Tug Fork

The Tug Fork is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, 159 miles (256 km) long, in southwestern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern Kentucky in the United States. Via the Big Sandy and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River.

It is also known as the Tug Fork River. The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Tug Fork" as the stream's official name in 1975.

The Tug Fork rises in the Appalachian Mountains of extreme southwestern West Virginia, in southern McDowell County, near the Virginia state line. It flows in a meandering course through the mountains generally northwest, past Welch. Approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Welch, it briefly forms approximately 4 miles (6 km) of the state line between West Virginia (northeast) and Virginia (southwest). For the remainder of its course it forms part of the boundary between West Virginia (east) and Kentucky (west), flowing northwest past Williamson, West Virginia. It joins the Levisa Fork at Louisa, Kentucky to form the Big Sandy.

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or river main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater, leading the water out into an ocean.

A confluence, where two or more bodies of water meet together, usually refers to the joining of tributaries.

The opposite to a tributary is a distributary, a river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas.

Terminology

"Right tributary" and "left tributary" (or "right-bank tributary" and "left-bank tributary") are terms stating the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream (in the direction the water current of the main stem is going).

Where tributaries have the same name as the river into which they feed, they are called forks. These are typically designated by compass direction. For example, the American River receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago River's North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork; the South Branch has its South Fork, and used to have a West Fork as well (now filled in).

Fork River

Fork River may refer to

See also

Fork River (New Zealand)

The Fork River is a short river in the far south of the West Coast Region in New Zealand. As the name suggests, the river has two branches, with the longer South branch draining a plateau. The larger Spoon River lies a couple of kilometres to the north.

References

Coordinates: 44°9′16″S 168°15′10″E / 44.15444°S 168.25278°E / -44.15444; 168.25278