When compared to other world rivers, the Mississippi and Missouri River combination ranks fourth in length three thousand seven hundred ten miles, following the Egyptian Nile four thousand one hundred sixty miles, the Brazilian sss four thousand miles, and the Yangtze Rivers of China three thousand nine hundred sixty four miles. The reported length of a river may increase or decrease as deposition or erosion occurs at its delta, or as meanders are created or cutoff.
At Lake Itasca, the river is between twenty and thirty feet wide, the narrowest stretch for its entire length. The widest part of the Mississippi can be found at Lake Winnibigoshish near Bena, Minnesota, where it is wider than eleven miles. The widest navigable section in the shipping channel of the Mississippi is Lake Pepin,
