Colville River
| Colville River | ||
 Colville River with drainage basin |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | US : 1400615 | |
| location | Alaska (USA) | |
| River system | Colville River | |
| Confluence of |
Thunder Creek and Storm Creek north of the De Long Mountains 68 ° 49 ′ 1 ″ N , 160 ° 21 ′ 14 ″ W |
|
| Source height | 610 m | |
| muzzle |
Beaufort Sea ( Arctic Ocean ) Coordinates: 70 ° 26 ′ 46 " N , 150 ° 21 ′ 28" W 70 ° 26 ′ 46 " N , 150 ° 21 ′ 28" W |
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| Mouth height | 0 m | |
| Height difference | 610 m | |
| Bottom slope | 1.1 ‰ | |
| length | 560 km | |
| Catchment area | 53,532 km² (45 km above the mouth, 10 km south of Nuiqsut) | |
| Discharge at the Umiat A Eo gauge: 35,895 km². Location: 195 km above the mouth |
MQ 2003/2017 Mq 2003/2017 |
286 m³ / s 8 l / (s km²) |
| Left tributaries | Awuna River | |
| Right tributaries | Nuka River , Kiligwa River , Kuna River , Ipnavik River , Etivluk River , Kurupa River , Oolamnagavik River , Killik River , Chandler River , Anaktuvuk River , Itkillik River | |
| Communities | Alpine , Nuiqsut | |
 Eskimo family on the Colville River (photo from 1901) |
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The Colville River is a 560 km long river in northern Alaska . It arises from the confluence of Thunder Creek and Storm Creek north of the De Long Mountains , flows east-northeast and flows into the Beaufort Sea , part of the Arctic Ocean , at Alpine , 190 km west of Prudhoe Bay , in a large delta .
Much of the northern flank of the Brooks range is drained via the Colville River. First it flows in a northerly direction, then runs eastwards along the foothills of the Brooks range, where it gains in size through many tributaries. At the middle reaches it forms the southern border of the National Petroleum Reserve and finally flows in a northerly direction through the North Slope to the coast.
The river was named in 1837 by British explorers PW Dease and Thomas Simpson after Andrew Wedderburn Colvile (1779-1856), who later became governor of the Hudson's Bay Company . The name was incorrectly spelled with two "l" in the original and in subsequent cards. This spelling later became the river's official name.
In the Liscomb Bone Bed , named after geologist Robert Liscomb, who discovered the first dinosaur bones in Alaska in 1961, scientists have found more than 6,000 bones over 25 years. The find could be assigned to a new herbivorous species found only in Alaska, which was named Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis based on the language of the indigenous people of the region. The new species is one of four previously known species found in Alaska alone. The occurrence puzzles the scientists how the animals survived, since their place of discovery during their lifetime in the late Cretaceous period was hundreds of kilometers further north in today's Arctic Ocean.
Individual evidence
- ^ Thunder Creek in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
- ^ Storm Creek in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
- ↑ USGS 15880000 COLVILLE R NR NUIQSUT AK
- ↑ USGS 15875000 COLVILLE R AT UMIAT AK
- ^ Fossils of new duck-billed, plant eating dinosaur found in Alaska in: The Guardian, September 23, 2015, accessed September 23, 2015