Hey there boys and girls! I'm Kraisedion, the dragonborn, and when I'm not busy saving the people of Skyrim from dragons, for then to turn around to loot them blind, or just murder them for money, I like to explore the rivers that cut through this beautiful country of ours. Lately I've made some discoveries you might find interesting.

First some observation on the river systems:

There are two river systems in Skyrim, each are created by 3-4 smaller rivers. If we forget about my unified waterpocket theory these two river systems never meet. Not quite sure what is east and what is west in Skyrim, so I'll just use the map as shown in game and call the systems the Left River System and the Right River System.

The Left River System is created from the hills around Purewater Run(it's possible these are two different sources), the hills above Lost Valley Redoubt and an underground source at Greenspring Hollow. All the rivers will have met up by Solitude, outside of which it creates a huge swamp before it reaches the ocean.

The Right River System is created by the water outside Falkreath, an underground source at Whiterun, the water outside Riften and an underground source between Nightgate Inn and Bronzewater Cave, the last source also creates a tiny water at Nightgate Inn. All the rivers will have met up by Windhelm before it reaches the ocean.



Sources of the waterpocket:

It is a slight chance there could be a case of multiple waterpockets, but the unified waterpocket theory explains where all the water is coming from. The water outside Falkreath doesn't just create the river that eventually reaches The Right River System, one the opposite side of the water, at Half-Moon Mill, it also creates a tiny river which simply disappears are Evergreen Grove. This location has been sighted for having some unusual plantlife, at least according to the alchemist's journal found at a tiny camp by the river. The location is surrounded by ancient essentially buried statues hinting there might be something below, and no matter what this is where the water disappears.

If we walk in an almost traight line from this sight we will reach the Twilight Sepulcher, which is also the location of a minor waterfall which creates a small river which disappears underground.



Location of the waterpocket:

Granted, these two sources are somewhat small, there are probably a few other sources I haven't discovered yet, or perhaps the waterpocket is either created primarily by the water outside of Falkreath or reaches outside Skyrim. It's hard to really tell.

What is interesting is that the two outlets that aren't in Whiterun, and the water outside Falkreath essentially forms a circle around Whiterun, signaling that this might be where the main pocket is. Still we do know that there are underground water sources as far right as Kagrenzel and Fallowstone Cave. Wether these are supplied by the same waterpocket is uncertain, but there does seem to be enough circumstancial evidence to suggest that the three outlets (Greenspring Hollow, Whiterun and Nightgate Inn) gets their water supply from the same source. What do you think?

A wizard did it. A Telvanni wizard in the first era.

Your theory would be much more acceptable if you gave the rivers their proper names - Karth (left) and White (right)

Intresting theory though.

Cool observations! I've not noticed this, but I'll try to pay attention to it as my characters travel about.

Actually there are many real world examples of large aquifers (what you call "waterpockets"). It is entirely possible that one aquifer supplies all the groundwater in Skyrim. It is more likely that there are three. One in High Rock, one to the south in Cyrodiil or Hammerfell (or both), and one in Morrowind. Aquifers can be hundreds of miles across. The Ogallala Aquifer in the U.S. covers eight states from South Dakota to Texas stretching about 800 miles. So magic need not be involved. However, since this is a fantasy world, there could be an extra-dimensional conduit to an elemental plane of water suppling all the water in Skyrim.

I'm a bit slow in this aqufier and waterpockets theorizing, so i just do as i usually do:
Cannonball into the river and then splash some water around me, scarying the hell out
of the fish and mudcrabs

I like the way you think Felina.

Can't believe i found this interesting when i read the topic name . Pretty nice findings though.

I'm confused about how you don't know what east and west is in Skyrim. East and West are universal concepts that don't change.

First, I think you are over-thinking this. That said, I come from an area of the US where there are many spring-fed lakes (which keep them cool all summer). Actually, in mountainous areas the water run-off often runs underground, across huge shifted and broken bedrock slabs. The water often makes a return to the surface somewhere else, at a lower altitude. To come up with such ideas, I think you really need more important things to keep your mind busy.

If one looks at the map of Skyrim which - like me - you will all have on the wall of your study/bedroom/den/whatever, it's very obvious that the rivers in Skyrim are fed from lakes and that they do not rise from mountains - (at least the ones on the map) - it would from this and also from the processes at work geologically in Skyrim a very likely solution that there is at least one major aquifer under the province - which breaches at Lakes Honrich, Ilinalta, and the body of water to the east of Markarth.
It's an interesting theory...

Exactly, this is more or less my theory, I never suggested there was anything magical about it, though knowing Skyrim there could be.

Have you seen the volcanic vents in, or North of, the Rift? If there were such huge pocket, it would explode due to the volcanic heat. There was a time during the game that I wondered if that's what Bethesda had in mind for the end of my game!

Hmm, I always thought... Skyrim - mountains - snow - glacier - melt water formed the rivers. Nice theory though!

You know a game must be great when people discuss its rivers with as much detail and interest as a national geographic feature.

Hail Bethesda!!

I want a refund for the time I spent reading the OP.

As stated, two of the rivers come from the mountains and that could very easily come from melted snow. However, two also come from waters placed far away from anything that resembles snow, and three comes from the ground.


Indeed!

It just amazes me how many ppl are uneducated enough to think all rivers/streams are surface rivers/streams. How do you think "springs" out of the ground happen? They don't have to be right next to hills/mountains, subterranean water streams can be many miles (hundreds?) in length. How do you think those cave passages were formed? IRL they were all rivers once. Have you ever visited a cave IRL? I have visited several. Just bc a stream bubbles up no where near a mtn doesn't mean it is not from the mtns!

How do you think volcanic vents happen? Underground streams feed water to hot earth near hot lava, the water boils, and the earth rises (above the spot the water boils) and breaks open to let it out. Yellowstone is one big area of volcanic vents fed from underground streams. Look it up.

I think they did a great job with the topography and the streams. However, someone mentioned the volcanic activity south of the city of Windhelm. A magma intrusion can come up from deep in the crust near the surface without disrupting the entire aquifer (real world example is Yellowstone National Park which is an enormous caldera situated close to several western aquifers). What I have a problem with in the game is we encounter no lava/magma underground in that area. Lots of activity on the surface, but unfortunately nothing underneath.

No reason to be offensive, I'm not uneducated, of course I know this is commong, why would you think otherwise? However there seems to be no real above ground river that disappears that really matches the rivers that resurfaces, nor do any really seem to head in the same direction as those resurfacing. Furthermore exit points are all pointing away from what seems to be a core. If these were underground rivers they would first of all have to be coming from outside skyrim, and second of all they would almost with complete certainty have to cross each other underground ... which in turn would be more or less my theory ...

You need to also remember that most all fresh water that is not in the ice caps is actually underground in Aquifers and even in Underground Rivers. These can flow for hundreds, if not thousands of miles. When the Aquifer or River reaches the surface, it is known as a Spring and it is the source of most water for rivers and creeks all year long. The snowmelt only feeds rivers and streams for a few weeks in the Spring.

Yes, a underground river can go uphill as Hydraulics and Fluid Dynamics work in a Aquifer/Underground River the same way it works in plumbing system. That is why Springs can exist at high altitudes. For example, the Headwaters of the Arkansas River are in Leadville Colorado, where I used to live. This is at 10,000 feet and the headwaters are farther up at about 11,000 feet, and it comes out of the ground as a Spring.

+1

No offense intended, I meant it more as a group term. Debates can be a good thing.
You see all those rocks jutting out of the loam, near the base of mtns? IRL every one of those is the start of an underground stream. In the cracks of the rocks, and where the rock dives under the loam (dirt), there begins an underground stream. You wouldn't see the beginning, it's too spread-out, and feeds mostly when it is raining or melting. Goes underground where small resevoirs, places where it fills up before spilling over the next impediment, and then limited in flow like a dam, keeps the water flowing all year 'round. You don't see the starts of them like that bc they are all over, and not really a 'hole' or anything, just seepage through the loam. Then the loam slowly gets washed downward, giving the impression that the mountains are growing over time, and I mean like centuries, not years. Then as the rocks break up over time, due to weathering effects, and the grinding action of the earth's rock layers against each other, some rock material becomes loam and replaces some of it. But I digress. To say the underground stream thing doesn't make sense due to the fact that you don't see the headwaters is like saying there's no forest there bc there is too many trees in the way!

There are so many of these places where the rocks jut out of the ground, all over Skyrim, and each one is just a tiny contributor to underground streams. That's why you don't see the beginning, it's all around you, all over Skyrim, you need only to look at the base of any mtn; you just don't think of it that way.

BTW, I'm no geologist.

All the snow on the mountains melts, seeps into the ground, hits the rock bed and continues down until it is released in artesian aquifers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artesian_aquifer

I did have one character follow the 'Left River' from sources all the way to the sea once. I was actually an interesting journey and I really couldn't find a lot of fault with the hydro setup for the whole country. At places the water volume seems to become too large (or small), but overall it's obvious someone did their homework in setting up the system.

The point was rather that the streams comes out in opposite directions with no real mountains between them. But yes, your theory is certainly highly possible.

Edit: And the fact that the three only outlets of this kind are in a tiny area really close to each other also seems to imply that there's something more.