Geography Of The World
How Far North Alligators Live Along Atlantic Coast Rivers
Alligators live up Atlantic coast rivers from the Savannah to the Cape Fear and Alligator River, reaching their northern limit at a North Carolina millpond.
Why The Columbia River Flows Through A Desert
The Cascades started rising 7 million years ago. The Columbia was already there, and it cut down as fast as the mountains went up. Why it crosses a desert.
Where Beavers Go When Lakes Freeze
Beavers are highly adapted to survive for winter, engaging in engineering of the environment in order to wait out the cold.
5 Most Alligator Filled Rivers In North Carolina
North Carolina biologists track alligators along the Cape Fear, Lumber, Waccamaw and Alligator rivers, at the northern edge of the species' range.
What Happens To A Great Lakes Freighter In A November Gale
Lake waves hit a freighter every three to five seconds. What a November gale does to a laker’s hull and deck, and how the Edmund Fitzgerald came to be lost.
The Lakes Where Freshwater Drum Grow Largest
Tennessee's Nickajack Lake produced the 54-pound world-record freshwater drum in 1972. Nine more U.S. lakes and reservoirs rank by their state-record drum.
How Great Lakes Freighters Navigate In Fog
Laker crews in fog rely on radar, AIS targets, and passing calls on VHF channel 13, and the St. Marys River closes when visibility drops below a quarter mile.
The Deepest Bay In The United States
Monterey Bay is the deepest bay in the US, hiding a submarine canyon over two miles deep, deeper than the Grand Canyon, right off the California coast.
The Difference Between A Sound And A Strait
Sounds and straits often overlap. A strait links larger bodies of water, but a sound may be an inlet, a passage, or a fjord like New Zealand's Milford Sound.
How Ducks Keep Their Feet From Freezing On Ice
Ducks stand on frozen ponds without freezing thanks to countercurrent heat exchange in their legs, bare scaly feet, down feathers, and a one-legged stance.
Lake Mead Supplies 25 Million People, Lake Powell Supplies 7,500
One reservoir is where the water is kept and the other is where it is handed out. Lake Mead supplies 25 million people. Lake Powell supplies 7,500
What Happens If Lake Granby Is Drained To Save Lake Powell
Draining Lake Granby would lift Lake Powell about 8 feet at most, take at least a year and a half, and drop the lake well below its 2002 drought low.
The Year The Ohio River Flood Took Louisville
In January 1937, the Ohio River rose more than 30 feet above flood stage at Louisville, Kentucky, submerging about 70% of the city and forcing 175,000 to flee.
What Happens To Page If Lake Powell Hits Dead Pool
At dead pool, Page, Arizona, would lose its boat ramps, hydropower from Glen Canyon Dam and released water at Horseshoe Bend, but its taps would keep running.
Why The Edmund Fitzgerald Was Never Raised
The Edmund Fitzgerald lies in two pieces 530 feet down in Canadian waters, a protected grave where only its bell has been raised, at the families’ request.
Where Water Moccasins And Rattlesnakes Overlap
Cottonmouths meet rattlesnakes where swamps rise into ridges and bluffs, as at Illinois's Snake Road, closed to cars twice a year for migrating snakes.
The Longest Lakes In The United States
A length ranking of the longest lakes in the United States, from Lake Superior and the Great Lakes to Iliamna, Great Salt Lake, and Rainy Lake.
What Would Happen If The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Reached Shore
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch won't wash ashore as one mass, but its plastic already reaches Hawaii's beaches and reefs, endangering turtles and seabirds.
What Would Happen If Sea Level Rose 10 Feet On The East Coast
The Atlantic would reach far beyond the beach, flooding city streets, cutting off coastal roads, and pushing saltwater into local freshwater supplies.
The Most Snake Infested Rivers In New York
The Most Snake Infested Rivers In New York include the Hudson and Delaware, where water snakes bask on rocks and rare timber rattlers den on the ridges above.
The Difference Between A Tide And A Current
Tides set how high the water sits, and currents set where it flows. Alaska's Turnagain Arm and rip currents on Great Lakes beaches show why the two differ.
How Far North Asian Carp Have Reached
Asian carp have pushed north to North Dakota's James River and into Quebec, held back by a patchwork of dams, locks, and one electric barrier.
How A Great Lakes Freighter Gets Through The Soo Locks
A 1,013.5-foot freighter drops 21 feet in the Poe Lock at Sault Ste. Marie with 2.5 feet to spare per side, as gravity drains about 22 million gallons.
How A Great Lakes Freighter Compares To An Aircraft Carrier
A Ford-class carrier is 1,106 feet and runs 4,500 people. The Paul R. Tregurtha is 1,013 feet and runs 24. How a Great Lakes freighter compares.
How The Sierra Nevada Compares To The Rockies
The Sierra Nevada is one slab of granite. The Rockies are 3000 miles of folded rock. Both top 14400 feet, and almost everything else about them is different.
The US Coastal Highways Most At Risk From Rising Seas
The US Coastal Highways Most At Risk From Rising Seas include NC 12 on the Outer Banks, where the state finally moved the road out over the water.
The Year The Colorado Filled The Salton Sea By Accident
California's Salton Sea was created by accident in 1905, when the Colorado River broke through an irrigation canal and flooded a dry desert basin for two years.
The US Rivers With The Most Rattlesnakes Along Their Banks
Rattlesnakes share the banks of the Rio Grande in Big Bend, the Deschutes in Oregon, and the Mississippi in Minnesota, and the species changes by region.
How Crater Lake Holds More Water Than Lake Okeechobee Despite Being Smaller
Lake Okeechobee is about 36 times larger than Crater Lake, yet Oregon's Crater Lake holds nearly five times as much water. Here is why depth matters.
The Smallest Freighter Still Working The Great Lakes
MV Tamarack, a 403-foot cement carrier that entered service in 2025, is the shortest freighter on the Great Lakes, 116 feet shorter than the steamer Alpena.
The Rivers Where Striped Bass Run Farthest Upstream
Striped bass leave the sea each spring and run far up the Delaware, Hudson, Roanoke, and Potomac rivers, some reaching dams over 200 river miles inland.
How Lake Nicaragua Compares To The Great Lakes
Lake Nicaragua loses to every Great Lake on every measurement. It wins exactly one category and it is the one people care about, because it has sharks.
The US Lakes Where Piranhas Have Been Caught
A single piranha in an American lake could lead to a drastic response, but the catches raise an even stranger question about how those fish got there.
How Tall Hoover Dam Is Compared To The Empire State Building
Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall. The Empire State Building is 1,454. One is almost exactly half the other, and both built by men out of work in the same decade.
The Most Polluted Bay In America
A factory that made Agent Orange dumped dioxin into the river roughly every other week. Forty years and 1.3 billion dollars later Newark Bay is still a Superfund site.
Why Some Rivers Cut Straight Through Mountains
Rivers are a powerful force which essentially never ceases. Over time, they can carve massive channels through seemingly solid rock.
The Largest Bay In The United States
Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the US at 4,480 square miles and the answer most people mean by the largest bay, though Alaska’s Cook Inlet is bigger by area.
The American Mountains With The Most Copperheads
Copperheads in Virginia's Blue Ridge, the Smokies, Missouri's Ozarks, New York's Hudson Highlands, and Connecticut favor rocky slopes and woodland edges.
Most Alligator Filled Rivers In Georgia
The Altamaha, Satilla, St. Marys, Suwannee and Ogeechee all run through Georgia gator country, and each has a park or trail where you can watch from dry land.
Why Some American Rivers Have No Mouth
In the American West's Great Basin, rivers such as the Humboldt and Amargosa never reach an ocean, vanishing into desert sinks, dry air, and volcanic rock.