Division River
The way the water sparkles under different skies is like nothing else I've ever seen. Under a steel gray sky, it flows like shimmering, molten gold. When the mud comes down in the mid spring, it looks like the cracked crust of a new lava field with wild streaks of shimmering sunshine filling the gaps. And under the bright, breathless sky of a perfectly clear summer morning it's like dipping your toes into a living, breathing rainbow.
Geography
Division river flows south from the Axehead Mountains, through the Shimmering Sands, to the sea. It is sometimes called the Goldstone River or the Sparkling Waters due to the goldstone silt that washes out of the mountains. This glittering silt is what creates the river's delta on the south of the island, known as the Shimmering Sands.
Ecosystem Cycles
The river's annual flood season is vital to the farmland along the basin. It helps to replenish the fields for crops, as well as renewing the grasses for grazing animals. The flood season is also an important spawning time for many fish and amphibian species, several of which migrate. These migrations in turn feed predators that gather at convenient places to harvest nature's bounty.
Localized Phenomena
The high goldstone concentration in the water is due to a particular spring that issues forth from the heart of the dormant volcano in the center of the mountains. The higher-than-usual acidic nature of this run-off erodes the sparkling rock as a fine silt that settles not only in the delta, but lines the riverbed and permeates the soil of the basin.
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