How does a rivers source constantly have water.
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Because of the water cycle: rain falls and it all drains into rivers that go to the ocean.
At any given time throughout the year there is 8 times more rain falling than there is water flowing in rivers. There is enough flowing water to go around.
Rivers do sometimes run out of water. The source of a river can be a combination of snow melt and ground water and of course rain directly in. But if you mean how can rivers run even after 3 months of hot sunny weather, the answer is snow melt and then ground water. There’s a lot of water in the ground at higher elevations that’s constantly seeking lower elevation and rivers cut into the ground deeper than the surrounding soil so they capture that water.
There is a secondary thing going on where larger rivers start to resemble something more like a long skinny lake too. They have so much water in them that they don’t dry out by evaporation, but their flow rate can drop substantially to the point that they are barely emptying out into the ocean or wherever they end.
As others have mentioned, generally rivers are replenished by rain and/or melted snow.
Also, many rivers do run out of water.
There are plenty of reasonable answers, but I think there is one thing missing. It looks like you have a misunderstanding of what “source of a river” is. It’s not like faucet that just sprays all the water that goes down the river and ends up in the ocean. It’s usually the highest/furthest visible point to which you can reliably trace back the river.
And this specific source can definitely sometimes run out of water! But that’s the thing – rivers don’t have just one “source”, as per a point that supplies water – they collect water from many different “sources” on their way down. It may be rainfall dripping from nearby cliffs, maybe some ice melting and going down hills, it may be another river joining the main river, it may be flowing through the lake that has 5 rivers flowing in…
The source of a river is usually a spring or a group of springs that are fed by underground water. This underground water comes from rain and snow that falls on the land surrounding the spring. The rain and snow soak into the ground and are stored in rocks and soil, which act like a sponge.
When the water in the sponge gets too heavy, it spills out of the ground and forms a spring. These springs are the starting points of many rivers, and they keep flowing because more water is always being added to the sponge when it rains or snows.
So, the source of a river never runs out of water because it’s constantly being replenished by new rain and snow that falls on the land around it. This helps to keep the river flowing, even during dry seasons when the river may appear to be low.
Rain and snow. Rain feeds the streams and creeks that join into rivers. Snow condenses into snowcaps on mountain peaks, which melt water becomes rivers.
All water eventually evaporates feeding clouds that create new rain and snow.
In hot, arid regions, rivers do occasionally run dry. There are riverbeds that fill with water only after a hard rain.
Try a little experiment:
Set up a little sprinkler so that it’s “raining” on some ground higher than some other ground. Depending on whether the water easily seeps into the earth or not, it will begin to collect in what we would call a drainage basin. Because of gravity, the drainage will move down hill through the path of least resistance. As long as there is a sprinkler (read: rain) recharging the higher elevation with water, that water will need to get downhill to find the ocean. We call these drainage paths streams. If we have extreme drought the rivers will quite literally run dry.
If you want a sad story with the bonus of answering your question look for a video about the death of the aral sea, there a few out there.
Here goes my eli5:
1. Glacier is melting into river.
2. River flow into lake.
3. Sun makes lake evaporate water into air.
4. Water in air turns to snow when hits mountain.
5. Snow falls on glacier.
The source of rivers is generally rain. And as long as rainfall keeps happening, the source will never run dry.
Every river or body of water has a drainage basin. This is the area of land surrounding the body of water, Anytime it rains in the drainage basin, that water will eventually make its way to the lake or river. Think of it like a large bowl that collects the water and channels it into rivers, streams and lakes. Rain and snow is continually replenishing this water supply. If rain stops for extended periods we then start to see water run out as more water is being lost than is being replenished by rain
The “source” of a river is rather arbitrary. A lot of rivers have multiple tributarys that have claimed to be the actual source. It’s generally whatever tributary is furthest away from the mouth of the river and is usually nearest the highest altitude within the drainage basin.
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