At the behest of the hydrology is called as tributary to that secondary river that ends at another considered as main. In other words, the tributary does not flow into a sea but rather into a river that is of greater importance. Both come together in a place called confluence.
Below the confluence the river bed is generally narrower relative to adding the width of the two rivers when they are upstream.
The balance, the compensation for this fact is given by the greater depth in the bed.
Meanwhile, the flow, length and surface of the basin will be the characteristics that will be taken into account when determining between two rivers which is the tributary and which is the main river into which the tributary will flow.
On the sidewalk in front of the tributary is the effluent which consists of a derivation, either natural or artificial, that will emerge outside the main current of a river from another considered with respect to this minor, that is, it is the opposite action to what we had mentioned. In the river deltas is where we will mostly find the natural effluents. In any case, it is important to mention that artificial effluents are also very common and that they are the result of a diversion or channel that will be used in order to supply water to those regions that are far from the main river bed.
On the other hand, the word affluent usually be used in a figurative way to refer to those questions that are characterized or are erected as the sources of something, of a movement, of a culture, among other options. For this reason, it is common for it to be mentioned that this or that fact or current are tributaries of a certain social movement.
