Mobile River - Definition and Overview

The Mobile River is a river, approximately 45 mi (72 km) in southern Alabama in the United States. Formed out of the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, the river drains an area of 44,000 sq mi (115,000 sq km) of the U.S. state of Alabama, with a watershed extending into the Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. Its drainage basin is the sixth-largest in the United States. The river has historically provided the principal navigational access for Alabama. Since the construction Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, it also provides an alternative into the Ohio River watershed.

The Tombigbee and Alabama join to form the Mobile approximately 50 mi (80 km) NNE of Mobile, along the county line between Mobile and Baldwin counties. The combined stream flows south, in a winding course. Approximately 6 mi (10 km) downstream from the confluence, the channel of the river divides, with the Mobile flowing along the western channel. The Tensaw River, a bayou of the Mobile, flows alongside to the east, separated from 2 to 5 mi (3 to 8 km) as they flow southward. The Mobile reaches Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico just east of downtown Mobile.

See also

• List of Alabama rivers

External links

• USGS: Mobile River Basin (http://al.water.usgs.gov/pubs/mobl/mobl.html)
• University of Alabama: Mobile River System (http://www.as.ua.edu/biolaqua/cfs/MobileRiverresearch.htm)
• Mobile River Terminal (http://www.tstarinc.com/mrt/)