A map shared on social media in August 2024 authentically confirmed the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
The map is a creative rendering depicting attributes of the Mississippi River watershed — not an actual match.
A map shared on X, TikTok, Facebook and Threads, amongst different platforms, in August 2024 claimed to point out the Mississippi River and its tributaries. One common instance was shared to X (archived) on Aug. 22 and had greater than 23.6 million views on the time of this publication.
Snopes was unable to find out by whom or for what goal the map was made, or what knowledge was utilized in its creation. Nevertheless, a reverse picture search revealed that it started circulating as early as 2022.
Hayley Drennon, senior analysis assistant at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, mentioned that “whereas the map can depict the influence of the Mississippi, it is extra of a creative rendering.”
We in contrast the map in query to these revealed in scientific literature depicting the watershed, drainage basin and tributaries of the Mississippi River. Although there have been similarities between them, they weren’t an actual match.
For these causes, we’ve got rated the authenticity of the map and what it is mentioned to characterize as “Principally True.”
Drennon mentioned a map revealed on-line by the nonprofit group American Rivers is extra consultant of the watershed.
A side-by-side comparability under exhibits similarities and variations between the 2 maps. For one, the American Rivers map (on the left) exhibits the construction of Mississippi River tributaries, or the small rivers and streams that ultimately circulate into bigger rivers, often known as the mainstream. The American Rivers map particularly names every main tributary, whereas the map shared on social media seems to point out smaller water options that stem from the tributaries.
(American Rivers, X consumer @locati0ns)
Snopes subsequent in contrast the map in query to others revealed in tutorial publications. In 2016, for instance, NASA revealed the under visualization that depicts “flows alongside the rivers of the Mississippi watershed.” (The animation doesn’t present the precise circulate charges of the rivers.)
In accordance with NASA, the above visible was created utilizing knowledge maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey.
“By assembling these instructions into streamflows, it’s potential to hint the trail of water from each level of the realm to the mouth of the Mississippi within the Gulf of Mexico,” NASA wrote on its web site. “This animation begins with the factors furthest from the Gulf and divulges the streams and rivers as a gentle development in the direction of the mouth of the Mississippi till all the most important rivers are revealed.”
USGS additionally revealed the map under in a 2013 convention paper titled “The Mississippi River: A Place for Fish.” It depicts the watershed of the Mississippi River, which incorporates two Canadian provinces and 41% of the conterminous United States, often known as the “Decrease 48.” The terrain of the panorama may also be seen on this map, which seems to attach the rivers and their tributaries in a way that resembles the map shared on social media.
(“The Mississippi River: A Place For Fish”)
The Mississippi River is a part of the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, or MARB. Two maps revealed within the scientific journal Frontiers Environmental Science present this “hydrologically outlined system,” with main tributaries in blue and their related drainage areas in inexperienced. The maps under have been created utilizing the USGS 2019 National Land Cover Database, which gives nationwide knowledge on land cowl and land cowl change. Each maps under share comparable traits and options to the map shared on social media.
(Frontiers Environmental Science)
The U.S. Environmental Safety Company says the MARB area is the third-largest on the planet, after the Amazon and Congo basins. One other map revealed by the company exhibits the “expanse of the Mississippi River Basin” as it’s “joined by a whole lot of tributaries, together with these from the Ohio and Missouri Rivers.”
Once more, there are obvious similarities between the map under and the viral map shared on social media, together with the most important rivers proven and the overall form of the watershed and its basin.
(EPA)
“Water from elements or all of 31 states drains into the Mississippi River, and creates a drainage basin over 1,245,000 sq. miles in dimension. Earlier than reaching the Gulf, the Mississippi meets up with its distributary, the Atchafalaya River,” the EPA wrote on its web site.
At 2,350 miles lengthy, the Mississippi is the second-longest river in North America, behind its largest tributary, the Missouri River, which is 100 miles longer, in keeping with the National Park Service.
The Mississippi-Missouri River mixture (3,710 miles) is the fourth-longest on the planet, behind the Nile (4,160 miles), the Amazon (4,000 miles) and the Yangtze (3,964 miles).
