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 estimate of the age of a river is based primarily upon the age of any mountains that 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 are thought to be older than the Atlantic Ocean into which they flow. 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 Continent color keyAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeNorth AmericaSouth America RiverAge (Mya)OutflowMost significant criterion for the ageFinke400~350Lake Eyre(intermittent)Predates the Alice Springs Orogeny; several other smaller rivers in the Northern Territory are of a similar age AbstractMeuse340~320North SeaPaleozoic, dissects the Ardennes during the HercynianEnvironmental History of the Rhine-Meuse DeltaFrench Broad River340~320Tennessee RiverDissects the Appalachian Mountains, formed by the Alleghenian orogeny, 320–340 ma. The New, Susquehanna, and French Broad are the only significant rivers that fully dissect the Appalachian core; the Hudson River is of more recent geologic origin.U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Atlanta, GA, Record of Decision: Overview of Site (p. 14) New325~260Kanawha RiverDissects the Appalachian Mountains, formed by the Alleghenian orogeny, 320–340 maMary S. Biswal, TERTIARY ORIGIN OF THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINSSusquehanna325~260Chesapeake BayDissects the Appalachian Mountains, formed by the Alleghenian orogeny, 320–340 maSusquehanna River Basin Commissionhttps://www.susquehannawildlife.net/geology-fossils-and-more 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 GrabenSave205Indian OceanFormed during rifting when Gondwana broke upMoore, Cotterill, Broderick, Plowes. "Landscape evolution in Zimbabwe from the Permian to present, with implications for kimberlite prospecting", South African Journal of Geology, 2006.Narmada160Arabian SeaFormed during rifting when Gondwana broke upAmur125Sea of OkhotskKnown to be at least Cretaceous in age, but crosses mountains even olderPotter, Paul Edwin; Hamblin, W. Kenneth. Big Rivers Worldwide Macleay80Tasman SeaPredates uplift of Great EscarpmentFlannery, Tim; The Future Eaters; An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and Peoples; p. 78 Colorado75Gulf of CaliforniaUplift during Laramide orogeny, see Geology of the Grand Canyon areaMurrumbidgee75Murray RiverPredates uplift of Australian AlpsNile75~65Mediterranean 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 StageIndus(Sindhu)45Arabian SeaSource in the Himalayas and Karakoram MountainsTyne30North Sea The Tyne began to carve its valley 30 MYA, by removing softer chalk rocks and exposing harder rocks. Significantly predates the last Ice Age.Yangtze(Chang Jiang)36.5~23East China SeaPost-dates the Three Gorges formation (36.5 ma)Hongbo Zheng, Pre-Miocene birth of the Yangtze RiverEncyclopædia Britannica: Yangtze RiverParramatta29~15Tasman SeaFormed between the late Oligocene and early Miocene period as its waters began to cut a valley into sandstone and shale, which were laid down some 200 million years earlierColumbia17~6Pacific 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.Amazon11.8~11.3Atlantic 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 long ago as 65 Mya, long before the formation of the 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.Ohio3~2.5Mississippi 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.

See also Lists of rivers

References