---
title: "River Capture: Stream Piracy Explained | Model Diplomat"
description: "River capture is when one stream diverts another's headwaters through headward erosion. Covers elbow of capture, wind gap and misfit streams for UPSC GS1."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/river-capture"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- River capture is the diversion of one river's headwaters into the channel of an adjacent, more vigorously eroding stream, permanently rerouting drainage.
- How does river capture differ from antecedence?
- What is the elbow of capture and a wind gap?
- What landform indicates a beheaded river?
- Why does river capture matter for water policy?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

River capture is the diversion of one river's headwaters into the channel of an adjacent, more vigorously eroding stream, permanently rerouting drainage.

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In the Tibetan Plateau, geomorphologists studying the upper Yellow River have argued that headward erosion captured drainage formerly routed elsewhere, a reorganisation tested with detrital-zircon dating in research published through the 2010s.

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