What is a delta?

Answer 1

A delta is an alluvial deposit at the mouth of a river usually triangular in shape. The triangular shape and the great width at the base are due to blocking of the river mouth by silt, with resulting continual formation of distributaries at angles to the original course.

Answer 2

Delta (letter), the letter Δ or δ in the Greek alphabet, also used as a mathematical symbol.

In geography:
o River delta, a triangular area of alluvial deposit at the mouth of a river
o Tropical Storm Delta (2005)

In mathematics and computer science:
o the Kronecker delta, a function of two variables which is 1 when they are equal
o the Dirac delta function, a distribution used as an approximation for a spike function
o Delta encoding, a technique in computer communications and version-control

Answer 3

Given that you are asking this in an Earth Science forum, I assume you are talking about the Delta of a River. It is the area of land surrounding the mouth of a large river where it flows into the sea.

If you were asking this question in a finance area, I would tell you that it is the amount of change in a derivative security given a one percent change in the underlying security.

In another forum, I might tell you that it is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, or the nickname for a fraternity.

Answer 4

It is where a river meets the ocean, it spreads out in a triangle shape. Where a river comes into the ocean, usually in a relatively flat place i think. THe mississippi river has a delta where it enters the gulf of mexico. other rivers have deltas too. THey can be pretty big, like square miles.

Answer 5

A delta is the mouth of a river where it flows into an ocean, sea, desert or lake, building outwards (as a deltaic deposit) from sediment carried by the river and deposited as the water current is dissipated. Deltaic deposits of larger, heavily-laden rivers are characterised by the river channel dividing into multiple streams (distributaries), these divide and come together again to form a maze of active and inactive channels. A related notion is estuaries, which is another type of river mouth

Answer 6

a sort of land basin at the end of a river or rivers, befor they flow into the see. The ganges in Bangladesh run into a delt before they flow in to the sea. During the rainy season they flood and many lives asr lost. Also they tend to fill up with useless oil deposit so even during the dry season the deltas are useless

Answer 7

It means change. Like the delta something would be the change in that thing relating to whatever situation.

Answer 8

DELTA is a file format and an associated set of applications used for storing taxonomic information in a form suitable for computer processing.

Answer 9

A delta is a deposit of sediment accumulating at the mouth of a river. Byproducts of continental EROSION, deltas form when rivers flow into standing bodies of water (eg, lakes, oceans) rapidly depositing their load of alluvial material (eg, gravel, sand, silt and clay). Deposition results from a loss of transporting capacity caused by deceleration of the current. Deltas vary enormously in scale and complexity, ranging from small lacustrine deltas with lobate shape and tripartite structure (topset, foreset and bottomset) to large, composite birdfoot deltas formed along ocean shorelines.

The shape of large deltas, many of which have persisted over long periods of time, is controlled by stream HYDROLOGY, the nature of transported sediment, wave and tidal dynamics, sea-level changes, crustal movements and basin and coastline configuration. Depending on density differences between the sediment-laden river water and the lake or ocean water, the inflowing water may move down the prodelta slope as a gravity underflow (ie, below the surface), spread out over the surface of the standing body of water, or otherwise mix with it as an interflow. The kind of movement has a bearing on the mechanism of growth. Strong tidal currents and high wave engergy (see OCEAN WAVE ENERGY, which tend to disperse sediment, militate against delta formation.

Large deltas (eg, Mississippi) are traversed by a network of distributory channels, and delta growth is accompanied by development of a low-lying delta plain associated with different depositional environments, eg, distributary, levee, backswamp and marsh (see SWAMP, MARSH AND BOG).

Superposition of depositional environments over time may produce a favourable habitat for oil and gas accumulation, as seen in the MACKENZIE RIVER delta region, NWT. Because of their rich soils, water supply and transportation access, deltas in temperate and tropical climates have played an important role in the history of civilization. However, FLOOD control, land reclamation and channel maintenance have posed problems for inhabitants. In Canada the Mackenzie and Fraser river deltas are outstanding examples of this RIVER LANDFORM.

Answer 10

well, it could mean a triangle of land formed when a river deposits soil and sand and stuff to make a little island thingy--like the nile delta