Pascagoula River

The Pascagoula River is a river, about 80 mi (130 km) long, in southeastern Mississippi in the United States. The river drains an area of about 8,800 sq mi (23,000 km²) and flows into Mississippi Sound of the Gulf of Mexico.

It is significant as the only unaffected (or nearly so) river flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the United States and the only one the Cfa Köppen climate zone. As a result, the Pascagoula has in modern times been the focus of a great deal of effort regarding its conservation to prevent the constructions of dams on it.

Course

The Pascagoula River is formed in northwestern George County by the confluence of the Leaf and Chickasawhay Rivers and flows generally southward through swampy bottomlands in George and Jackson Counties. In its lower course the river forms several channels and bayous; its largest such distributary is the West Pascagoula River, which flows into the Mississippi Sound at Gautier. The main channel passes Escatawpa and Moss Point and flows into the sound at Pascagoula.

Variant names

According to the Geographic Names Information System, the river has also been known as:
*East Pascagoula River (below the branching off of the West Pascagoula River)
*Fiume Pescagoula
*Pasca Oocooloo River
*Pascoboula River
*Paska Okla River
*Paspagola River
*Pasquagola River
*Rio de Pascagula
*Riviere des Pascagoula
*Riviere des Pascagoulas
*Singing River (lower 8 miles of the river)

ee also

*List of Mississippi rivers

References

* [http://reference.allrefer.com/gazetteer/P/P01882-pascagoula-river.html Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry]
* [http://ms.water.usgs.gov/ms_proj/eric/pasca.html United States Geological Survey, Pascagoula River Basin page]