Total length3.7 million m
52,758Boeing 747 lengths
124 millionBottle caps
About 3,730 km from source to mouth
Photo from Wikimedia Commons
Mississippi River
North America's great central artery/Water
The Mississippi drains about 40% of the contiguous United States, collecting water from 31 states and two Canadian provinces. Its discharge into the Gulf of Mexico is so massive it creates a visible plume of sediment stretching far out to sea. The river has shifted its course dramatically over geological time, and only an elaborate system of levees and spillways keeps it in its current channel.
Measurements
Volume discharged per day1.5 billion m³
1.5 trillionHuman stomachs
223 trillionHuman eyeballs
29 billionKitchen trash cans
About 16,800 m³/s average discharge × 86,400 seconds per day
Drainage basin area3 trillion m²
19.9 quadrillionPinky fingernails
434 trillionDollar bill areas
About 2.98 million square km -- roughly 40% of the contiguous US
Maximum width17,700 m
10,412Human arm spans
1,475Telephone poles
118,000Bird nest diameters
At Lake Winnibigoshish in Minnesota, about 17.7 km wide
Maximum depth61 m
12.2Balance beam lengths
8.71Tow truck lengths
29Surfboards
Near Algiers Point in New Orleans
Annual sediment load145 billion kg
1,768Washington Monuments
58 millionPickup trucks
About 145 million metric tons of sediment per year