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Glite Dictionary
thalweg

thalweg

9.9
A line that follows the lowest points along a riverbed used to mark the main channel or border
  • noun
  • /ˈθælˌwɛɡ/
  • Specialized
: thalweg
  • The surveyor marked the thalweg of the river to determine the boundary between the two properties.

Examples

  • They agreed that the thalweg would serve as the natural border between the two countries.

  • For our part, we changed the United States' claim in the Gulf of Maine Case from the Carter Administration's "thalweg" theory to the notion of an "adjusted perpendicular."

    Academic text (2000)

  • In the valley, the thalweg follows the path where water flows most deeply during the rainy season.

Surface Forms

thalweg singular
thalwegs plural

Etymology

Thalweg comes from German parts thal 'valley' and weg 'way', so it literally meant the 'valley way'. So a thalweg is the line that runs along the lowest part of a river or valley—the main path the water follows, which is why people use it to mark the channel or a border.