Talk:Mekong

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Contents 1 Expansion 2 Depth 3 Meaning of the name 4 Average Discharge 5 I made a small grammar fix--"is comprised of" to "comprises" 6 Contradiction with another article 7 Mékôngk

[edit] Expansion

Part one of some expansion; probably more to come. Markalexander100 16:53, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Depth

I doubt that the Mekong is really 100 m deep - are you really sure about that number? Or is it just a typo and should mean 10 m? BTW: I am currently reading that book you listed on "further reading" of that article, we'd need much more such book recommendations at our articles. andy 15:24, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Yes, the figure's right: From the region of Vientiane to the Kampuchean border, the river is turbid, particularly during the rainy season when bank erosion is at its most severe. Suspended lateritic soil gives the water an apparent rusty-tan colour. River temperatures fluctuate between 21.1°C and 27.8°C, and the pH varies from 6.2 to 6.5. The mainstream habitats range from sandy-gravel bars to deep pools up to 100m deep and several kilometres long, interspersed with rocky rapids (Pantulu, 1986a) [1].Markalexander100 00:44, 7 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Meaning of the name

Does anyone have a reputable source for the meaning of the name Mekong? All my initial googling turned up was a discussion board thread, which seemed to be carrying a lot of nationalist baggage. Mark¹ 04:18, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I don't think there's any reputable source online that doesn't seem nationalistic, so are dictionaries reputable enough? In Thai, Khmer, and Lao, Mé means mother and Kong (also Kongka or Kongkea) refers to the Ganges (also Ganga), but it can also mean river. Just look in the dictionary of all three languages and you will find it. --Dara 02:21, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It pronouce Mea in Khmer, which means master instead of mother and the native thai and lao word for river is Kong while in Khmer, its Thonle. I'm guessing that it comes from Thai or Lao, but it could have come from old Mon Me Krung, which means mother river. Most mainland southeast asian words for river comes from mon-khmer, ex ancient Khmer Krongle. Its very disputable CanCanDuo 00:21, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Average Discharge

I was wondering if anyone could figure out a precise figure of the average discharge of the Mekong in cubic meters per second. That figure is available for most of the other articles in Wikipedia that deal with major rivers, but it's not available for this one. We have the figure for annual discharge in cubic kilometers, but that's it. Giskard mb 09:02, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

List of rivers by length lists 16,000 m³/s.Kmusser 13:37, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I made a small grammar fix--"is comprised of" to "comprises"

In the statement describing the area where people depend on the river, I changed "...is comprised of Yunnan Province in China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Camdodia, and Vietnam," to "...comprises Yunnan Province in China, Myanmar, Lao PDR, Thailand, Camdodia, and Vietnam." A thing is not comprised of the parts that make it up; it comprises those parts. 72.66.108.162 23:26, 30 June 2007 (UTC)Stephen Kosciesza

[edit] Contradiction with another article

This articles states that the Mekong river is the 10th longest in the world but the Lena River article also states that the Lena River is the 10th longest in the world. This article states that the Mekong river is 4350 kilometers long while the Lena River article states that the Lena River is 4400 kilometers. Are both rivers considered the 10th longest because the difference in their lengths is so small, or is this a mistake? Rajrajmarley 03:03, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

It's because every "list of rivers" that you find will put them in a different order, I'm sure they're both 10th on different lists, we should probably use our own list which puts the Mekong at 11th in distance and 12th in volume.Kmusser 13:03, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Ok, once there's some common point of reference I guess it's fine. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rajrajmarley (talk • contribs) 19:35, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mékôngk

Can somebody please verify the Khmer language pronunciation of "Mekong"? I doubt that "Mékôngk" (with a "K"?) is the corret one. --hdamm (talk) 14:11, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

The last two characters in the name in Khmer script correspond to ŋ and k, respectively. I'm not sure if some pronounciation rules apply, though. Something like "the k at the end of a word is always silent" or similar. Khmer speaker anybody? AchromatReader (talk) 20:22, 19 April 2008 (UTC)