Mississippi River

High school (ages 12+)
Geography

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/mississippi-river

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How long is the Mississippi River?2,340 miles (3,770 km)
2. How big is the Mississippi River?1,151,000 square miles (2,980,000 km²)
3. What is the world discharge rank?10th largest
4. Where does the Mississippi River start and end?It begins at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and travels 2,340 miles south to the Gulf of Mexico, where it makes a big delta.
5. Why is the Mississippi River important for farmers and boats?The river carries silt that makes the land around it very fertile, so farmers grow crops there. Boats use the river to move goods, which helps towns and cities grow.

Drainage Basin: The entire geographical area that drains water into a particular river system.
Alluvial Plains: Flat land formed by the deposition of sediment carried by a river.
Hypoxic Zone: An area in a body of water with extremely low oxygen levels, harmful to marine life.