first person to see the Mississippi River?
On May 8, 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto became the first recorded European to reach the Mississippi River, which he called Río del Espíritu Santo („River of the Holy Spirit“), in the area of what is now Mississippi. In Spanish, the river is called Río Mississippi.
How old is the Mississippi River below Minneapolis?
Below Minneapolis, the Mississippi is cut into flat-lying, 570- to 450-million-year- old Paleozoic sedimentary rocks. Throughout the stretch from Dayton to the Minnesota River, the valley is relatively narrow and floodplain development limited.
Where is the widest part of the Mississippi River?
At Lake Itasca, the river is between 20 and 30 feet wide, the narrowest stretch for its entire length. The widest part of the Mississippi can be found at Lake Winnibigoshish near Bena, MN, where it is wider than 11 miles.
Where does the Vermillion River join the Mississippi?
Today the Vermillion River joins the Mississippi at Hastings, forming a large alluvial fan and diverting the channel of the Mississippi to the northeast. Alluvium accumulating on the floodplain near the confluence has formed a delta in the Mississippi that has been migrating downstream for the last 9,500 years.