GEOLOGY: Mapping toponyms for streams in the United States (moving, area)
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Pretty much river, creek, branch, fork, and (in the eastern 3rd of the state) swamp for North Carolina. The wide tidal estuaries in the far eastern part of the state are either rivers or sounds - the (lower) Neuse River, Pamlico River, Alligator River, Pungo River and the Albemarle Sound are the same type of waterway (estuary; the Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, East River and Long Island Sound in NY, Narraganset Bay, the tidal parts of the Potomac and Patapsco Rivers are all other examples of estuaries in the US); the true (as in non-arbitrary, map-drawn) division between the Albemarle Sound and the lower part of the Chowan River is fuzzy at best. Meanwhile, the other "Sounds" are either lagoons, or - in the case of the Roanoke Sound and Croatan Sound - they are straits between two larger bodies of water - the Albemarle Sound (an estuary), and the Pamlico Sound (a lagoon).
The change between "run" and "branch/fork" in West Virginia is roughly the cultural boundary between the North and the South.
This is the most suprising thing of all on this map to me.
I always thought of "run" as a Southern term. I certainly read enough Civil War books and seen enough maps about the "Army of Northern Virginia" (ex. about Bull Run). But here it shows it is primarily a border term from Ohio and Pennsylvania in the North down to Maryland, Northern Virginia and part of West Virginia. Why would the word spread like this? Notice also, that the Delmarva Peninsula, including Maryland is totally different.
From a historical prespective I cannot figure this out.
Another thing that stands out to me is the word "brook" and the relationship to New York State and New England. Its close but not exact, notice for instance the darker purple area for "kill" in the Hudson Valley. "Kill" is Dutch for creek. Just guessing but I think "kill" was alot more common in New York before the New Englanders started coming into area after the Conquest and especially after 1776.
Alot of people don't know it but in the 1800s, they tried to change the name "Kaatskills" into the "Blue Mountains" in order to hamonize with the White and Green Mountains. However the local name survived and today is known as the Catskills.
Finally, notice the suprising difference between Northern New Jersey, oriented more toward New York and New England and Southern New Jersey which seems oriented more to Pennsylvania and the South.
I see all of Arizona is yellow for "wash" but every flowing stream here is called a "creek". A wash is usually a dry creek bed that only flows when it rains.
Also, southern AZ has it's share of rios, arroyos, and even a canada(I don't know how to type the wavy line above the n).
Small print on the map says river and creek are too common to be considered regional.
The map seems a little odd to me. Bayous and swamps, along with bogs and marshes, I thought were generally considered slow moving or stationary, unlike creeks, streams, brooks, etc.
"Slough" seems to pop up all over. Not sure how to pronounce it though.
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