List of rivers by age


This is a selected list of the oldest rivers on Earth for which there is knowledge about their existence in past times.

Determination of age

Generally, the age is estimated based primarily upon the age of any mountains it dissects; the age of the sea or ocean to which it eventually outflows can be irrelevant; for example, several rivers of the east side of the Appalachian Mountains of the Atlantic Ocean, which did not exist 130 million years ago. If a river fully dissects a mountain range, then this generally indicates that the river existed at least at the time that the mountain range rose.

List of some of the world's oldest rivers

RiverAge OutflowMost significant criterion for the age
Finke350–400Lake Eyre
Predates the Alice Springs Orogeny; several other smaller rivers in the Northern Territory are of a similar age
Meuse320 to 340North SeaPaleozoic, dissects the Ardennes during the Hercynian
New260 to 325Kanawha RiverDissects the Appalachian Mountains, formed by the Alleghenian orogeny, 320–340 ma
Susquehanna260 to 325Chesapeake BayDissects the Appalachian Mountains, formed by the Alleghenian orogeny, 320–340 ma
French Broad260 to 325Tennessee RiverDissects the Appalachian Mountains, formed by the Alleghenian orogeny, 320–340 ma. The New, Susquehanna, French Broad are the only significant rivers that fully dissect the Appalachian core; the Hudson River is of more recent geologic origin.
Rhine240North SeaTriassic, possibly older if it dissected mountains uplifted during the Hercynian in addition to the Eocene with the Alps or the Miocene with the Upper Rhine Graben
Save205Indian OceanFormed during rifting when Gondwana broke up.
Amur125Sea of OkhotskKnown to be at least Cretaceous in age, but crosses mountains even older
Macleay80Tasman SeaPredates uplift of Great Escarpment
Murrumbidgee75Murray RiverPredates uplift of Australian Alps
Colorado75Gulf of CaliforniaUplift during Laramide orogeny, see Geology of the Grand Canyon area
Nile65 to 75Mediterranean Sea65 to 75 for the Sudd section; the rest of the river is only 1 or 2 million years old
Thames58North SeaLate Palaeocene Period Thanetian Stage.
Indus
45Arabian SeaSource in the Himalayas and Karakoram Mountains
Tyne30North SeaThe Tyne, 30 MYA began to carve its valley, by removing softer chalk rocks and exposing harder rocks. Significantly predates the last Ice Age.
Yangtze
23 to 36.5East China SeaPost-dates the Three Gorges formation
Columbia6 to 17Pacific OceanBetween 17 million and 6 million years ago, huge outpourings of flood basalt lava covered the Columbia River Plateau and forced the lower Columbia into its present course.
Amazon11.3 to 11.8Atlantic OceanWaters worked through the sandstone from the west and the Amazon began to flow eastward. The river flowed through a former basin of a proto-Amazon, which flowed in the opposite direction at least as old as 65 Mya, long before the formation of Andes, when it originated in the highland area that formed when the South American and African plates separated. This river may predate the break-up of western Gondwana as an extension of a proto-Congo river system, 200 Mya during the Jurassic.
Ohio2.5 to 3Mississippi RiverFormed when the Laurentide Ice Sheet dammed the north flowing Teays River during the Pre-Illinoian glaciation. The drainage area of the Teays could no longer drain to the north, and so instead drained to the south, forming the Ohio River.