# Largest rivers by volume **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229 "2004-02-20T17:32:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDS)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/1 "2004-02-20T17:32:02Z")
Ina an argument at the bar last night, we were discussing the biggest rivers in the world as measured by volume of discharge into the ocean. Of course we knew that the Amazon is #1, and I remember reading that the Congo (Zaire) is #2. I also remember reading that the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Columbia are 1,2,3 in North America. However, if anyone could point me toward an internet site that lists the world rivers by volume, I’d appreciate it. We are guessing that Mississippi and the Yangtze as 3 and 4. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/2 "2004-02-20T19:28:25Z")
On [Cartage’s](http://www.cartage.org.lb/) web site, under: Themes \> Science \> Earth Sciences \> Hydrology, Meteorology, Climatology \> Hydrology \> Runoff \> World’s Largest River Drainage Basins They give a table of the world’s largest basins and discharges. 1. Amazon 2. Congo 3. Mississippi 4. Grande 5. Nile The Yangtze ranks 11th. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/3 "2004-02-20T19:37:22Z")
Well, it isn’t authoritative, but the Congo (Zaire) River is the second largest river by volume of flow, after the Amazon, and just before the Mississippi. I think the Amazon is 180,000 m[sup]3[/sup]/sec, and the Congo about 40 m[sup]3[/sup]/sec, with the Mississippi coming in with 17,000 m[sup]3[/sup]/sec. However that is just from memory. Tris ---
**Author:** ![BDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDS)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/4 "2004-02-20T19:42:53Z")
Thanks. Actually, the list lists the top 12 rivers by drainage basin size, and then lists their discharge rates. The Yangtze is 3rd in discharge rate, and the Plata and the Yenisey are 4th and 5th with the Mississippi 6th. We discussed the Plata, but never would have guessed the Yenisey, thinking that those arctic rivers are in pretty arid climes. The Nile is 5th in basin size, but, running as it does through the desert, far down the list in discharge rate. The problem with this list is there may be some other rivers (The Mekong, the Orinoco, the Ganges?) whicah are not in the top 12 in Basin size, but which would be in discharge rate. Thanks, though. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/5 "2004-02-20T19:55:39Z")
Try [this,](http://www.rev.net/~aloe/river/) then. It’s a table of statistics for rivers of the world. ---
**Author:** ![BDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@BDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDS)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/6 "2004-02-20T20:27:13Z")
Bingo! Thanks again! I now make the list to be: ``` Discharge in cu m. per sec.) ``` 1. Amazon 180k 2. Congo 42k 3. Yangtze 35 4. Orinoco 28k 5. Brahmaputra (Tsangpo) 20k 6. Yenisei 19.6k 7. Rio de la plata 19.5k 8. Mississippi 17.5k 9. Lena 16.4k 10. Mekong 15.9k 11. Ganges 15k The Brahmaputra took me off guard. All of the others were at least mentioned in our discussion last night, although I dismissed the Yenisei and Lena as probably being small, since the arctic climates through which they run are dry. Wrong again, BDS. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/7 "2004-02-20T23:57:24Z")
Here’s a somewhat different list from [http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/adai/runoff-data/runoff-table2-top50r.txt](http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/cas/adai/runoff-data/runoff-table2-top50r.txt) They list the top 50 along with flow rates, country, etc. I’ll just copy the names of their top 25. 1 Amazon 2 Congo 3 Orinoco 4 Changjiang (Yangtze) 5 Brahmaputra 6 Mississippi 7 Yenisey 8 Paraná 9 Lena 10 Mekong 11 Tocantins 12 Tapajos 13 Ob 14 Ganges 15 Irrawaddy 16 St Lawrence 17 Amur 18 Xingu 19 Mackenzie 20 Xijiang 21 Columbia 22 Magdalena 23 Uruguay 24 Yukon 25 Atrato ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/8 "2004-02-21T01:11:12Z")
Notably the Nile and Rio Grande are way, way down there, since most of their courses are over very dry territory. Their basins may be large, but they don’t generate a lot of water. As an aside regarding the Mississippi, I read somewhere that the Missouri R. is really the main river, and the northern Mississippi is just a tributary that discharges into it. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/9 "2004-02-21T02:56:32Z")
I further venture that for industrialized/modern countries, a good amount of water just gets used for other purposes before it reaches the sea. Witness the Colorado and the Rio Grande. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/10 "2004-02-21T03:31:27Z")
Well, once I was at the Colorado and near the rapids it’s _really_ loud. Oh, _that_ kind of volume. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/11 "2004-02-21T06:21:42Z")
> [@BDS](#): > > Wrong again, BDS. Aw, hun. There’s a first time for everyone. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-rivers-by-volume/230229/12 "2004-02-22T16:58:10Z")
I believe that in ancient times that the Amazon was part of the Congo, which emptied somewhere around Peru or Ecuador. #1 and #2 combined? Now that would have been one big honkin’ MF of a river!